The Pittsburgh Pirates have reached into their minor league depth for reinforcements
The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced that they have brought up Max Moroff and Chris Bostick from Triple-A Indianapolis.
They have correspondingly sent Elias Diaz and Phil Gosselin to Indianapolis, this as per Pirates Prospects’ Brian Peloza.
Phil Gosselin is starting tonight for Indianapolis. Adam Frazier will begin his rehab, but unclear if tonight. Diaz also back. #Pirates
— Brian Peloza (@BrianPeloza) May 8, 2017
A Power Surge and A Confident Bat
By now, Pittsburgh Pirates fans have likely heard of Max Moroff’s offensive output with the Indians. Moroff has slugged eight home runs, already tying his season-long career best tally in just 97 at bats. Moroff had a cameo with the big league club last season, but looked overmatched in his two major league plate appearances.
Moroff does carry at 32.9 percent strikeout to go along with those bombs, but ends up with a solid slash of .258/.345/.546. It will be interesting to see if he can carry his hot bat against major league pitching. The 23 year-old is primarily listed as a second baseman, but has spent the majority of his time in 2017 at shortstop. There he has played 131 innings to date this season, committing six errors at the position, 10 errors in total when factoring in additional innings at second and third.
Bostick was acquired from the Washington Nationals in exchange for nondescript catcher Taylor Gushie in late September. Prior to the acquisition, Bostick was rated as the Nationals’ number 25 prospect by Baseball America. He drew praise for his base running tool and line drive/all fields hitting ability. Concerns about his defense arose as his skills there, while average, do not play particularly well at any one position.
Nevertheless, has split time almost evenly between the corner outfield spots (four games in RF; eight games in LF) and infield positions (three games at 3B; eight at 2B). In his combined 207.1 innings in the field this season, he has committed two errors – one in left field. It is clear that the Pittsburgh Pirates value his glove in the outfield in light of John Jaso’s recent struggles.
Bostick carries a terrific 16.4 percent strikeout rate to go along with a .320/.347/495 slash. Though his home run power has been rated as average, Bostick has slugged seven doubles in 97 at-bats this season.
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