Morning Rundown: Pirates trade for Chase Shugart, Termarr Johnson among top second base prospects
Pirates make another trade with the Red Sox, Termarr Johnson named one of best second base prospects on MLB Pipeline
The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired right-handed pitcher Chase Shugart from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Matt McShane.
Shugart, 28, was designated for assignment on Wednesday and then later flipped to the Pirates. He made his major league debut in 2024, striking out eight batters in 8.2 innings and posting a 4.15 ERA.
He spent most of the season in Triple-A, striking out 80 batters in 70.2 innings.
Looking at his Triple-A statcast numbers, his Sweeper graded well and had a whiff rate of over 40%.
In his brief time in the majors, the sinker and sweeper graded out with a +1 Run Value.
McShane was the Pirates’ 13th-round pick last year out of St. Joseph’s. He has yet to make his official debut but pitched a couple of times in the Bridge League after the FCL finished.
He had a mid-90s fastball with some positive shape characteristics, a slider, and a curveball.
MLB Pipeline has been rolling out their top 10 prospects at each position, with second base on Friday. Termarr Johnson was ranked as the sixth-best second-base prospect in all of baseball.
After doing catcher and first base earlier in the week, this is the first time a prospect from the Pirates system has been included.
Roki Sasaki has finally made his decision on where he is going to sign. To almost no one’s surprise, he has decided to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Things seemed to be shifting toward the Dodgers ultimately being the final decision for some time, and a couple of days after the International signing period opened, he signed.
One of the more hyped players coming through the International amateur process, Sasaki should easily be the top prospect in the game and make the opening-day roster.
He’ll join a stacked rotation that should eventually include Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, and Blake Snell.
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Dodgers are trying to become the 1970’s USSR Hockey team. Can’t wait for the Pirates to be the 1980 USA Hockey team.
# DuckTheFodgers
Pass the Shugart!!