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Kevin Plawecki Will Not Make Pirates’ Roster

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Veteran catcher Kevin Plawecki, who’s been in camp with the Pirates this spring as a non-roster invitee, has been informed he won’t make the club, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets. The catcher’s locker has been emptied out, and John Perrotto of Pittsburgh Baseball Now writes that Plawecki will exercise the opt-out clause in his contract. Plawecki has an opt-out afforded to him as an Article XX(B) free agent (that is, a player with six-plus years of service who ended the preceding season on a Major League roster or injured list). The formal date for that opt-out is tomorrow, but it’s possible the Bucs gave him the courtesy of allowing him to step away sooner in order to have more time to search for a new opportunity.

Plawecki, 32, went 4-for-17 with a pair of doubles, no walks and two strikeouts in limited time with the Pirates this spring. He’s coming off a 2022 season in which he batted .220/.286/.286 with eight doubles in 186 plate appearances between the Red Sox and Rangers.

A veteran of eight big league seasons, Plawecki is a lifetime .235/.313/.341 hitter in the Majors. He’s primarily operated as a backup throughout his career. Plawecki drew plus grades for his defense and framing early in his career, but his framing has been closer to average over the past couple years and Statcast has dinged his blocking skills as below-average in that time. Plawecki has a strong reputation both in the clubhouse and for his work with pitchers; both Nathan Eovaldi and Rich Hill expressed frustration and disappointment to WEEI’s Rob Bradford last year following the Red Sox’ decision to release Plawecki late in the year.

For the Pirates, subtracting Plawecki from camp likely means either Tyler Heineman or Jason Delay will be the backup to starter Austin Hedges. Neither has hit particularly well this spring — Heineman is 1-for-17, Delay is 2-for-12 — but both appeared in at least 52 games with Pittsburgh last season and are already familiar with the pitching staff. Neither player is currently on the 40-man roster.

Pirates Outright Six Players

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The Pirates have outrighted Peter Solomon, Beau Sulser, Jason Delay, Blake Cederlind, Eric Stout and Zack Collins off their 40-man roster, per a team announcement. Both Stout and Collins have elected free agency. The made the moves after reinstating Canaan Smith-Njigba, Colin Holderman, Yerry De Los Santos, Cederlind and Max Kranick off the 60-day IL.

Solomon, 26, was claimed off waivers from the Astros in September. He never made it to the majors in Pittsburgh, staying at Triple-A for his brief stint with the Bucs. Across both team’s Triple-A affiliates he threw 109 2/3 innings of 5.58 ERA ball, striking out eight batters per nine innings and walking 4.4. He did make it to the majors in 2021 for the Astros, throwing 14 innings of 1.29 ERA ball, although that was held together by an 88.9% LOB rate.

Sulser was a tenth round draft pick in 2017, and made it to the majors for the first time in 2022. He had a 3.72 ERA across 9 2/3 innings in Pittsburgh, before the Orioles claimed him off waivers in May. There, he spent much of the year in the minors but threw 12 2/3 innings of 3.55 ERA ball in the bigs. Altogether, Sulser would strike out 19.1% of major league batters and walk 9.1% in 2022.

The Pirates used no fewer than eight catchers in 2022, and despite Delay spending the first few months of the season at Triple-A, he wound up as their starter by season’s end and his 57 games at catcher were the most on the team. Across those appearances, he hit just .213/.265/.271 with one home run. The bat was never Delay’s strength, and he does grade out well defensively behind the plate.

Cederlind came through the Pirates system as a strong relief pitcher, but injuries have derailed his career in recently. After making his major league debut in 2020 and tossing four innings out of Pittsburgh’s bullpen he underwent Tommy John surgery in early 2021. That is never a quick recovery, but Cederlind had to undergo a second surgery this year to remove loose bodies from his elbow, and as such never pitched in either 2021 or 2022.

Pittsburgh purchased Stout from the Cubs midway through the 2022 campaign, and wound up throwing 18 2/3 innings out of their bullpen. His 5.79 ERA doesn’t show much promise, and Stout will need to find a way to limit the walks, after he gave up 15 free passes this season in Pittsburgh.

The sixth man to be outrighted was Collins, a former top-100 prospect out of the White Sox system. It never worked out for the catcher in Chicago, and the White Sox shipped him to the Blue Jays for Reese McGuire at the start of the season. He struggled there, hitting .194/.266/.417 with four home runs across 79 plate appearances. The Pirates claimed him off waivers in September, but he picked up just a solitary hit across 29 plate appearances.

After these moves, and Pittsburgh’s earlier acquisition of first baseman Ji-Man Choi from the Rays, their 40-man roster is full.

Pirates Select Jason Delay, Recall Canaan Smith-Njigba

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The Pirates announced they’ve selected catcher Jason Delay onto the major league roster, with reliever Duane Underwood Jr. landing on the COVID-19 injured list in a corresponding move. Pittsburgh also recalled outfield prospect Canaan Smith-Njigba and infielder Hoy Park, optioning outfielder Travis Swaggerty and reliever Aaron Fletcher to Triple-A Indianapolis.

Delay, 27, was a fourth-round senior sign out of Vanderbilt back in 2017. He has spent the past six years in the minor leagues, reaching Triple-A for the first time last season. Delay is a career .230/.302/.332 hitter in a bit more than 800 professional plate appearances. He’ll add some depth beyond the primary catching tandem of Tyler Heineman and Michael Pérez.

Smith-Njigba is also up for his first big league look. Pittsburgh added the Dallas native to their 40-man roster to keep him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft, but he’s spent the entire season thus far in Indianapolis. A former 4th-round pick of the Yankees, Smith-Njigba went to the Bucs as part of the January 2021 trade that landed Jameson Taillon in the Bronx. Baseball America has slotted him near the back of the Pirates top 30 prospects in each of the past two years, writing that his combination of bat-to-ball skills and raw power could give him a chance to carve out a role in a corner outfield rotation.

Through 218 plate appearances in Triple-A, Smith-Njigba is hitting .277/.387/.408. He’s walked in a robust 15.1% of his plate appearances against an average 23.9% strikeout rate. The left-handed hitter has only one home run with Indianapolis, but he nevertheless did enough to convince the front office he merited a major league look. He’ll take the active roster spot of Swaggerty, a former first-rounder and another notable prospect who was promoted for the first time on June 4. The South Alabama product appeared in five games, collecting a hit in nine at-bats before being sent down.

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