The Pittsburgh Pirates today acquired right-handed pitcher Johan Oviedo (pronounced oh-vee-YAY-doh) and third baseman/first baseman Malcom Nuñez from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for left-handed pitcher José Quintana and right-handed pitcher Chris Stratton.
The 24-year-old Oviedo began the season with Triple-A Memphis before being recalled by St. Louis on June 3. Oviedo went 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA (25.1ip/9er), seven walks allowed and 26 strikeouts in 14 appearances (one start) this year for the Cardinals. In 13 relief appearances this season with the Cardinals, he went 2-0 with a 2.66 ERA (20.1ip/6er), 21 strikeouts and a 1.08 WHIP.
Oviedo was signed by St. Louis as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2016. He led all Cardinals minor leaguers in both wins (12) and strikeouts (163) during the 2019 season. Baseball America tabbed him as having the “Best Slider” in the Cardinals organization in 2020, during the same season where he would make his big league debut when he was 22 years old.
The 21-year-old Nuñez has spent the entire season with Double-A Springfield, where he hit .255 (76-for-298) with 11 doubles, 17 home runs, 66 RBI, 48 walks, a .360 OBP, .463 slugging percentage and .823 OPS in 85 games. He was named the organization’s player-of-the-month for June after he led all Cardinals minor leaguers in batting average (.381), RBI (27), slugging (.726), OPS (1.180) and total bases (61) while also finishing tied for first in home runs (nine).
Nuñez is currently rated as St. Louis’ 10th-best prospect according to MLB.com. At the time he was acquired by the Pirates, he ranked tied for third among all Cardinals minor leaguers in home runs (17) and RBI (66), sixth in slugging (.463) and eighth in OPS (.823) in 2022.
The Cardinals signed Nuñez as a non-drafted free agent on July 3, 2018. During his first professional season in 2018, he won the Dominican Summer League Triple Crown, leading the league in batting (.415), home runs (13) and RBI (59) as well as OBP (.497), slugging (.774) and total bases (127).