The Pirates have signed right-handers Tanner Rainey and Hunter Stratton to minors offers, as respectively reported by Simply Baseball’s Aram Leighton (X hyperlink) and Stratton’s MLB.com profile web page. Rainey’s contract incorporates an invite to the Pirates’ massive league spring camp, and it may be assumed that Stratton’s deal additionally has an invitation, although Stratton’s unsure well being scenario within the wake of knee surgical procedure might restrict his participation in Spring Coaching.
Rainey heads to Pittsburgh after a topsy-turvy six-year run with the Nationals, highlighted by a World Collection ring in his first yr with the membership. Rainey delivered a 3.91 ERA and 34.6% strikeout in 48 1/3 reduction innings for that 2019 championship workforce, but additionally had an unpleasant 17.8% stroll fee. These management points plagued Rainey for many of his time in Washington, and he additionally missed just about all the 2023 season whereas recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure.
After Rainey posted a 4.76 ERA, 19% strikeout fee, and 12.6% stroll fee over 51 innings in 2024, the Nationals unsurprisingly determined to non-tender the righty, although Rainey was projected for a modest $1.9MM arbitration wage. Now getting into his age-32 season, Rainey will look to rebuild himself within the Bucs’ spring camp, and hopefully regain a number of the kind and velocity that made him a helpful bullpen asset for the Nats in 2020 and 2022.
Stratton was additionally non-tendered by the Pirates in November, however there was an expectation that Pittsburgh would (simply as they did final offseason) re-sign the righty to a brand new minor league deal. Stratton has a powerful 3.26 ERA and 4.9% stroll fee throughout 49 2/3 profession Main League innings, all with Pittsburgh over the past two seasons. Regardless of an absence of huge strikeout totals, Stratton’s potential to induce mushy contact has made him an attention-grabbing reduction possibility out of the Pirates’ bullpen.
Sadly for Stratton, his 2024 season was reduce brief by a flukish harm on August 24 that left him with a ruptured patellar tendon. Stratton was behind residence plate at PNC Park and pursuing a free ball when he stumbled into the stone wall, inflicting the harm and placing his profession on maintain for an estimated 7-10 months. This fluid timeline signifies that Stratton would return anyplace from Opening Day to late June, however the minor league contract offers him loads of time to completely get himself proper throughout Spring Coaching or within the Pirates’ farm system.