I'm in the same boat as seemingly everyone else when it comes to the Adam Frazier signing. It just doesn't seem to make sense. On Wednesday 1/29/25 the Pirates finalized their deal with the former Bucco Adam Frazier for $1.525 million.
The Pirates now have 8 players on the 40-man roster listed as a middle infielder, including Adam Frazier. The Pirates still have a big hole in the corner outfield which they have yet to address, and they waived a RP to make room for Adam Frazier. That also leaves the Pirates with 22 position players and 18 pitchers on their 40-man roster. I expect that balance before spring training starts.
Another interesting thing with this signing is that the Pirates started with Tristan Gray and Trey Cabbage on the 40-man roster. Both of those players have elite exit velocities, bat speed, and hard hit rates while having trouble with strikeouts and squaring up the ball. There was also Bryan De La Cruz who doesn't have elite anything really, but still hit some run runs in the majors. Now all three are gone, and the Pirates seemingly signed another middle infield they don't need. The recent acquisitions for the Pirates who seem they have signed to hit in the lineup (minus Joey Bart) is Spencer Horwitz, Adam Frazier, IKF, and Enmanuel Valdez.
Enmanuel Valdez has peripherals similar to Bryan De La Cruz. He has nothing spectacular (really nothing good either), but nothing terrible either. He's just overall average that put up overall average mlb seasons. The biggest difference between the two is that at the time of the Enmanuel signing, he was the only lefty hitting middle infielder who had major league experience (not considering Bae). He doesn't hit the sinker or slider well, so he won't be a great at breaking a pitchers' rhythm. He is getting paid league minimum and has an option so perhaps he falls back in the depth chart with the Adam Frazier signing.
In terms of pitches he can hit, he is similar to Adam Frazier. Both can hit the fastball and changeup and slurve. But they struggle mightily against the slider and sinker. An advantage Frazier may have is that his peripherals better fits the model of the other acquisitions IKF and Spencer Horwitz. They all have low whiff rates, low bat speed, and can square the ball. These players certainly aren't physical specimens, but they will make a lot of contact. An awesome thing with Horwitz is his ability to square up the ball while hitting a good launch angle. Horwitz squares the ball up more and Frazier hits at a better angle, but they are good at both. IKF whiffs less than both of them and squares the ball up more than they do, however he has poor launch angles.
Frazier also has a much better glove and range than Enmanuel does. So with Frazier's peripherals, glove, and pitch types he just seems like a better fit than Enmanuel does to this team. Even with the fact that the Pirates are in on Alex Verdugo whose peripherals include low whiff rates and high square up rates, it just seems Frazier is the profile Cherington is after.