The Pittsburgh Pirates shook up their pitching staff Thursday when they optioned top pitching prospect Roansy Contreras to Triple-A Indianapolis and selected the contract of Chase De Jong. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Pirates designated right-hander Luis Oviedo for assignment.
Contreras (1-0, 3.52 ERA) was thriving in a relief role for the Pirates this season, allowing three runs on four hits and three walks while striking out 10 in 7 2/3 innings over three appearances this season. He earned his first major-league victory April 14 after throwing three scoreless innings in a 9-4 win over the Washington Nationals at PNC Park. Opponents were batting .148 against Contreras, who is ranked as the No. 80 prospect by Baseball America.
“I don’t know what we’ll do moving forward with Ro, but at some point I think he’s going to start for us,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Wednesday of Contreras. “I’m not saying it’s going to be in the immediate future, but I think we view him as a starter.”
De Jong was 1-4 with a 5.77 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 43 2/3 innings over nine starts for the Pirates last season. He was signed to a minor-league contract during spring training and assigned to Indianapolis, where he was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and had 19 strikeouts and five walks in 13 innings over three appearances, including two starts.
De Jong tossed seven hitless innings to combine with Austin Brice and Yerry De Los Santos, who pitched an inning apiece, to combine for the 15th no-hitter in Indianapolis team history April 13 at St. Paul.
The Pirates traded for Oviedo after he was selected by the New York Mets in the Rule 5 Draft in December 2020. Although he had never pitched above Single-A, Oviedo spent the 2021 season with the Pirates and was 1-2 with an 8.80 ERA and 1.99 WHIP in 22 appearances and averaged 9.4 strikeouts but 7.9 walks per nine innings.
