The Pirates announced they’ve designated infielder Hoy Park for assignment. The move creates a 40-man roster spot for first baseman Lewin Díaz, who has been claimed off waivers from the Marlins as previously reported.
Park landed in Pittsburgh alongside Diego Castillo in the increasingly regrettable deal that sent reliever Clay Holmes to the Yankees. Park had only appeared in one big league game with New York to that point, but he was sitting on an incredible .325/.475/.567 line in Triple-A. He looked like a plug-and-play middle infield option for the Bucs, but he never seized control of a spot in an uncertain second base mix.
The South Korea native hit .197/.299/.339 through 144 plate appearances down the stretch in 2021. He walked at a very strong 12.1% clip but didn’t make much of an impact on batted balls and struck out more than a quarter of the time he came to the plate. Park spent most of this past season as an upper minors depth infielder. He appeared in just 23 MLB games while suiting up 89 times at Triple-A Indianapolis.
In contrast to his incredible 2021 work at the minors’ highest level, Park hit .225/.332/.354 through 375 plate appearances there in 2022. He again showed a willingness to work deep counts, drawing walks at just shy of a 14% clip, and he was successful on all 14 of his stolen base attempts. Still, a 26.4% strikeout rate and a modest 10 home runs and 11 doubles contributed to a below-average offensive performance. He didn’t do much in his 60 MLB plate appearances this year, hitting .216/.276/.373 with a pair of longballs.
The Pirates are lacking a slam-dunk option to play second base after trading Kevin Newman to the division-rival Reds last week. General manager Ben Cherington recently told reporters they were open to addressing the position from outside the organization, and Park clearly had fallen to the bottom of the depth chart among their internal options. As things currently stand, Rodolfo Castro looks like the favorite to join Oneil Cruz in the middle infield, although Castillo and Ji Hwan Bae could battle for reps before accounting for any external pickups.
The Bucs will now have a week to trade Park or try to run him through waivers. His plate discipline and defensive flexibility could draw him some attention. He’s capable of playing anywhere on the infield, although he’s increasingly seen more time at second and third base than at shortstop. Park also has a bit of experience at each of the three outfield positions, making him a possible versatile left-handed bench bat. He’s yet to find much success against big league pitching, but he’s a career .250/.362/.368 hitter over parts of seven minor league seasons. Park still has a pair of option years remaining, so another team could stash him in the upper minors as depth if they’re willing to devote him a 40-man roster spot.
There goes the season.
Piling on, Trumbo. At least we have pierogi races
Ohhh man I love me some pierogi’s!!! All I have ever had in SoCal is the frozen variety but they always taste great. Could only imagine how good the genuine article is!
Yes.
Don’t forget fireworks night!
Yeah it was epic after we lost 19-2 to the BREWERS!!!
Yeah I wish they kept him.
Hoy veh!
Today?
The pirates are almost like a Korean league team. Hoy Park at 2B, Yu Chang at 3B, Ji Hwan Bae at CF, Ji Man Choi at 1B, and Yoshi Tsutsugo at DH.
Chang and Tsutsugo are no longer with the team… and not Korean.
I know that. Some Taiwanese play in the KBO.
0 players from Taiwan are in kbo
Yoshi is with the Jays.
I know Chang and Tsutsugo are no longer pirates nor Korean.
Ok, just isn’t say Korean it’s a little offensive.
Your original comment was not very good and a poor attempt.
Just curious how??
Good grief, your ignorance is astounding.
Way to paint 3 different nationalities with one brush.
Gave him the heave hoy
Don’t know how regrettable the trade is. Holmes pitched like he did in Pittsburgh. Was nearly unhittable through June 30 with a sub 1 ERA. Got hit a lot from July until the end of the season and his ERA was 5.33 after July 1.
And Holmes had chance, after chance, after chance as a Pirate and was routinely awful. I feel the same way about Holmes that I did when Joes Bautista became successful after leaving Pittsburgh: don’t care. They have him plenty of opportunity.
just about every player that leaves Pittsburgh, they found success elsewhere. Now there are exceptions but past years, players like Jon Lieber, Schmidt ( can’t remember his first name), Bautista, and of course, Charlie Morton and Gerrit Cole
Most likely this is due to poor coaching and even worse poor player development
Man, Jason Schmidt…that’s a name I haven’t heard or thought of in a looooooong time.
Jason Schmidt went on to have a decent career with San Francisco
Lieber won 20 games with the Cubs
Monkey-Holmes was not very good in Pittsburgh as you say.
I think that Bautista suddenly starting lifting weights because he seemed to gain 25 pounds of pure muscle almost over night.
Could there have been any other reason?
Bautista was not hitting with power to start in Toronto either. His first full season in Toronto he hit 13. As you say suddenly got way stronger from the 13 in 2009 to 54 in 2010. Pretty massive spike considering he never hit for power ever in his pro career.
