Pirates designate left-hander for assignment

The Pirates have recalled right-hander Ryder Ryan and designated left-hander Josh Fleming in a corresponding move. Robert Murray of FanSided reported Fleming’s DFA prior to the official announcement.

It’s an unfortunate early birthday present for Fleming, who will turn 28-years-old on Saturday. The southpaw signed a split deal with the Pirates in February and has been primarily working out of the club’s bullpen. He technically made one start but went just 2 1/3 innings as the first guy in a bullpen game on April 24.

The results have not been great for the lefty, who has a 5.68 earned run average in 19 innings over 17 appearances. His 15.1% strikeout rate is subpar but right in line with his career rate of 14.9%. He’s still getting ground balls at a good rate, with his 57.1% mark this year just barely below his 58.9% career clip.

The baseball gods have seemingly played a role, as Fleming has a .344 batting average on balls in play and 56.3% strand rate this year, both of which are on the unlucky side. But he also hasn’t done himself any favors with the free passes, as his 10.5% walk rate is above league average and well beyond the 7.1% rate he carried into this season.

Fleming is out of options, so the Bucs didn’t have much choice but to remove him from the 40-man entirely if he’s worn out his welcome on the active roster. They will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Fleming’s deal pays him $850K in the majors and $240K in the minors, per the Associated Press.

He has more than three years of service time and would have the right to reject an outright assignment if he were to clear waivers. However, with less than five years of service time, exercising that right would involve walking away from the remaining money on his deal. Per the recent collective bargaining agreement for minor league players that was signed last year, the minimum salary for a Triple-A player is just $35.8K.

That would be a moot point if another club wanted to acquire Fleming. His career numbers aren’t far off what he’s done this year, as he had a 4.88 ERA with the Rays from 2020 to 2023 before being non-tendered by that club and signing with the Pirates.