In a surprising move, the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired SS Adeiny Hechavarria from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Long Island native Matt Seelinger.
Hechavarria was designated for assignment last Wednesday, but they wound up trading him once they found a taker. He is an established Major Leaguer, although he has never been known for his bat. The defensive wizard has a career slash line of .255/./291/.344, but has been worth +24 defensive runs saved for his career.
As for Seelinger, the move came as a surprise since he was a late-round draft pick that has already emerged as a potential quick-riser through the system. Last year, he was outstanding. He compiled four saves with a 1.80 ERA and 37 K over 30.0 IP. He’s followed that up with a solid but not nearly as spectacular season. While he strikeout numbers have been eye-popping (14.3 K/9), his walks are up slightly (3.0 BB/9) but the real difference has been the long ball. He’s yielded six HR over 32.2 IP.
I made some of my best friends for the rest of my life in the Pirates organization, as well as so many great memories. I’m going to miss all of them, but I’m excited for their futures as well! I wish all of them the best of luck moving forward!
— Matt Seelinger (@Lou_Redwood) August 7, 2018
From my perspective, that’s a player you’d like to continue to challenge and potentially become a middle reliever at the big league level down the road. At 23, he’s at an age and level where he’s one year older than the average player in the league. Obviously, that changes quick when you move up to Double-A and Triple-A where players are usually from 21 to 28 years-old.
With Tampa Bay, he will most likely be assigned to their Single-A affiliate Bowling Green Hot Rods in Kentucky. They have shown an admiration for Long Island players in the past. What also works in his favor is their recent plan to utilize hard-throwing relievers as starting pitchers at the Major League level.
Seelinger was a starter at Farmingdale State so clearly that was his natural role until getting to professional baseball. I think that he has a chance to move up the system due to his mid-90s fastball and his hellacious curveball.
That combination allowed him to have one of the best pitching career for any Rams hurler in program history. His career 10.6 K/9 broke the previous record set by Vinny Messana. (Wait, what?)
Stay tuned to Seelinger’s progress in the minor league by viewing his MILB page here.
