Pittsburgh Pirates sign OF Matt Joyce to minor league deal

As spring training looms, the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up a potential fourth outfielder option in free agent Matt Joyce.

 

As first reported  by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed free agent outfielder Matthew Joyce to a minor league contract.

Here at Pirates Breakdown, we recently wondered if the Pirates had enough pure outfield depth behind their star trio of Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco, and Starling Marte. This deal may indicate that the team had those same questions. While Sean Rodriguez and Jason Rogers both could spend time in the outfield as that fourth option, the team lacked a true outfield-focused bench player heading into spring training.

Joyce will look to rebound from a couple of wayward seasons after an All-Star 2011 campaign. Below are his career stats coupled with 162-game averages.

Year G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
2008 92 277 242 40 61 16 3 12 33 31 65 .252 .339 .492 .831
2009 11 37 32 3 6 1 0 3 7 3 7 .188 .270 .500 .770
2010 77 261 216 30 52 15 3 10 40 40 55 .241 .360 .477 .837
2011 ★ 141 522 462 69 128 32 2 19 75 49 106 .277 .347 .478 .825
2012 124 462 399 55 96 18 3 17 59 55 102 .241 .341 .429 .769
2013 140 481 413 61 97 22 0 18 47 59 87 .235 .328 .419 .747
2014 140 493 418 51 106 23 2 9 52 62 111 .254 .349 .383 .732
2015 93 284 247 17 43 12 1 5 21 30 67 .174 .272 .291 .564
8 Yrs 818 2817 2429 326 589 139 14 93 334 329 600 .242 .335 .426 .761
162 Game Avg. 162 558 481 65 117 28 3 18 66 65 119 .242 .335 .426 .761
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/18/2016.

Joyce also is a left-handed bat, which should play well in the National League Central.

At this time, financial terms are not yet available, but the money won’t be an issue as it’s just a minor league deal.

Thanks for checking us out here at Pirates Breakdown. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook for the best Pirates coverage all year long!

Arrow to top