Morning Rundown: Pirates sign Yohan Ramirez, Kervin Pichardo hits double in AFL
Morning Rundown: Pirates sign Yohan Ramirez, Kervin Pichardo hits double in AFL
Pirates make minor league signing, Pichardo knocks double in fall league
Kervin Pichardo hits a double for Scottsdale
Game recap by John Dreker
The Scottsdale Scorpions hit the road to take on the Mesa Solar Sox in Arizona Fall League action on Thursday evening. Two Pittsburgh Pirates were in the starting lineup. Sammy Siani batted second and played center field. Shortstop Kervin Pichardo batted seventh in the lineup. This was just the second time all fall that no Pirates pitchers saw action. Scottsdale used three Pirates position players in that previous game.
Siani lined out to center field in his first at-bat. Pichardo had a rough second inning. He grounded out to second base for the final out of the top of the inning, then committed an error which led to the first run of the game for Mesa in the bottom of the second. Siani struck out swinging to end the top of the third.
Pichardo struck out swinging in the fifth inning. Siani singled in the sixth. Pichardo hit his third double of the fall in the seventh inning. Siani ended the Pirates action for the day with a swinging strikeout in the eighth inning.
Siani ended up 1-for-4 with a single. He is now hitting .371/.405/.514 through 37 plate appearances (nine games).
Pichardo finished 1-for-3 with a double. He has a .292/.393/.625 slash line through 28 plate appearances (seven games).
Scottsdale lost 4-1, which dropped them to a 5-9 record. The Scorpions stay on the road to take on the Surprise Saguaros (8-5 record) tonight at 4:30 PM EST.
According to John Dreker on Twitter, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed right-handed pitcher Yohan Ramirez to a minor-league deal.
Ramirez, 29, pitched for four teams last year, posting a 6.20 ERA (4.58 xFIP) while striking out 45 batters and walking 17 in 45 innings pitched. He pitched for the Mets, Orioles, Dodgers, and Red Sox.
He pitched for the Pirates during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. In his last year in the organization (2023), Ramirez posted a 3.67 ERA (4.56 xFIP) with 31 strikeouts and 14 walks in 34.1 innings pitched.
According to statcast, he’s primarily a sinker/sweeper pitcher, although he was credited with adding a curveball this year.
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I kind of liked Ramirez when he was with us before...Overall he was awful last year as -1.1 bWAR in only 45 innings attests (Ben has never shied away from acquiring players with negative WAR values). However, if you remove his first 3 and last 3 appearances, his line looks decent--3.65 ERA, .688 OPS with 36 K's and only 9 BB's in 37 innings.
The Scorpions have been terrible this Fall, but mostly due to a severe lack of quality pitching. I like the performance that Sammy Siani is putting forth and could take a major step upward in 2025.
My time of year to review Infield, Outfield, Catching personnel with what a good GM would do in prep for 2025. Catching is going to be Bart, Endy, with Delay at AAA and traveling back to the Pirates as needed. Still considering the OF. So, Infielders - 10 total in no particular order - Gonzales, Triolo, Yorke, IKF, Bae, Peguero, Williams, Hayes, Cook, Joe.
Pick 5. My five from L to R would be Hayes 3B, Peguero SS, Yorke 2B, Cook 1B, Triolo UT IF. Endy Rodriguez will play some at 1B, and Cook will play some at CF/RF. Keep Williams at AAA (JIC), and the others could be joined by some pitching to make a significant trade or two.