Top prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes was one of five players added to the 40-man roster Wednesday by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 22-year-old third baseman was joined by right-handers Blake Cederlind and Cody Ponce, first baseman Will Craig and shortstop ONeil Cruz. That prevents them from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 12 at the Winter Meetings in San Diego.
Hayes is ranked the 36th-best prospect in baseball by MLB.com, and Cruz is No. 57.
The Pirates opened roster spots by designating four pitchers for assignment: left-hander Williams Jerez and right-handers Dario Agrazal, Montana DuRapau and Luis Escobar.
Hayes spent the past season at Triple-A Indianapolis, hitting .265/.336/.415 with 10 home runs in 110 games. He missed nearly three weeks in June with a broken left index finger.
Considered a Gold-glove caliber third baseman, Hayes was a supplemental first-round pick in 2015 amateur draft. His father, Charlie, was a major league third baseman for 14 seasons from 1988-2001, including spending most of 1996 with the Pirates.
Cruz, 21, hit a combined .298/.356/.475 with eight homers and 11 stolen bases in 73 games while splitting the season between Class AA Altoona and high Class A Bradenton. A broken right foot sidelined him for almost two months.
The Pirates acquired Cruz from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 2017 trade for left-handed reliever Tony Watson.
Craig, the Pirates first-round pick in 2015, batted .249/.326/.435 with 23 home runs for Indianapolis this past season. However, 15 of the 25-year-old’s homers came in his first 46 games.
Cederlind, 23, whose fastball has been clocked as high as 100 mph, made a combined 41 relief appearances with Indianapolis, Altoona and Bradenton. He was 5-2 with four saves, a 2.28 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 591/3 innings.
The Pirates chose Cederlind in the fifth round of the 2016 draft.
Ponce, 25, was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers on July 31 in a trade for right-hander Jordan Lyles then went a combined 1-3 with a 5.47 ERA in seven games, including five starts, with Indianapolis and Altoona.
Jerez, 27, pitched in six late-season games in relief after being claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants and posted a 7.36 ERA.
Agrazal, 24, started 14 of his 15 games with the Pirates as a rookie and had a 4-5 record and 4.91 ERA.
Like Agrazal, DuRapau and Escobar made their major league debuts this year. The 27-year-old DuRapau was 0-1 with a 9.35 ERA in 14 games (two starts), and Escobar, 23, notched a 7.94 ERA in four games.
