In a move to protect one of their top prospects from next month's Rule 5 draft, the Pirates placed outfielder Austin Meadows on the 40-man roster Monday night.
They also chose to protect right-handed pitchers Luis Escobar and Dario Agrazal by adding both to the roster. They weren't done, however.
The club traded shortstop Gift Ngoepe, who became the first African-born major leaguer when he made his debut in April, to the Blue Jays for cash considerations or a player to be named later, giving the Pirates two open spots on the 40-man roster.
The deadline to add players to the 40-man roster, thus protecting them from next month's Rule 5 draft, is tonight at 8 o'clock. Players who were signed at age 18 must be added to the 40-man roster within five seasons or they become eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft, which will be held Dec. 14 at the Winter Meetings. Players signed at age 19 or older have to be protected within four seasons or else they become eligible.
Meadows, 22, is ranked as the organization's No. 2-best prospect by Baseball America, while Escobar, who spent the season at low-A West Virginia, represented the Pirates in the Futures Game and Agrazal, a 22-year-old starter, excelled at high-A Bradenton before suffering a season-ending injury in June.
Ngoepe, 27, is regarded as a superior defender but struggled at the plate, slashing .222/.323/.296 in 28 games with the Pirates. He didn't fare well upon returning to Indianapolis, batting .220 with six home runs and 27 RBI in 77 games. The South Africa native became expendable with Kevin Newman expected to start the season at Triple-A.
Although Meadows, who was selected ninth overall in the 2013 draft, entered the season as the Pirates' top prospect according to Baseball America, he has since lost that distinction to right-handed starting pitcher Mitch Keller.
A second consecutive injury-plagued season will have that affect.
Meadows struggled right from the start of the season, then spent five weeks on the disabled list with his second hamstring injury in as many years and suffered an oblique injury in August that ended his season after a setback.
The center fielder slashed .250/.311/.359 with four home runs and 36 RBI in 72 games, failing to match the lofty expectations attached to being one of the top prospects in baseball. He stole just 11 bases and struck out 49 times with 24 walks.
Yet, it wasn't long ago that Meadows seemed destined for a quick rise to the major leagues.
After breaking his orbital bone in March of 2016, he batted .311 with 16 doubles, six home runs, 23 RBI and only 32 strikeouts in 190 plate appearances for Class AA Altoona. At the time, his former Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett described him as “the best hitter in the minor leagues.”
That earned Meadows a promotion to Indianapolis in July, but he suffered an injury to his right hamstring after 12 games at that level and finished the season with Indianapolis batting .214 in 145 plate appearances.
Neal Huntington told reporters last month that the Pirates would likely dedicate Meadows' offseason to strengthening his lower body, although Huntington said playing in the Puerto Rico Winter League would have benefited Meadows. However, the league will not begin play until at least January because the island was devastated by two hurricanes in September.
Meadows will start the season at Triple-A Indianapolis, and he could remain there the entire season. He only has 457 plate appearances at that level, and Andrew McCutchen is under contract through 2018. To compare, Josh Bell had 629 Triple-A plate appearances before he made his major league debut in June 2016.
Escobar, a 21-year-old right-hander who signed with the Pirates in 2013, had a 3.83 ERA and 1.192 WHIP in 26 games, 25 of which were starts, for the West Virginia Power this season, leading the South Atlantic League with 168 strikeouts in 131 2/3 innings while using a 98 mph fastball with a curveball and changeup. He's rated by Baseball America as the organization's third-best pitching prospect behind Keller and Shane Baz, the Pirates' first-round pick in the draft this June.
Agrazal, a native of Panama, had a 2.91 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with 63 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 80 1/3 innings for Bradenton this season. He earned a promotion to Double-A Altoona, but he suffered a season-ending injury during his first start.
The moves left three intriguing prospects exposed in the Rule 5 Draft: right-handed pitcher Yeudy Garcia, right-handed pitcher Tyler Eppler and shortstop Adrian Valerio.
Garcia, a 25-year-old right-hander, struggled as a starter to begin the season but found a niche after a midseason move to the bullpen in Altoona, posting a 2.81 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings.
Eppler, meanwhile, had early success in Triple-A while implementing a slider, but he finished with a 4.89 ERA in 136 1/3 innings, allowing 10.5 hits per nine innings. A sixth-round pick of the Pirates in 2014, Eppler could provide the organization with more depth in the rotation and could eventually transition to the bullpen if he isn't selected.
Valerio, who is 20 years old, batted .273 in 81 games at low-A West Virginia, but he is behind Newman, Cole Tucker and Stephen Alemais on the organizational depth chart.
Teams can select an eligible, unprotected player in the Rule 5 draft for $100,000, but that player must remain either on the selecting team’s 25-man roster or major-league disabled list for the entire next season. If a team wants to remove a Rule 5 player from its active roster, the team must put him on waivers. If he’s claimed, the same restrictions apply to the claiming team. If he clears waivers, the selecting team must offer the player back to his original club for $50,000.