PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates used their eighth pick in the Rule 5 draft on Thursday to select infielder Gustavo Nunez off the Detroit Tigers Tigers’ Triple-A Toledo roster.
Nunez, 23, hit .276 with 13 doubles, seven triples, five home runs, 26 RBI and 18 stolen bases in 96 minor league games in 2011 between High-A Lakeland and Double-A Erie.
Before being promoted to Double-A last season, the switch-hitting Nunez was named to the Florida
State League mid-season All-Star team. In 62 games with Lakeland last season, he hit .304.
Nunez was left off the Tigers 40-man roster, allowing the Pirates select him with their eighth pick. Nunez, who is primarily a shortstop, can also play second base as well. He will be in the mix — along with Yamaico Navarro, Josh Harrison and Chase d’Arnaud — fighting to make the club as the backup utility infielder.
In order for Nunez to remain with the Pirates organization, he will have to remain on the 25-man roster for a full season. If the Bucs decide to take him off the roster, he will be issued back to Detroit for half of the price of the $50,000 they paid for him.
In his five minor league seasons, Nunez has produced a .266 batting average, a .320 OBP, 110 stolen
bases, 59 doubles, 26 triples and 13 home runs.
The Pirates lost one of their Rule 5 eligible Pirates to the Arizona Diamondbacks, right-hander Brett Lorin. The 24-year-old posted a 7-6 record with a 2.84 ERA over 25 games (17 starts) with the High-A Bradenton Marauders in 2011.He walked 19 while string out 99 batters over 117.1 innings. Lorin was acquired by the Seattle Mariners in 2009 (along with shortstop Ronny Cedeno, infielder Jeff Clement and pitchers Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock) for shortstop Jack Wilson and pitcher Ian Snell. The Pirates lost Adcock to the Kansas City Royals in last years draft.
In the minor league portion of the draft, the Pirates selected three players in the Triple-A round, left-hander Aaron Poreda from the San Diego Padres and catchers Charles Cutler from the St. Louis Cardinals and Francisco Diaz from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Poreda, 25, posted a 5.43 ERA over 41 games (1 start) with Triple-A in 2011. He walked 63 while striking out 79. The former first-round pick in 2007 also made 14 appearances in 2009 in the Majors where he posted a 2.70 ERA.
Diaz, 21, batted .211 with 17 runs, five doubles and seven RBI over 36 games in A-Ball in 2011.
Cutler, 25, batted .333 with 37 runs, eight doubles, three triples, three homers and 34 RBI in Double-A.
The club passed in the Double-A phase and did not lose anyone in the Minor League portion of the draft.
Photo credit: MILB
Discussion about this post