{"id":84846,"date":"2024-09-03T18:16:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T22:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=84846"},"modified":"2024-09-03T18:16:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T22:16:39","slug":"pirates-claim-joey-wentz-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/09\/03\/pirates-claim-joey-wentz-tigers\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Claim Left-Handed Pitcher from Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed left-handed pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wentzjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-03_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joey Wentz<\/a> off waivers from the Detroit Tigers. Once Wentz, 26, joins the club, a corresponding move must be made to make room on the 28-man roster. Wentz is out of options and can\u2019t be sent to the minor leagues.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We have claimed LHP Joey Wentz off waivers from Detroit.<\/p>\n<p>We will make a corresponding move on the 28-man active roster once Wentz joins the team later this week. Our 40-man roster is now full.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Pirates\/status\/1831048883230920912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Pirates Claim Left-Handed Pitcher Joey Wentz from Tigers<\/h2>\n<p>Wentz was once considered a hot prospect when he was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/2016\/05\/15\/joey-wentz-2016-mlb-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">drafted<\/a> by the Atlanta Braves in the first round (40th overall) in the 2016 June Amateur Draft. The Braves traded him to the Tigers in 2019. His career was derailed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/news\/detroit-tigers-joey-wentz-undergoes-tommy-john-surgery-313077096\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tommy John surgery<\/a> in 2020. Wentz finally made his major league debut with the Tigers in 2022. He had two rough starts in May and returned to the minors. Given a second chance in September, he was much better in five more starts. He finished 2022 with a 2-2 record, 3.03 ERA, and 1.102 WHIP.<\/p>\n<p>However, the next two seasons weren\u2019t as kind to Wentz. For his career, he\u2019s 5-17 with a 5.81 ERA and a 1.554 WHIP in 70 games (26 starts). The Tigers used him strictly in relief in 2024, during which he posted a 5.37 ERA, although his 4.52 FIP indicates he may have had some bad luck or poor support behind him. Indeed, although opponents have slashed .273\/.356\/.418 against him, their xBA is a more palatable .256. Nevertheless, the Tigers designated him for assignment on August 30.<\/p>\n<h3>Good Luck a Second Time?<\/h3>\n<p>The Pirates had good luck in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/03\/pirates-second-overall-pick\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">acquiring another former first-round pick named Joey<\/a> back in April when they picked up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bartjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-03_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joey Bart<\/a> from the San Francisco Giants. All he\u2019s done is seize the starting catcher job before going on the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/25\/pirates-bart-injured-list-davis-recalled\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">injured list<\/a> last month. As a former first-rounder who\u2019s put up good minor-league numbers, Wentz fits the description of the type of player Pirates general manager Ben Cherington likes to take a low-risk chance on. Cherington also doesn\u2019t mind looking at a lefty pitcher, given PNC Park\u2019s friendly dimensions in left and center fields.<\/p>\n<p>Wentz\u2019s repertoire belies his six-foot-five, 220-pound frame. His four-seam fastball, his primary pitch, averages just 93.8 mph and has been used 36.7 percent of the time in 2024. He also mixes in an 86.1 mph cutter along with a changeup and curve.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>The Pirates won\u2019t need to make a corresponding move until Wentz reports, which is expected later in the week. How the Pirates plan to utilize Wentz is unknown. The guess here is that they add him to their bullpen, which has hit a rough patch in recent weeks. As long as we\u2019re guessing, it seems this marks the end of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/germado01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-03_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Domingo Germ\u00e1n<\/a>\u2019s Pirates career after just six appearances. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/09\/pirates-select-domingo-german\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Added last month<\/a>, Germ\u00e1n pitched well at times but doesn\u2019t seem to have a role with Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p>What the claim of Wentz tells us, whether they&#8217;ll admit it or not, is that the Pirates have finally given up on 2024. The only sensible reason for bringing in Wentz would be to see whether he can help in 2025 and beyond. It\u2019s likely to inflame a fan base that frowns on these waiver claims \u2013 as if a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/haderjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-03_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Hader<\/a> can be picked up on waivers in September \u2013 but there\u2019s no downside to seeing what Wentz can bring to the table.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed left-handed pitcher Joey Wentz off waivers from the Detroit Tigers. Once Wentz, 26, joins the club, a corresponding move must be made to make room on the 28-man roster. Wentz is out of options and can\u2019t be sent to the minor leagues. We have claimed LHP Joey Wentz off waivers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":84861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071,35],"tags":[3215,2491,5766,1306,2182],"class_list":["post-84846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","category-news","tag-ben-cherington","tag-domingo-german","tag-joey-bart","tag-joey-wentz","tag-josh-hader"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}