The Pirates designated outfield prospect Willy García for assignment on Saturday to make room for the recently re-signed Ivan Nova on their 40-man roster, the team announced.
Garcia was rated Pittsburgh's No. 15 prospect by MLBPipeline.com, and was the club's second-highest-ranked outfield prospect. But he struggled at the plate with Triple-A Indianapolis in 2016, hitting .245/.293/.366 with six home runs and 43 RBIs in 129 games, while striking out 131 times.
The 24-year-old was also blocked by the Pirates' strong slate of outfielders -- Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and top-tier prospect Austin Meadows, who is ranked the No. 2 outfield prospect in baseball and the No. 9 prospect overall.