The first move of the Pirates’ offseason is in the books.
On Thursday, the club claimed right-handed pitcher Sean Poppen off waivers from the Twins.
The 26-year-old made six relief appearances with the Twins in 2020, allowing four runs over 7.2 innings and striking out 10. He also made four appearances in 2019, giving him a 6.19 ERA 16 career major-league innings.
Poppen was selected by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2016 First-Year player draft out of Harvard University.
Poppen relies on his sinker and slider, occasionally mixing in a changeup. The sinker sits in the 92-95 mph range, and none of his three pitches gets a lot of spin.
He started nine game for the Twins’ class AAA affiliate in 2019, indicating that he could go multiple innings if needed.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Pirates designated utilityman JT Riddle for assignment. Riddle signed as a free agent this offseason to compete for a bench job, and earned a spot when rosters were expanded.
He didn’t make much of that opportunity, or his playing time, slashing .149/.174/.224 with one home run and RBI over 69 plate appearances. He finished with -0.9 WAR.
Additionally, the Pirates cleared another roster spot Wednesday by outrighting catcher Andrew Susac to class AAA Indianapolis. Susac was added to the roster on the final day of the season as a reward for his work on the taxi squad and in the Altoona alternate training camp.