Shortly after officially announcing the Adam Frazier trade Monday afternoon, Pirates continued their trade deadline sell off by sending right-handed reliever Clay Holmes to the Yankees for infield prospects Hoy Jun Park and Diego Castillo.
Both clubs have announced the trade.
FanGraphs ranked Castillo as the Yankees' 21st-best prospect and Park their 30th. Neither player cracked Baseball America's or MLB Pipeline's top 30 lists for the Yankees.
Park, 25, has been one of the most accomplished hitters in Class AAA this year. He currently ranks first among all AAA East League players in batting average (.327), on-base percentage (.475), OPS (1.042) and walks (46), is tied for third in runs scored (44) and fourth in slugging percentage (.567).
He also has as many strikeouts (46) as walks in his 223 plate appearances in Class AAA.
The left-handed hitter was called up for one game against the Red Sox on July 16, where he made an out in his only at-bat. He was outrighted off the roster on July 21.
While he has mostly played middle infield in his time in the minors, Park has also taken some reps at third base and in the outfield this season.
Park is a native of Seoul, South Korea and signed with the Yankees as an international free agent in 2014. He was ranked as the No. 13 international free agent that year by MLB.com.
Just Hoy being Hoy. 💣 pic.twitter.com/IR6JJxEn07
— SWB RailRiders (@swbrailriders) July 25, 2021
Castillo, 23, is slashing .277/.345/.504 with 11 home runs and eight stolen bases in Class AA.
It's a nice potential breakout campaign after struggling at the plate for three straight seasons at various levels of A-ball.
Castillo was primarily a shortstop entering this year, but has split his time almost evenly between shortstop, second and the hot corner.
He was part of the same international free agent class as Park, and ranked as the No. 16 prospect that year by MLB.com.
That celly from Diego Castillo! 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/fi9PNTwV84
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) July 25, 2021
For Holmes, it brings an end to his 10-year relationship with the Pirates after being selected in the ninth round of the 2011 draft.
After pitching parts of three seasons with the Pirates from 2018-2020, the team non-tendered the right-hander last winter, but quickly re-signed him on a minor-league deal. Holmes had a strong spring and earned a major league job out of camp, and he started strong, earning leverage roles in the backend of the bullpen.
He hit a rough patch in the middle of June though and has allowed 15 runs over 14 2/3 innings in his last 18 outings.
On the season, Holmes recorded a 4.93 ERA over 42 innings across 44 appearances.
The Pirates' roster is now at 39 players. Both Castillo and Park are Rule 5 eligible this offseason.
The Pirates will need to promote two players to replace Holmes and Frazier before the team plays the Brewers Tuesday.
The trade deadline is at 4 p.m. Friday.
