Morning Rundown: Pirates sign Eric Lauer to minor league contract, Spring Breakout roster
Pirates sign another starting pitcher, rosters to the first Spring Breakout released
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed left-handed pitcher Eric Lauer to a minor league contract with an invite to major league camp.
If that name is familiar to Pirates fans, it’s because Lauer has spent the last four years with the Milwaukee Brewers.
He dealt with injuries last year but combined to win 18 games in 2021 and 2021 while posting a low 4.00 xFIP each season.
Going back to his Baseball Savant page for the 2022 season, Lauer was a fastball-heavy pitcher (over 40% usage), but the pitch finished with a +9 run value. Opponents hit just .193 against the pitch, and he got a 29.8% whiff rate.
The Pirates had a few players on the 40-man roster competing for the last two rotation spots - Bailey Falter, Roansy Contreras, Quinn Priester, and Luis Ortiz.
They also had a couple of NRIs in camp with starting experience—Wily Peralta and Chase Anderson—and Jared Jones, one of their top pitching prospects.
Jones, Priester, and Ortiz haven’t looked horrible this spring, but the Pirates decided to bring in more competition anyway.
It’s an interesting contrast from the rest of the players competing for a spot, as most of them struggle to get swings and misses with their fastball, while Lauer was nearly at 30% in his last healthy season.
The rosters for the first-ever Spring Breakout were announced on Thursday on the MLB Network. The event will feature each team’s best prospects competing against another organization in an exhibition game from March 14 to 16.
The Pirates will face the Baltimore Orioles and top prospect Jackson Holliday.
The Pirates will get to flex their strength when it comes to pitching prospects, with Paul Skenes, Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler, and Thomas Harrington all set to participate.
For the entire roster, you can follow the link here. I’ll have a more in-depth look at the roster later today.
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Side note, it's kind of funny witnessing Pens media go through the same trauma we do every trade deadline.
"Oh, we're gotta be getting a haul for this guy"
*Trade announced*
"Um. Well. It is indeed a trade"
I really like the Lauer pick up. He wasn’t healthy last year and other than last year he’s been a good pitcher. Wouldn’t surprise me if he is in the rotation over Gonzales at some point this year. The hope is the rotation is something like 1. Keller 2. Skenes 3. Jones 4. Contreras 5. Priester/Ortiz/Perez by July though.