Pirates add 12 more NRIs to spring camp

January 4th, 2016

PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates invited 12 more non-roster additions to their big league Spring Training roster on Monday, including catching prospect Reese McGuire and pitchers Chad Kuhl, Trevor Williams and Steven Brault.
McGuire, 20, is the most notable name on the list. The Pirates' No. 6 prospect spent last season with Class A Advanced Bradenton. A first-round Draft pick in 2013, McGuire hit .254 with a .595 OPS for the Marauders. He finished up the year in the Arizona Fall League, where he was named to the Fall Stars Game while hitting .294 in 14 games for Glendale.
Brault, Kuhl and Williams will likely spend most of the year pitching for Triple-A Indianapolis. Brault, acquired last offseason in exchange for Travis Snider, finished second among all Pirates Minor Leaguers with 125 strikeouts -- behind only top prospect Tyler Glasnow -- while posting a 13-4 record and 2.43 ERA between Bradenton and Double-A Altoona. Brault, 23, is the Pirates' 24th-ranked prospect.

Kuhl, Pittsburgh's No. 17 prospect, was named Double-A Altoona's 2015 Pitcher of the Year after going 11-5 with a 2.48 ERA. Williams, Pittsburgh's 20th-ranked prospect, went 7-10 with a 3.85 ERA in 25 appearances last year for Double-A Jacksonville and Triple-A New Orleans in the Marlins' system. The Bucs acquired him in October for Minor League pitcher Richard Mitchell.
The Pirates' second round of non-roster invitees also included four players recently signed to Minor League deals: left-handers Jim Fuller and Kelvin Marte, infielder Juan Diaz and catcher Ed Easley.
Fuller went 3-2 with a save and a 4.40 ERA in 32 relief appearances between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Nashville in the A's system last season. Marte finished 10-6 with a 2.63 ERA in 26 games, including 19 starts, last season for the Giants' Double-A Richmond affiliate, ranking fourth in ERA in the Eastern League.
Diaz, who spent five games in the Majors with the Indians in 2012, has a career .260 average in the Minors. Easley batted .251 with four home runs and 36 RBIs in 88 games for the Cardinals' Triple-A Memphis affiliate and made his big league debut last season.

The other Pirates prospects invited to big league camp are catcher Jacob Stallings and infielders Adam Frazier and Dan Gamache, all of whom played for Altoona last year.
The Pirates also invited outfielder Antoan Richardson, signed to a Minor League contract on Dec. 14, to big league Spring Training. Richardson was invited to the Rangers' camp last season, but he was limited to 13 games in the Minors last year after undergoing back surgery for a herniated disc. He has played 22 games in the Majors, most recently with the Yankees in 2014.
Overall, the Pirates have invited 17 non-roster players to Major League camp: eight pitchers, three catchers, four infielders and two outfielders.