The Pirates have released first baseman John Nogowski and outfielder Ka’ai Tom, relays Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). Both players had been with Triple-A Indianapolis after being outrighted last month. Each of Nogowski and Tom would have qualified for minor league free agency this offseason if not reselected to the 40-man roster before the end of the year. The Pittsburgh front office evidently determined neither player was in line for a promotion, so they’ve elected to cut both loose a few weeks early.
Pittsburgh acquired Nogowski from the division-rival Cardinals for cash considerations in early July. He tallied 143 plate appearances with Pittsburgh but scuffled after a hot start, ultimately posting just a .233/.301/.310 line. After being outrighted to Indianapolis, Nogowski hit an impressive .259/.406/.352 with thirteen walks and only ten strikeouts in 69 plate appearances. The right-handed hitter has shown that strong on-base ability throughout much of his minor league career, and he owns a .269/.388/.423 slash over 680 career trips to the dish at Triple-A.
Tom has spent the bulk of his career in the Indians’ organization. The A’s selected him in the Rule 5 draft last winter but bumped him from the big league roster after just nine games. The Pirates claimed Tom off waivers and gave him a bit more run, but the 27-year-old only managed a .152/.308/.261 showing in 117 plate appearances with the Bucs. Pittsburgh designated him for assignment and passed him through waivers.
Rule 5 draftees have to be kept on the MLB roster (or injured list) for the entirety of their rookie season or offered back to their original organization. The Pirates offered Tom back to Cleveland once he cleared waivers, but the Indians declined to bring him back into the system. He instead reported to Indianapolis but continued to struggle, hitting .190/.299/.310 in 67 plate appearances before being released.
Gamel and Tsusugo are huge upgrades over these two.
The nog father…… hate to see it. orioles you’re up next
No Way, Man
We are good
nogowski might get another shot but tom’s career should be over
Nogowski would, speculatively, make a good fit on a minors deal with the Guardians next year. Their 1B options are all left handed all the way until A ball (Bradley, Naylor, Brooks in AAA, Nolan Jones if he moved over), and most of them have splits. They’ve used light hitting utility infielders there this year (Yu Chang, Owen Miller). He would make sense as a potential platoon option to keep stashed in AAA.
*Indians.
I have a first base glove. I’m a righty. Maybe they should sign me to a minor league deal.
Only if you’re a clown and request jersey #69
I agree, but I also think they need to start consolidating all these fringe roster guys. I like stockpiling depth though, and there’s no harm in it.
Idk if MLB TR mentioned it, but the Pirates also promoted 8 prospects to Triple-A. Some of them are the most notable in the organization including Roansy Contreras, Oneil Cruz, Mason Martin, and Canaan Smtih-Njigba.
Most teams promote their top AA prospects to AAA when the AA season ends. Doesn’t mean they’re ready for AAA yet, but that the team wants them to get some more playing time under the org’s watch. The front page would be a madhouse if they included every team’s promotions
@mlb1225 yeah i saw that. all four are good prospects that should at least be on the 25 mans consistently.
Martin has a lefty power bat on first
Contreras I don’t see him being less than a back end starter. but then again said the same about Glassnow.
Cruz is a beast. Probably could stick at short but probably will end up in the outfield.. more so if tucker continues hitting.
Smith-Njigba never heard this name before. seems like could be a 4th OF doesn’t seem to have a power bat but looks like he gets on base.
@FletcherFan69 all of them should see time in 2022 given health and continuation on their current performance.
Tom needs to get an entire seasons worth of MLB plate appearance so there’s an idea of what he is. With how many bad players there are in MLB I can’t believe nobody put in a claim. He has good minor league numbers.
Cubs? I would if I were them.
The cubs need pitching not hitting tbh that’s how the cubs got into the position there in Theo never valued devolving pitching and traded/signed guys for huge price tags and because of it there now back into a rebuild. IMO after 16 Theo should of taken a step back maybe make some low key moves to improve the pitching instead he went all in to many times and decimated there farm and now there in a state of chaos. There is at least a bright spot for the cubbies it seems like Jed is making the right moves to make the cubs relevant here soon, but if the cubs wanna be substantial team like my hated birds he needs to get people in place to find and develop young pitching.
Both will likely be picked up on a minors deal in the off season if they don’t go overseas.
Looks like I won’t be needing you after all, SpongeTom.
Heres hoping that next year the pirates go with a total rebuild. No more difos and perez. Just youth
That would be a great plan but hard to do and hard for teams to sell to most fans. But yea, probably the smart way to go.
um… they already are. ‘prospects’ are not ‘ready’ to make the jump so they need those cheap fillers with the hopes they might bring back some tools at the dead line.. See Tyler Anderson.
Most of the team is under 30 and have multiple years of control that possibly could help push for 23 since many of the prospects should see time in spring 2022 and come out opening day of ’23.. about a dozen of their MLB Pipeline top 30 are projected to see some time in ’22.
.259/.406/.352 isn’t and never was impressive
Maybe not “impressive,” but it is significantly above average.
Actually that OPS is pretty much exactly average, not significantly above
Certainly not impressive for a guy his age n the minor leagues
Its not hard to do. Houston did it.
Never heard of a team declining the return of a rule 5 player.