Pittsburgh Pirates minor league players
Below are the rosters of the minor league affiliates of the Pittsburgh Pirates:
Players
Stephen Alemais
Stephen Gavin Alemais is an American professional baseball shortstop in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Alemais was born in the Bronx, New York and attended All Hallows High School. He earned all-state honors in his junior and senior years, and all-district, all-city, and all-league honors in his sophomore, junior, and senior year. He currently holds the schools' single season hit record. Undrafted out of high school in the 2013 MLB draft, he enrolled at Tulane University where he played college baseball. In 2015, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In 2016, his junior year at Tulane, he slashed.311/.368/.401 with one home run, 28 RBIs, and 19 stolen bases in 53 games, earning American Athletic Conference First Team honors. After the season, he was selected in the third round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 105th overall pick.
Alemais signed with Pittsburgh and made his professional debut with the West Virginia Black Bears before being promoted to the West Virginia Power in August. In fifty games, he hit.249 with one home run and twenty RBIs. In 2017, he played for the Power and the Bradenton Marauders along with making a rehab appearance with the Gulf Coast League Pirates. In 67 total games, he batted.265 with four home runs and 34 RBIS. In 2018, he played for the Altoona Curve, slashing.279/.346/.346 with one home run, 34 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases in 120 games. He returned to Altoona to begin 2019.
Cody Bolton
Carl Donovan Bolton is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Bolton attended Tracy High School in Tracy, California. As a senior, he went 9–2 with a 1.13 ERA, striking out 97 batters in 68 innings. After his senior year, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth round of the 2017 MLB draft. He signed with the Pirates, forgoing his commitment to play college baseball at the University of Michigan.
After signing, Bolton made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Pirates. In nine starts, he pitched to a 3.16 ERA. Bolton spent 2018 with the West Virginia Power, going 3–3 with a 3.65 ERA in nine starts, and began 2019 with the Bradenton Marauders, where he was named Florida State League Pitcher of the Week on May 13 as well as a Florida State League All-Star. He was promoted to the Altoona Curve in June. Over 21 starts between the two clubs, Bolton went 8–6 with a 3.28 ERA, striking out 102 over innings.
Blake Cederlind
Blake Cederlind is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Cederlind attended Turlock High School in Turlock, California, where he played baseball and was teammates with Brett Cumberland and Kevin Kramer. In 2014, his senior year, he went 8–1 with a 1.50 ERA along with batting.289. He was not drafted out of high school in the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, and he enrolled at Merced College where he played college baseball.
As a freshman at Merced in 2015, Cederlind went 3–1 with a 7.89 ERA over innings. After the year, he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 22nd round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. In 2016, his sophomore year at Merced, he appeared in 23 games in which he compiled a 5–2 record and 3.75 ERA while striking out 63 batters in innings. Following the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Cederlind in the fifth round the 2016 Major League Baseball draft.
Cederlind signed with Pittsburgh for $285,000, and was assigned to the Bristol Pirates. Over six starts, he went 0–1 with a 4.67 ERA. In 2017, Cederlind spent the season with the West Virginia Power where he pitched to a 2–3 record and 7.76 ERA over 25 games, striking out 55 batters over 58 innings. He returned to West Virginia to begin the 2018 season, and was promoted to the Bradenton Marauders in June. Over innings between both teams, he pitched to a 4–4 record and 4.89 ERA while striking out 54 batters. Cederlind returned to Bradenton to begin 2019 before being promoted to the Altoona Curve in May. In August, he was promoted to the Indianapolis Indians, with whom he finished the season. Over 41 relief appearances between the three clubs, Cederlind went 5–2 with a 2.28 ERA, striking out 55 over innings.
Cederlind was added to the Pirates 40–man roster following the 2019 season.
On July 5, 2020, it was announced that Cederlind had tested positive for COVID-19.
Oneil Cruz
Oneil Cruz is a professional baseball player in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Cruz signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2015 as an international free agent for a $950,000 signing bonus. Cruz made his professional debut in 2016 with DSL Dodgers 1, batting.294 with 23 RBIs in 55 games. He began the 2017 season with the Great Lakes Loons.
On July 31, 2017, the Dodgers traded Cruz and Angel German to the Pirates in exchange for Tony Watson. He was then assigned to the West Virginia Power. In 105 games between the two clubs, he slashed.237/.297/.350 with ten home runs and 44 RBIs. In 2018, he played for the West Virginia Black Bears, batting.286 with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs in 103 games, earning South Atlantic League All-Star honors. Cruz began 2019 with the Class A Advanced Bradenton Marauders and was promoted to Double-A Altoona Curve on July 30. He missed two months during the season after suffering a fractured foot.
Cruz was added to the Pirates 40–man roster following the 2019 season.
Cruz, the son of retired minor league baseball player Rafael Cruz, is unusually tall for a shortstop. He is listed as 6-foot-6 and 175 pounds. The only taller major league SS was 6-foot-7 Joel Guzmán, who played nine innings for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007. There has been three 6-foot-5 major leaguers who started some games at short: Archi Cianfrocco, Troy Glaus and Michael Morse.
Brennan Malone
Brennan Russell Malone is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Malone attended Porter Ridge High School in Indian Trail, North Carolina before transferring to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for his senior year. At IMG, he was recorded throwing as high as 97 miles per hour. He committed to play college baseball at the University of North Carolina.
