The Pittsburgh Pirates have released designated hitter Marcell Ozuna amid months of poor performance with the team.
The Pirates signed Ozuna in the offseason to be their everyday DH following their decision to not resign Andrew McCutchen. The 35-year-old former Silver Slugger signed to a one-year, $12 million deal with Pittsburgh with a mutual option attached for 2027. Unfortunately for the Pirates Ozuna never found his stride with the Pirates.
PNC Park is notoriously difficult to adjust to for right-handed hitters, and Ozuna who historically struggled there throughout his career never seemed to come around at the plate. He ends his season with Pittsburgh with a line of .203/.286/.613 and just eight homers. Over the course of his career Ozuna has played in 65 games at PNC Park and has a .229 batting average with seven homers. As a Pirate the team went 28-42 when Ozuna was in the starting lineup.
As the season went on Ozuna was called upon less and less as his performance had not reached the full potential that the organization had hoped for. He played in his last game for the Bucs on Aug. 1 where he went 1 for 4 with a double in a Saturday contest against Cincinnati. His slash line was 31% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+ and had a career worst 28.6% strikeout rate. The leash was too long and this is an issue that should’ve been solved well before the second half of the season.
To replace Ozuna the Pirates are calling up prospect Ronny Simon to the active roster. This season Simon has been incredible at the plate with Triple-A Indianapolis. This year the switch hitter leads the International League with a .330 batting average. Simon has also knocked in seven home runs this season along with 63 RBIs and 33 steals as well. Simon is a versatile defender who has seen time at second base, as well as all three outfield positions for Indianapolis this year.
Given that the league has moved past the trade deadline period, Ozuna will be released and the Pirates will not be able to move on from his contract. He leave Pittsburgh with a -1.0fWAR.
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