The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they agreed to terms with 25-year-old RHP Trey Haley on a one-year deal. The money in the deal has not yet been announced. Haley was previously with the Cleveland Indians organization, spending 2015 pitching between Double-A and Triple-A. He was the Indians second round pick in the 2009 Draft.
Haley is coming off a good season for the Akron RubberDucks and the Columbus Clippers, as he went 4-4 with a 2.45 ERA between the two clubs.
Haley is most likely minor league depth and an arm for Spring Training. Don’t think he’ll end up contributing to the big league club much in 2016, but he seems like a solid arm to have for minor league depth at either Double-A Altoona or Triple-A Indianapolis. He has a career 4.66 ERA in 411.2 minor league innings.
Haley has been known to throw in the high 90s and has touched 100 MPH with his fastball. He also saw a lot of the Altoona Curve in 2015 and he dominated them, holding the team to a .096 batting average with 12 strikeouts. So the Pirates’ scouts likely got a good look at him. He’s also another above-average arm as it seems the Pirates’ strategy with relief pitchers this off-season has been all about velocity, as all the bullpen pitchers they have added have plus arms and regularly reach 95-100 MPH.
This is one of those under-the-radar minor league signings that all teams make in preparation for Spring Training. You need arms for camp and the exhibition games and a 25-year-old pitcher with a career 10.06 strikeouts per nine innings isn’t a bad arm to have. If he figures it out and ends up contributing anything to the major league roster, that’s a huge win, and if he doesn’t, you still have his arm in Triple-A or Double-A to provide depth for when other pitchers get called up to The Show.
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