Malone was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round of the 2019 MLB draft, making him one of only three high school pitchers selected in the first round of the 2019 MLB draft. He signed for $2.2 million. After signing, he was assigned to the Arizona League Diamondbacks, going 1–2 with a 5.14 ERA over seven innings. He also pitched in one game for the Hillsboro Hops at the end of the year.
On January 27, 2020 the Diamondbacks traded Malone and Liover Peguero to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Starling Marte and cash considerations.
Mason Martin
Mason Neil Martin is an American professional baseball first baseman in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Martin attended Southridge High School in Kennewick, Washington, where he played football and baseball. In 2017, his senior year, he hit.507 with five home runs and ten stolen bases. After his senior year, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 17th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft. He signed for $350,000, forgoing his commitment to play college baseball at Gonzaga University.
After signing with the Pirates, Martin made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Pirates, slashing.307/.457/.630 with 11 home runs and 22 RBIs over 39 games, earning the title of Gulf Coast League Most Valuable Player. Martin began the 2018 season with the West Virginia Power, but was reassigned to the Bristol Pirates halfway through the year. Over 104 games between the two teams, he batted.220 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs. In 2019, he began the year with the Greensboro Grasshoppers before being promoted to the Bradenton Marauders in July, with whom he finished the season. Over 131 games, Martin slashed.254/.351/.558 with 35 home runs and 129 RBIs. Following the season, he was named Pittsburgh's Minor League Player of the Year.
Calvin Mitchell
Calvin David Mitchell is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Mitchell graduated from Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego, California, where he played four years of varsity baseball. As a junior in 2016, he batted.371 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. In 2017, as a senior, he batted.369 with 11 home runs and 34 RBIs. For his high school career, he batted.337 with 29 home runs and 120 RBIs. Mitchell committed to the University of San Diego to play college baseball for the San Diego Toreros baseball team. However, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the second round of the 2017 MLB draft and he signed for $1.4 million, forging his commitment to USD.
After signing, Mitchell made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Pirates. He spent the whole season there, batting.245 with two home runs and 20 RBIs in 43 games. He spent 2018 with the West Virginia Power. He was named the South Atlantic League Player of the Week for April 16–22 after hitting.467 with one home run, nine RBIs, and a 1.233 OPS, and also earned South Atlantic League All-Star honors. In 119 games for the Power, he hit.280 with ten home runs and 65 RBIs. He spent 2019 with the Bradenton Marauders, with whom he was named a Florida State League All-Star. Over 118 games, he slashed.251/.304/.406 with 15 home runs and 64 RBIs.
Jared Oliva
Jared Cole Oliva is an American professional baseball center fielder in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Oliva attended Valencia High School in Valencia, California. As a senior, he hit.325 with 11 stolen bases. Undrafted in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft, he enrolled at the University of Arizona where he walked on to the Arizona Wildcats baseball team.
Olvia redshirted his freshman year at Arizona in 2014. In 2015, as a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 43 games in which he hit.272 with one home run and twenty RBIs. That summer, he played in the Northwoods League for the Wisconsin Woodchucks. As a redshirt sophomore in 2016, he batted.239 with four home runs, 34 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases over seventy games. After the season, he returned to play in the Northwoods League. In 2017, his redshirt junior year, Oliva slashed.321/.385/.498 with four home runs and 54 RBIs in 59 games, earning All-Pac-12 First Team honors alongside earning a spot on the All-Pac-12 All-Defensive Team after posting a.985 fielding percentage. After the season, he was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft.
Oliva signed with the Pirates for $200,000, and made his professional debut with the West Virginia Black Bears. Over 56 games, he hit.266 with 17 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Oliva spent the 2018 season with the Bradenton Marauders, slashing.275/.354/.424 with nine home runs, 47 RBIs, and 33 stolen bases in 108 games. In 2019, he played with the Altoona Curve, batting.277/.352/.398 with six home runs, 42 RBIs, and 36 stolen bases over 123 games. After the season, he was assigned to the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League, earning Fall All-Star honors.
Blake Weiman
Blake Gerald Weiman is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.Weiman attended Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. He signed to play college baseball at the University of Kansas. During his high school career, he played in three Colorado Rockies Futures games. In 2014, as a senior, he went 7–0 with a 1.40 ERA and was named to the All-Colorado baseball team. Undrafted out of high school in the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, he enrolled at Kansas.
In 2015, as a freshman at Kansas, Weiman appeared in 21 games, going 2–7 with a 6.75 ERA. As a sophomore in 2016, he became a full-time starter, appearing in 17 games in which he went 2–7 with a 6.82 ERA. In 2017, in Weiman's junior season, he moved to the bullpen where he greatly improved, pitching to a 5–1 record with a 2.80 ERA, striking out 55 batters in 45 relief innings pitched. After his junior year, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft.
Weiman signed with Pittsburgh and made his professional debut with the West Virginia Black Bears, going 4–3 with a 3.78 ERA in 21 relief appearances. He began the 2018 season with the West Virginia Power and was promoted to the Bradenton Marauders and Altoona Curve throughout the year. In 67 relief innings pitched between the three clubs, he went 4–1 with a 2.42 ERA and 77 strikeouts. After the season, he played for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League and was named to the Fall Stars Game. Weiman was a non-roster invitee to 2019 spring training. He returned to Altoona to begin 2019, and was promoted to the Indianapolis Indians in June after pitching to a 1.86 ERA over relief innings. Over eight relief appearances with Indianapolis, Weiman went 0–1 with a 4.63 ERA. He missed nearly all of the last two months of the season due to injury.