It’s only regrettable the Pirates don’t have the development staff to utilize Holmes obvious plus stuff.
Yes he obviously has plus stuff but no one, and now appears that even the Yanks can’t get him through a whole season being consistent with that plus stuff.
I was impressed with NY. They instantly mid season made him good. More good months vs poor. See what he looks like this year. If bad see what Houston or Tampa can do.
He was great for half of 2022 then cratered for the 2nd half.
Back problem that should be ok with off-season rest. His stuff is nasty.
Look for the Yankees and Matt Blake to do similar with Junior Fernandez.
another bucco move that looks good on paper and goes down the toilet
same vicious cycle over and over
It may have looked good but sure didn’t sound good. When the Yankees were so desperate at 2n they added Odor reporter asked them about Park and Cashman said with absolute confidence that our analyst don’t see him as being any better or maybe even as a major leaguer. I don’t remember the exact words just that he trashed that reporters inquiry.
Exactly. The Yankees know the pirates hope.
There’s a name I forgot about. I saw Hoy play five years ago in Low A Charleston when he was a Yankees prospect. He was a decent player at that level. Wasn’t sure he’d make it through to the bigs. The fans loved him though, especially kids. I think mostly they liked chanting his name. Maybe he was good for autographs and photos, Idk. I was just visiting and saw him just that one time…
Don’t say goodbye to Park yet. Have to be desperate to claim him right now. Unless he can be a free agent.
Why does Bae continue to not get the legitimate chance to start. He should be candidate 1 to start as 2B next year. Decent gloce, elite speed, good hit tool, and he has produced at every minor league level.
He’s a scumbag but they signed him anyways so that bridge was crossed.
Bae was supposed to be brought up around the end of July but got hurt and was on the IL for a month. Came back and played in AAA for a month then got called up. Will be,given a chance to play this year.
Also, they signed him in 2018 after MLB voided his contract with the Braves because the Braves were circumventing the international signing bonus rules when they signed him. The charges regarding a domestic incident with a high school girl fire did not come about until 2019. He was signed by two MLB teams before the scumbag allegations came to,light. He was fined by Korean legal authorities in the amount of 2 million won wich is a little less than $1500 US. Was suspended 30,days,without pay by MLB as well.
Gorz, fair enough. They crossed that bridge when they didn’t release him after the scumbag things came to light.
@Macbeth
Why does Bae continue not get a chance to start?
He was just brought up for the first time this year. Lol
Not to that point yet.
And he played very well for pirates
He was cruising in AAA while Van Mater got at bats. I think that alone should validate what I’m saying.
I have not thought that Park would make it but he was unlucky in that the Pirates do have a lot of middle infielders that are better.
I felt sorry for him when the genius management put him in right field where he had evidently never played before.He was terrible.
They may be able to get someone for him in a trade to a team weak in middle infielders.
I do believe though that the Pirates have almost run out of players who are ready to be designated.They may have to clear some meat from the bone to sign more than two free agents.
They’ll find a way to DFA a player in order to go dumpster diving for a free agent or 2
Putting Park in right field was equal to playing Van Meter anywhere on the field
At least Park tried
My point was that it was grossly unfair to Park and hurt the team.
One reason Van Meter stayed as long as he did was he played anywhere Shelton put him,including first base,catcher,and pitcher.He was consistent- he was bad everywhere.
I think that,like Park,he tried his best though.He was just not very good.
and despite being bad everywhere he played, they still kept Van Meter for 3/4 of the season
Bucs minor league systems has a few interesting names among hitters. Pitchers, er, not so much. Don’t think they’ll make it, but a .500 season would be a big accomplishment for them.
One big question mark still remains. Is Hayes ever gonna be the big time 3B they envisioned? His fielding is GG worthy right now. If he can stay healthy for a change, maybe 20 homers and 80 RBIs will become his norm going forward. But he’s gotta put it gear to get those levels.
1B still remains a big hole. Should trade for Rhys Hoskins but he may be too expensive for an owner who, when he opens his wallet, has moths fly out.
“ moths fly out “
Sadly that’s true
Nutting should use WD 40 on the folds of his wallet, it’s easier to open than using a crow bar
just what the Pirates need, another player that strikes out 125+ times a year
Backup-I always liked Hopkins but he is an absolute butcher at first base,a player who makes Josh Bell look like a Gold Glove candidate.
He is easily one of the streakiest hitters who I have ever seen.
But he is powerful and hits many home runs and is a good teammate.
He makes too much money for the Pirates though and could only be the designated hitter.
Who?
I think Park would have benefited from consistent playing time at one position. Pirates kept yanking him around to play positions he was clearly not comfortable doing (mostly OF) and his lineup order changed a lot as well. It’s hard to get a groove when every day you go to the field not knowing what your role will be.
If Hoy Park ever gets a stadium named after him, would it be called Hoy Park? Or Hoy Park Park?