The Pirates announced this afternoon that outfielder Joshua Palacios and right-hander Peter Strzelecki have both cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Indianapolis. Palacios has been outrighted previously in his career and could reject the assignment in favor of free agency if he so chooses, but Strzelecki has neither the previous outright nor requisite service time necessary to reject the assignment and will remain in the organization as non-roster depth going forward.
Palacios, 29, was selected by the Blue Jays in the fourth-round of the 2016 draft and made his big league debut with Toronto in 2021. He hit just .200/.293/.200 across 13 games for the Jays before being plucked off waivers by the Nationals in 2022, for whom he appeared in 29 games while hitting a similarly lackluster .213/.245/.255 in 49 plate appearances before being outrighted off the 40-man roster. He came to the Pirates the following offseason by way of the Rule 5 draft’s minor league phase.
In Pittsburgh, Palacios got a more significant big league opportunity than he did in either Toronto or D.C. as he appeared in 91 games for the Pirates throughout the 2023 season. Unfortunately, the lefty failed to make the most of the opportunity as he hit just .239/.273/.413 in that time, though his 21 extra-base hits (including ten homers) in just 264 trips to the plate hinted at intriguing power potential and he showed the ability to play decent defense at all three outfield spots. Unfortunately, Palacios did not get another opportunity of significant with the Pirates last year. While he did appear in the majors, he was limited to just 23 games and 78 trips to the plate where he slashed a middling .224/.333/.343 while failing to demonstrate the power potential that made him an interesting piece the year prior.
While the Pirates opted to retain Palacios on their 40-man roster throughout the winter, they ultimately cut him just prior to Opening Day when the club opted to roster Jack Suwinski as a left-handed reserve outfielder instead. Now that he’s cleared waivers, he’ll have the opportunity to either stick in the organization as non-roster depth at Triple-A, where he slashed a solid .291/.372/.489 across 51 games at Triple-A, or head out to the open market in hopes of finding a better path to big league playing time elsewhere.
As for Strzelecki, the right-hander signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent back in 2018 and worked his way up to the big leagues during the 2022 season. His rookie campaign was quite impressive as he pitched to a 2.83 ERA (143 ERA+) with a 2.94 FIP and a 27% strikeout rate in 35 innings of work. Unfortunately for Strzelecki, his follow-up season in 2023 was less impressive as he posted a 4.38 ERA in 37 innings split between the Brewers and Diamondbacks.
The right-hander was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks just before Opening Day 2024 and was eventually traded to the Guardians, for whom he pitched sparingly in the majors but posted a solid 2.31 ERA and 3.77 FIP in 11 2/3 innings of work. He was DFA’d just before the non-tender deadline over the offseason and found himself shipped to Pittsburgh, but ultimately was DFA’d for a third time prior to Opening Day. This time, he finally cleared waivers and now will look to get back to the big leagues with the club at Triple-A.
