FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Pirates assigned 15 players to Pirate City as part of their first wave of spring training cuts Tuesday.
Five players were optioned, meaning they were already on the 40-man roster. That group consists of infielders Rodolfo Castro and Oneil Cruz, and right-handed pitchers Roansy Contreras, Max Kranick and Nick Mears.
There also were 10 non-roster players sent to Pirate City. They are: right-hander, Cody Bolton, catcher Jason Delay, infielder Nick Gonzales, right-hander Jandel Gustave, first baseman Mason Martin, outfielder Cal Mitchell, shortstop Liover Peguero, right-hander Quinn Priester, outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba and outfielder Travis Swaggerty.
The Pirates now have 56 active players left in camp. They also have three players on the 60-day injured list: pitchers Blake Cederlind, Austin Davis and Jose Soriano.
It's hardly surprising that these players were among the first cut. In the case of starters like Contreras, Kranick and Bolton, it gives them a chance to stretch out ahead of the season. Some of the younger prospects, like Priester and Gonzales, got a taste of spring games but were not going to be considered to make the opening day team.
The Pirates had hopped to get Peguero into a game, but visa issues kept him out of the country for the first couple weeks of camp. Gustave, a free agent who signed a multi-year minor-league contract last year, and Bolton, one of the organization's top pitching prospects, did not appear in a game this spring either.
Unlike a normal year, minor-league camp will not start until the major league team goes north for the season, so these players at Pirate City will not be joined by new players for a couple more weeks.
The Pirates will open the season in Chicago on April 1 against the Cubs.