BRADENTON, Fla. – The Pirates made their first post-lockout transaction Sunday, claiming left-hander Aaron Fletcher off waivers from the Mariners. 

No corresponding roster move will be needed, and the Pirates’ roster is now full at 40 players.

Fletcher, 26, has made brief major-league cameos with the Mariners the last two seasons, totaling eight innings and allowing 11 runs. He had much more success with the Mariners’ Class AAA affiliate, recording a 3.47 ERA over 49 ⅓ innings of relief with a 21.1% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate.

His fastball velocity averaged 91.6 mph in the majors last year and 93.2 mph in 2020. He primarily uses a sinker, slider and changeup for his repertoire, none of which gets a lot of spin. While his changeup showed above average vertical and horizontal movement, the handful of sliders he has thrown in the majors have not.

Originally drafted by the Nationals in the 14th round of the 2018 amateur draft, he was sent over to the Mariners in a trade in 2019.

Baseball America ranked him as the Mariners’ No. 22 prospect ahead of the 2020 season.

Fletcher has gone 11-5 with three saves, a 2.69 ERA (153.2 IP, 46 earned runs) and 163 strikeouts in 93 appearances (seven starts) during his minor league career.

With the Pirates, he will join what should be a wide-open battle for bullpen opportunities. Currently, the only Pirate relievers who seemed locked in for next year’s bullpen are David Bednar and Chris Stratton.

The other lefty relievers currently on the 40 man roster are Anthony Banda, Sam Howard and Eric Hanhold, who was claimed off waivers in October.

Sunday was the Pirates’ first official day of camp. Their first full team workout will be Tuesday, and their first spring training game will be Friday at home against the Yankees.

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