The Pirates announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Hunter Stratton from Triple-A Indianapolis, with left-hander Rob Zastryzny designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Stratton, 26, was a 16th-round pick of the Pirates in the 2017 draft and has been working his way up to the majors since then. He generally posts high strikeout totals but with lots of walks as well, and that has continued to be the case this year. In 56 1/3 Triple-A innings this season, he has a 3.99 earned run average, striking out 30.6% of batters faced while giving out free passes at a 12.8% clip. He will now get a chance to get major league hitters out, making his big league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Zastryzny, 31, is designated for assignment by the Bucs for the second time this year. He signed a minor league deal with the club in the offseason and cracked the Opening Day roster. He was designated for assignment in July and accepted an outright assignment after clearing waivers. He was added back to the roster a couple of weeks ago but has lost his spot again. Between those two stints, he tossed 20 2/3 innings with a 4.79 ERA, 15.5% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate.
The club will place him back on waivers in the coming days. He’s out of options, so any claiming club would have to add him to their active roster. He has just over a year of service time, meaning he could be retained for five more seasons if any club were willing to give him that roster spot. But the last time he was put on waivers, he passed through and stuck with the Pirates, which could perhaps happen again in the days to come.
