The Pittsburgh Pirates today recalled INF Liover Peguero (pronounced: lEE-over puh-GAIR-oh) from Double-A Altoona. To make room for Peguero on the 26-man roster, INF Tucupita Marcano was placed on the COVID Injured List.
Peguero, 21, will be making his Major League debut and will wear uniform No. 60. The six-foottwo, 200-pound right-handed hitter entered the season as one of the top prospects in baseball, coming in at No. 38 according to Baseball Prospectus, No. 78 by Baseball America and No. 79 by MLB.com, as well as the No. 5 prospect in the Pirates’ system by each of those same publications. He will be the first player in franchise history born in the year 2000 or later to appear on the club’s active roster.
In 54 games this season with Altoona, Peguero has hit .292 (66-for-226)/.315 OBP/.469 SLG with 17 doubles, 4 triples, 5 home runs, 33 RBI and 28 runs scored, including a .310 (57-for-184)/ .330 OBP/.511 SLG clip with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 5 home runs and 30 RBI vs. right-handed pitching. At the time of his recall, he ranked among the Eastern League leaders in at-bats (1st), hits (2nd), doubles (T2nd), triples (T2nd), batting average (7th) and stolen bases (T9th, 14).
Peguero was acquired by the Pirates, along with RHP Brennan Malone and additional capacity in the 2019-20 international bonus pool, from the Arizona Diamondbacks for OF Starling Marte on January 27, 2020. He has combined to hit .286 (279-for-974)/.336 OBP/.444 SLG with 50 doubles, 14 triples, 25 home runs and 137 RBI in 245 career games across four Minor League seasons. Defensively, 226 of his 230 career appearances have come at shortstop, with the other four coming this year at second base.
Marcano, 22, is hitting .262 (16-for-61)/.318 OBP/.410 SLG with 3 doubles, 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 19 games with the Pirates this year, including eight hits over his last seven games since June 10.
