The Pirates have released infielder/outfielder Jose Rojas, according to his transactions tracker on MLB.com. He’ll head back out to the open market and assess the options for his next opportunity.
Rojas, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in July. He got into 15 games for Triple-A Indianapolis, stepping to the plate 59 times. He hit just .192/.288/.423 in that small sample, seemingly weighed down by a .189 batting average on balls in play. His 20.3% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate in that time were solid and he hit three home runs. Regardless, the Bucs decided to move on.
Prior to signing with the Pirates, he was coming off a pretty good stretch of decent results. He started 2024 on a minor league deal with the Yankees and slashed .254/.359/.561 in 67 games for their Triple-A club, leading to a 131 wRC+. That deal with the Yankees came on the heels of a good year in Korea. He spent 2023 with the KBO’s Doosan Bears and slashed .253/.345/.474 for a 126 wRC+ in 122 games for them.
Rojas has 83 games of major league experience, which came with the Angels in 2021 and 2022. He didn’t hit well in that time, producing a line of .188/.245/.339. He can perhaps intrigue clubs by the strong results he’s had in the two years since, but it’s an awkward part of the calendar. Now that it’s September, he won’t be eligible to play in the postseason for any new club he signs with, while clubs out of contention would likely prefer to give playing time to guys who are younger and still developing. Rojas can provide defensive versatility, as he has played all of the non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners in his career.
Rojas obviously was a student of the great hitting coach, Andy Haines and no one knew that he was even playing for Indy
I wonder how many other secrets are hidden by this organization?
for those selected people that think Cutch should retire after this season
During his 14 game hitting streak he’s hit 5 homers including one last night
He has proven to be one of our best 5 hitters and since he doesn’t run any more him hitting 5th is better for us.
I still want to bats brought in from free agency
he doesn’t drive in many runs because no one is on base when he hits those homers
It’s not his fault that players batting before him suck
Need real news! Who’s getting fired and when?
Rojas got fired
the better the finish to the season the more likely that the combined worst manager and hitting coach will keep their jobs for next season
it’s a catch 22 for diehard Pirates fans
We want to be better but we also want management to be fired
I would be happy with only 70 wins and a house cleaning at year’s end. That’s 6 more wins than they currently have
Cruz strikes out too much even batting third, he now has 159 for the season but I agree Reynolds should be at the #3 position and Cutch bats clean up and for another reason other than his power
He draws a lot of walks
Analytics says keep Reynolds at 2nd.
Reynolds Cruz bart BdLc Cuth Gonzalez. Ideally the get a lead off guy who steals and gets on base. I don’t think they move on from hayes so he can hit 8th and Davis Endy hit 9 maybe they don’t spend on 2 hitters but need to
analytics don’t work for a team that lacks talent at each position and certainly doesn’t work on this team
De la Cruz is another strike out machine and doesn’t play into analytics either
Cruz is on pace to strike out 191 times. Tell me how analytics works to bat him 3rd
Maybe if he was a true power hitter it wouldn’t matter but he’s too much of a free swinger to be counted on to get on base
besides you’re the one that said Cutch should retire because he can’t run. He ran fine last night around the bases when he hit another homer