The Pittsburgh Pirates released a pair of prospects over the weekend, cutting ties with two players who couldn’t translate early promise into sustained development.
John Dreker reported the moves Saturday:
- Eddy Rodriguez, 22-year-old outfielder
- Roinny Aguiar, 20-year-old infielder
Both players started strong in the Dominican Summer League but hit walls as they climbed the system.
Rodriguez looked like he might have something after posting an .850 OPS in Rookie ball back in 2023. That’s the kind of number that gets people’s attention. But he struggled mightily once he reached Bradenton over the last two seasons, and the Pirates decided they’d seen enough.
Aguiar’s path was even shorter. He put up solid numbers in the DSL but couldn’t hit at all once he came stateside to the Rookie level.
“Please repeat after me, DSL stats are completely useless. Scouting reports are important.”
That quote gets to the heart of what happened here. Early numbers in the Dominican can be misleading, and both players proved that point.
The Pirates have actually done solid work developing talent lately. They’ve got contributors throughout their system who’ve climbed the ladder successfully. But you’re never going to hit on every prospect, and these two ended up being the ones who couldn’t make the adjustments needed as they faced better competition.
It’s not a big deal that Pittsburgh is moving on from Rodriguez and Aguiar. Organizations make these decisions all the time.
What it really shows is that early production doesn’t always translate into long-term success. Sometimes players just can’t adapt as the pitching gets better and the competition gets tougher. That’s baseball development in a nutshell.
