The Pirates are selecting outfielder Ronny Simon onto the MLB roster, reports Alex Stumpf. Pittsburgh will need to clear space on both the active and 40-man rosters.
Simon played his way back to the big leagues with an excellent season in Triple-A. The switch-hitter has a .330/.419/.470 slash line across 99 games with the Bucs’ affiliate in Indianapolis. Simon has swiped 33 bases in 40 tries, walked at a strong 12% clip, and is only striking out 17% of the time. He’s not hitting for huge power with just seven home runs, but he has 26 doubles and a pair of triples.
The 26-year-old Simon was playing on an offseason minor league deal. He got a brief MLB look a year ago from the Marlins and Pirates, hitting .234 without a home run in 88 plate appearances. Simon had a nightmare run of errors at second base with Miami and suffered a season-ending left shoulder dislocation after landing in Pittsburgh. He underwent surgery and was non-tendered at the end of the year.
To his credit, Simon has had a big rebound year in the minors. He’s no longer more than an emergency infield option — he only started one game at second base for Indianapolis — but has covered all three outfield spots in Triple-A. He’s a plus runner who has hit well from both sides of the plate and particularly feasted on left-handed pitching. Pittsburgh’s bench has been an issue, as they’re still not getting any production out of Marcell Ozuna. They’re cycled backup outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia and third catcher Rafael Flores Jr. up and down from Triple-A a couple times each this season.
