20250906, The Altoona Curve face the Richmond Flying Squirrels at Peoples Natural Gas Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania (Photos by Harrison Barden)
This is one in a series breaking down players on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 40-man roster.
The Pittsburgh Pirates added a whopping six prospects to their 40-man roster last week to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. Among the new additions is relief pitcher Tyler Samaniego.
Samaniego was drafted by the Pirates in the 15th round in 2021 out of the University of South Alabama.
The left-hander began his professional career with the Low-A Bradenton Marauders the same year he was drafted and struck out 15 batters in seven innings across five appearances before the Pirates bumped him to High-A Greensboro the following year.
Samaniego needed only 15 stellar relief appearances with the Grasshoppers before he was promoted to Double-A Altoona. Although he found initial success with the Curve, Samaniego has been unable to get past the Eastern League.
In 24 appearances at Double-A in 2022, Samaniego went 3-3 with a 3.52 ERA. Although he had been a high-strikeout pitcher up until that point, he only struck out 23 batters in 30.2 innings.
Samaniego spent the entire 2023 season with Altoona but scuffled to a 5.51 ERA across a career-high 41 appearances. Despite the inflated ERA, the peripherals painted a much better picture. Samaniego saw a big rise in strikeouts with 10.2 per nine innings. A victim of a .392 batting average on balls in play, his 3.25 FIP was well over two points lower than his ERA.
Two separate stints on the injured list — including a season-ending elbow injury suffered in July — limited him to only 13 appearances in 2024. But Samaniego finally returned to the mound this past pay on a rehab assignment with the FCL Pirates.
After working his way through Bradenton and Greensboro, Samaniego was reinstated from the injured list in June and returned to Altoona. In 20 appearances with the Curve on the year, the 26-year-old went 1-1 with a 3.08 ERA and three saves. In 26.1 innings, he held opponents to just 18 hits, walked six and struck out 30.
Given that he’s now totaled 98 appearances across four seasons in Double-A, it seems likely Samaniego will start next season with Triple-A Indianapolis. As one of only three left-handers currently on the 40-man roster, there’s a legitimate chance he could work his way onto the active roster at some point next season, even if another option is added this offseason.
Mentioned in this article: Pittsburgh Pirates Tyler Samaniego
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