Pirates sign left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve to minor league deal
The Pittsburgh Pirates added a left-handed reliever to their bullpen Sunday when they signed Chasen Shreve to a minor league contract with a spring training invitation.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Shreve will receive $1.5 million guaranteed if he makes the major league roster.
An 11th-round pick by the Atlanta Braves in 2010, Shreve is 17-8 with a 3.74 ERA in seven major league seasons with the Braves, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. He has been traded twice, including once in a deal for slugger Luke Voit in July 2018, and was designated for assignment by the Cardinals in March 2019 but cleared waivers.
Shreve was 1-0 with a 3.76 ERA in 25 innings over 17 appearances last season with the Mets, recording 34 strikeouts and 12 walks. He relies primarily on a four-seam fastball and a splitter, and his 33% whiff rate was baseball’s best by a left-hander with at least 25 innings pitched. He also ranked among the hardest-hit pitchers, with an average exit velocity of 90.8 mph.
Shreve joins Austin Davis and Sam Howard to give the Pirates a potential third left-handed option out of their bullpen.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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