Pirates sign southpaw Chasen Shreve to minors deal

The Pirates are in agreement with left-hander Chasen Shreve on a minor league contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The deal will guarantee him $1.5M if he makes Pittsburgh’s MLB roster, per Passan. The Pirates have since announced the move.

Shreve, 30, is coming off a decent 2020 season with the Mets, where he pitched to a 3.96 ERA/3.45 SIERA across 25 relief innings. Impressively, Shreve struck out a third of the batters he faced, a career-best mark that tied for 20th among the 141 relievers with at least 20 innings pitched. Relatedly, Shreve’s 17.1% swinging strike rate tied for 13th among that group.

It’s a bit surprising a left-hander with that kind of swing-and-miss stuff wound up settling for a minor league deal, but Shreve has proven susceptible to both walks and home runs over the course of his career. That continued last season, as he allowed four home runs (1.44 HR/9) while walking a higher-than-average 11.8% of opposing hitters.

Control issues notwithstanding, it’d still register as a bit of a surprise if Shreve doesn’t earn a spot on Pittsburgh’s big league roster out of spring training. At present, only Austin Davis and Sam Howard occupy left-handed relief roles on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster.