Morning Rundown Pirates sign Michael Plassmeyer, linked to multiple free agents
Pirates make minor league signing, plus are rumored to interested in multiple free agents
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed left-handed pitcher Michael Plassmeyer to a minor-league contract, according to his MiLB.com page, the deal was made on December 29.
The 27-year-old Plassmeyer was a fourth-round pick back in 2018 by the Seattle Mariners out of the University of Missouri.
He pitched last year in the Phillies system, making 14 starts across 16 appearances for the Lehigh IronPigs (Triple-A), posting a 5.05 ERA (5.15 xFIP) across 67.2 innings pitched while striking out 24.7% of the batters he faced.
Plassmeyer has made three appearances in the major leagues, one of which was a start, and has posted an 0-2 record along with a 9.82 ERA with one walk (but hit three batters) while striking out 11 across 11 innings pitched.
Digging deeper on Prospects Live, he threw five pitches - fastball, sinker, slider, change-up, cutter. He threw the fastball 55% of the time, with an in-zone rate of 56.5%, while also getting a 23.5% whiff rate.
His slider drew a 36.5% miss rate while throwing it 19.6% of the time, his second most used pitch. The fastball graded out well using the Stuff+ model on the site, with a 114.5 Stuff+. The cutter (113) and slider (104.63) were also graded above average according to the metric.
He also throws from a lower arm slot, which isn’t too much of a surprise if you’ve read the site.
According to Fansided insider Robert Murray, the Pirates are among the teams interested in center fielder Michael A. Taylor. One of the best defensive center fielders in the game, and a right-handed bat, Taylor would undoubtedly fit a need for the Pirates.
The Mets recently signed another defensive-minded center fielder, Harrison Bader, for $10.5 million.
Jon Heyman mentions that the Pirates are also interested in a reunion with Carlos Santana, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
With the signing of Rowdy Tellez and Andrew McCutchen, bringing in Santana would be odd, but he could become a platoon partner with the former at first. That seemed to be the original plan when they signed him and traded for Ji-Man Choi, but the latter struggled to stay healthy.
The same Heyman article also mentions that the Pirates are looking into mid-range starting pitchers, which wouldn’t be too surprising as it was their most significant need going into the off-season.
They’ve addressed it multiple times, but the upside of both seemed limited as far as impact.
Don't get me wrong, I like Santana better than Rowdy, but we don't need both of them. Already have Cutch as a DH only guy & Joe as RF/1B against lefties. Lots of guys to jam into DH/1B/RF Platoons.
Could absolutely use a solid defensive CF though
The Pirates can sign a potential TOR arm in Trevor Bauer. Why not a one year deal with an option or two? Not like he’s in a position of power to negotiate a player friendly deal...