Pirates Agree To Minor League Deals With DJ Stewart, Ryder Ryan

The Pirates have agreed to minor league deals with outfielder DJ Stewart and right-hander Ryder Ryan. Stewart’s deal was first reported by Mike Mayer of Metsmerized while Ryan’s was first reported by Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Stewart is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Stewart, 31, spent the past two years with the Mets. He had a nice run for them in 2023, hitting 11 home runs in just 185 plate appearances. He struck out at a 30.3% clip but the power was enough to get him back on the team in 2024. This past year, he was only able to put the ball over the fence five times in 194 trips to the plate. He drew walks at a stellar clip of 16% but hit .177/.325/.297 overall, getting outrighted at season’s end.

When combined with his tenure as an Oriole, Stewart has 1,001 major league plate appearances now. His 12.8% walk rate is strong but he’s also been punched out at a 27.1% clip. Thanks to the free passes and his 42 home runs, he’s been a decent hitter in spite of the strikeouts. His career line of .212/.328/.401 leads to a 102 wRC+, indicating he’s been 2% better than league average on the whole.

Despite the solid overall offense, there are limits to his overall profile. Ideally, he is deployed as a platoon bat. The lefty swinger has a .214/.332/.430 line and 110 wRC+ against righties, compared to a .204/.309/.270 line and 66 wRC+ against southpaws. He’s not a burner on the basepaths and his defense has received poor grades.

Still, he’s a sensible enough flier for the Pirates. They have two outfield spots spoken for between Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz, though one corner is fairly wide open. Guys like Joshua Palacios, Billy Cook, Jack Suwinski and Ji Hwan Bae are on the roster but none of them are guaranteed a regular role and it’s entirely possible that someone like Stewart could outplay them, at least for a strong-side platoon gig. If Stewart gets a spot, he’s out of options but has less than four years of service time, meaning he could be retained beyond this year via arbitration if he still has a roster spot at season’s end.

Ryan, 30 in May, has a fairly limited track record at the major league level. He has 16 appearances, 15 of which came with the Bucs last year. He has allowed 5.40 earned runs per nine innings in his small sample of 21 2/3 career frames. The Pirates outrighted him off the roster in August and he elected free agency at season’s end. Over the past four years, Ryan has thrown 200 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.31 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate.

He’ll provide the club with some non-roster bullpen depth. If he gets added to the roster at any point, he still has one option year remaining and could therefore be shuttled to Triple-A and back fairly freely.