Pirates Set 2021 Curve Opening Day Roster

CURVE, PA – The Altoona Curve, in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Pirates, announced their 28-man roster to start the 2021 season on Friday. The roster features eight of the Top-30 prospects in the Pirates organization according to Baseball America and three members of the Pirates 40-man roster.

To access a PDF of the roster, click here.

INF Oneil Cruz (No. 2 Pirates, No. 50 overall), RHP Cody Bolton (No. 6), INF Ji-Hwan Bae (No. 9), INF Mason Martin (No. 16), OF Cal Mitchell (No. 19), Rodolfo Castro (No. 22), RHP Max Kranick (No. 23), and RHP Travis MacGregor (No. 28) are all ranked in Baseball America’s Top-30 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects list. Cruz, Castro, and Kranick are also members of the Pirates 40-man roster.

The roster features just six players that have worn a Curve uniform prior to 2021: Bolton, Cruz, catcher Arden Pabst, OF Bligh Madris, RHP Shea Murray, and RHP John O'Reilly.

The Opening Day roster includes starting pitchers: Roansy Contreras, Travis MacGregor, Noe Toribio, Max Kranick, Osvaldo Bido, and Jeffrey Passantino with relief pitchers Cam Alldred, Cody Bolton, Yerry De Los Santos, Will Gardner, Shea Murray, Oddy Nunez, John O’Reilly, and Hunter Stratton.

Contreras and OF Canaan Smith will make their Pirates organizational debut with the Curve after being acquired by the Pirates in a five-player deal with the New York Yankees for former Curve righty Jameson Taillon in January.

The position player group features an intriguing combination of power and speed with top prospects slated to start the season across the diamond. 2019 Pirates Minor League Player of the Year Mason Martin leads a star-studded infield that will include Bae, Cruz and Castro with Josh Bissonette, Brendt Citta, and Ethan Paul rounding out the group.

Smith-Njigba, Daniel Amaral, Jonah Davis, Bligh Madris, and Cal Mitchell will roam the outfield to begin the campaign. Smith-Njigba was named a 2019 Mid-Season and Post-Season South Atlantic League All-Star with the Charleston Riverdogs, while Mitchell earned a 2019 Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star Selection and was named the All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player while playing for the Bradenton Mauraders. Madris spent the entire 2019 campaign with the Curve, batting .260 with eight home runs and 55 RBIs in 132 games. His 119 hits ranked seventh in the league while his career-high 26 doubles were tied for ninth-best.

Behind the plate, the Curve will have three high-quality, veteran backstops in Raul Hernandez, Arden Pabst and Deon Stafford. Pabst, who appeared in 73 games for the Curve in 2019, led the league with a .998 fielding percentage (one error in 604 total chances) and ranked fifth in the circuit with a 35.1% (20/57) caught-stealing rate.

Please note, numbers will be assigned over the weekend and an updated roster will be shared on Opening Day.

Altoona will be led by first-year Manager Miguel Perez, the first former Curve player to return to manage the team later in their career. For more information on the 2021 Coaching Staff, click here.

The Curve open their 22nd season of play at Peoples Natural Gas Field on Tuesday, May 4 at 6:00pm against the Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles). For tickets and the latest information on promotions visit www.milb.com/Altoona/Tickets/Promotions or call 877-99-CURVE.