Nick

Solak

The versatile 30-year-old was absolutely crushing it at Triple-A Indianapolis, slashing .393/.452/.625 with six homers, 19 RBI and four stolen bases in his first 126 plate appearances. With production like that, it’s no surprise that the Bucs would want to give him an opportunity. Ji Hwan Bae was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Remember him? Solak is now 30 years old and crushing it at Triple-A in the Pirates’ organization, slashing .391/.431/.630 in 12 games with three home runs, 11 RBI, and three steals. Solak is also a .252 career MLB hitter in 865 at-bats, so there is a chance he gets an opportunity this season given the lack of depth in the Pirates’ lineup at the big league level.

No surprises here as Pittsburgh pares down its spring roster to just 42 players. The decision to jettison Delay leaves some combination of Joey Bart, Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez as the likely season-opening catching mix behind the plate.

He’s 5-for-9 with a steal this spring. Solak, 30, got into one game for the Braves and one game for the Tigers in 2023, which is still better than the zero he got into last year. He wound up hitting .311/.406/.446 in 90 games for the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in 2024. Given that he’s a full-time outfielder these days, what slim chance he might have had of making the Pirates probably vanished with the Tommy Pham signing.

Solak, who hit .262/.327/.372 in 253 games for the Rangers from 2019-22, spent last season with the Mariners’ Triple-A club and batted .311/.406/.446, though that never got him a callup. He’s no longer much of an option at second base, and the bat probably isn’t there to make him very useful as a corner outfielder.

Solak and Chavis are the most notable cuts from Mariners camp as both have extensive big-league experience and figured to have a decent shot at making the season-opening roster with a strong spring performance.

The versatile 29-year-old spent most of the 2023 campaign at the Triple-A level where he slashed .238/.353/.362 with eight homers, 49 RBI and an 80/53 K/BB ratio over 411 plate appearances between three organizations. He’ll at veteran depth for the M’s.

Solak was jettisoned from the 40-man roster to make room for Andrew Vasquez on the active roster on Friday. He’ll be organizational depth for the Tigers at the Triple-A level.

The move clears a spot for the newly-claimed Andrew Vasquez on the 40-man roster. Solak has appeared in two games in the majors this season between the Tigers and Braves.

Solak got into one game for the Tigers over the weekend after outfielder Akil Baddoo landed on the injured list, but has been shipped out with lefty-masher Matt Vierling returning ahead of Monday’s series opener agains the Braves. He’ll head back to Triple-A Toledo as extra organizational depth.