Pittsburgh Pirates Designate Nate McLouth for Assignment, Re-Call Matt Hague
By Matt Shetler
The Pittsburgh Pirates made a roster move today in an attempt to spark the worst offense in the major league’s by designating out fielder Nate McLouth for assignment and re-calling first baseman Matt Hague from Triple-A Indianapolis.
It’s been a rough go of things since 2008 for McLouth, who in that season hit .276/.356/.497 with 26 homers, 94 RBI, 113 runs, 23 steals and an NL-best 46 doubles.
Since that season, McLouth’s career has been in a large downward spiral that culminated with him being DFA’d today.
After an awful 2010 and a pretty poor 2011, McLouth found himself back in Pittsburgh this season. And after 34 games with a .140/.210/.175 line, McLouth is now being purged from the roster.
It seems pretty likely McLouth clears waivers and accepts his assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis, as his career path goes from an All-Star at age 26 to minor-leaguer at age 30.
As for Hague, he’s not one of the top prospects in the organization, but there’s really no reason he shouldn’t get a long look as an everyday first baseman.
Given the constant failures of both Garrett Jones and Casey McGehee, quite frankly Hague can’t be any worse.
He’s a guy that has impressed with his bat during the spring and a player that manager Clint Hurdle should commit to giving regular at bats to, at least in the immediate future.
Who knows, maybe if Hague starts to hit a little it will be contagious to the rest of the Pirates bats.
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