Former Pirates first baseman/outfielder Jose Osuna has signed a one-year deal to play for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Japan next season.
Designated for assignment on the same day as Osuna, pitcher Trevor Williams has opted for free agency rather than accepting assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis. With 93 starts in four seasons, Williams had a 4.34 earned run average, but last season, his ERA ballooned to 6.18 in 11 starts, with an MLB-worst 15 home runs surrendered.
Major League Baseball yesterday announced a new five-team “MLB Draft League,” which will be a wooden bat summer league for draft-eligible college prospects. One of the teams will be the West Virginia Black Bears, which had fallen victim to MLB’s minor league contraction from 160 to 120 teams.
The league will feature regional teams. In addition to West Virginia, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, State College Spikes, Trenton Thunder, and Williamsport Crosscutters will be revived.
The Pirates also lost their rookie league Bristol (Virginia) team to contraction, but it will be part of an MLB-sponsored 54-game wooden bat summer league for college freshmen and sophomores, designed for former Appalachian League teams to compete with the long-established Cape Cod League for prospects.
Comments