Infielder/outfielder Nick Solak has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was outrighted by the Pirates yesterday but has the right to reject that assignment since he has a previous career outright.
Solak, 30, will now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity. He settled for a minor league deal with the Pirates coming into the year and then got out to a great start. In 32 Triple-A contests, he put up a massive .393/.452/.625 batting line. That was partly due to an unsustainable .422 batting average on balls in play but Solak also hit six home runs while drawing walks at a 9.5% clip and only striking out 13.5% of the time.
That was enough to get him to the big leagues but he didn’t get much playing time in Pittsburgh. In almost three weeks on the roster, he only received 11 plate appearances in four games, recording just one single and no extra-base hits.
The Bucs nudged him off the roster when Nick Gonzales came off the injured list. Solak is out of options and therefore had to be removed from the 40-man entirely. The 29 other clubs all passed on the chance to grab him off waivers, so he’ll presumably be looking for another minor league deal in the coming days.
Broadly speaking, he has generally hit well in the minors but not the majors. He has a .250/.325/.369 line and 91 wRC+ in the big leagues. That includes a hot start when he was first promoted in 2019. Since then, he has a .243/.314/.350 line and 86 wRC+. Dating back to that same 2019 season, he has a .291/.379/.472 line and 118 wRC+ down on the farm.
Defensively, he’s played almost every position on the diamond but he’s not considered a strong fielder. In recent years, he’s mostly been limited to the outfield corners, first base and occasionally appearances at second base.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images