Pirates outfielder Edward Olivares went unclaimed on waivers after last week’s DFA and was assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, per the Pirates’ transaction log at MLB.com. As a player with more than three years of big league service, he has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency but will likely accept so as not to forfeit the remainder of his guaranteed $1.35MM salary. (A player needs five-plus years of service to reject an outright assignment and retain his salary.)
Pittsburgh acquired Olivares in a small trade with the Royals back in December, hoping he could continue or build upon the slightly above-average production he turned in with Kansas City over the past couple seasons. From 2022-23, Olivares — whom the Royals picked up from the Padres in exchange for Trevor Rosenthal back in 2020 — batted .270/.322/.439 with 16 homers in 559 trips to the plate. He’s never walked much but also offered lower-than-average strikeout numbers and some value on the basepaths as well.
Olivares has seen his walk rate increase to a nearly average 8.2%, but he’s hitting for far less power and has only attempted one steal this season (which was successful). He batted .224/.291/.333 in 196 plate appearances with the Bucs — about 26% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+. Olivares has plus arm strength — 93rd percentile, per Statcast — but has regularly graded as a poor defender in the outfield corners due to poor reads and poor range (despite slightly above-average sprint speed).
The Pirates’ deadline acquisition of Bryan De La Cruz helped push Olivares out of the picture (despite De La Cruz having a generally similar skill set). De La Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Michael A. Taylor figure to get the bulk of the outfield playing time down the stretch in Pittsburgh, though an injury or two could always push Olivares right back into the mix.
As a player with three-plus seasons of big league service who’s now been outrighted off his team’s 40-man roster, Olivares will have the opportunity to become a free agent at season’s end unless he’s added back to the 40-man roster between now and then.
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