Infielder/outfielder Nick Solak has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was outrighted by the Pirates yesterday but has the right to reject that assignment since he has a previous career outright.
Solak, 30, will now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity. He settled for a minor league deal with the Pirates coming into the year and then got out to a great start. In 32 Triple-A contests, he put up a massive .393/.452/.625 batting line. That was partly due to an unsustainable .422 batting average on balls in play but Solak also hit six home runs while drawing walks at a 9.5% clip and only striking out 13.5% of the time.
That was enough to get him to the big leagues but he didn’t get much playing time in Pittsburgh. In almost three weeks on the roster, he only received 11 plate appearances in four games, recording just one single and no extra-base hits.
The Bucs nudged him off the roster when Nick Gonzales came off the injured list. Solak is out of options and therefore had to be removed from the 40-man entirely. The 29 other clubs all passed on the chance to grab him off waivers, so he’ll presumably be looking for another minor league deal in the coming days.
Broadly speaking, he has generally hit well in the minors but not the majors. He has a .250/.325/.369 line and 91 wRC+ in the big leagues. That includes a hot start when he was first promoted in 2019. Since then, he has a .243/.314/.350 line and 86 wRC+. Dating back to that same 2019 season, he has a .291/.379/.472 line and 118 wRC+ down on the farm.
Defensively, he’s played almost every position on the diamond but he’s not considered a strong fielder. In recent years, he’s mostly been limited to the outfield corners, first base and occasionally appearances at second base.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Too bad Cherington can’t declare free agency
Don’t expect a multiple run game tonight
Hayes is batting 5th, both Pham and Endy are in the lineup too
It looks like there’s another massive Pittsburgh baseball market crowd at PNC Park to see the #Pirates.on this beautiful night.
There could be as many as ten-thousand fans at the game.
Losers attract small crowds. Not rocket science but you struggle with it.
Don Kelly knows he is gone after the season but has a cool local kid dream to not only play for the Pirates but also be the Manager. No way Neal Walker was going to take the bench coach job just to be let go at end of season as well. Walker can continue to do the Pirates color commentary part-time and have that job for the rest of his life.
I wouldn’t write Kelly off so fast. There is a lot of season left.
The Pirates have been playing better under Kelly. They are 11-13 under Kelly with a run differential of minus one. While they have been shut out three times, they have shut out their opponents four times. Under Shelton, they were 12-26 with a run differential of minus 57.
Skeptical- I like you prefer to judge someone on more than 24 games.
The lineups have been much more stable and his use of the bullpen is better although still needs work.
He does inject enthusiasm which is one thing that Shelton was not good at.
He needs to have a winning season to guarantee a spot but this is his first manager’s job and we need to be patient in the same way as one has to be patient with young hitters.
At least they seem to be competitive which is one thing that everyone knew that they would not be under Shelton.
Born and raised pirates fan. They stink. Had season tickets 2008-2012. Kelly inherited the Shelton mind set of putting up terrible lineups and poor use of bullpen. Yes, I know there isn’t much to work with. But when Hayes sucks and is your number 5 hitter and only has a glove for his 3B position expected for power and Reynolds stinking it up and Cutch being the old man on campus, nothing is going to change this year. And GM Ben should have already cut Pham and play some younger players. Even let anyone else play over him. What a waste of 4 million bucks. Kelly is dead man walking but I’m sure he is enjoying the ride.
“Reynolds stinking it up”? Reynolds has raised his batting average by 41 points since May 14th. Reynolds historically starts slow and hits better as the weather warms up.
As to McCutchen “being the old man on campus”, is that a good thing or bad thing? He is still an above average hitter (OPS+ 108)
And we released this guy and kept Triolo who is starting tonight at first base. Ouch.
Can’t we send this guy down to Indy or was he out of options?