ELIECER NAVARRO | LEFT HANDED PITCHER |
![]() | Born: October 26, 1987 Height: 5′ 9″ Weight: 177 Bats: Left Throws: Left Signed: Int. FA, Pittsburgh Pirates, 2006 How Acquired: Int. FA Country: Panama Agent: N/A |
WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES |
| Navarro is one of a handful of small LHPs in the Pirates’ system who put up good, or in some cases spectacular, numbers in the Latin American summer leagues, but whose stuff may not play well at higher levels. He’s not an extreme soft-tosser, as his fastball registers in the upper 80s. He mixes it in with a lot of offspeed stuff. He’s generally been a flyball pitcher and LH batters have hit him better than RH batters, so a career as a LOOGY may not be in the offing. 2007 Navarro pitched well his first year in the DSL, with well over a strikeout an inning. 2008 Returning to the DSL, Navarro had playstation numbers, including a 13.5:1 K:BB ratio. 2009 Didn’t dominate the GCL, but mostly pitched well. He allowed seven earned runs in his first six innings, but only six in last 25. He walked very few, but his K rate was nothing like what it was in the DSL. 2010 Navarro opened at State College, but after pitching very well in three long relief outings, he moved up to serve as a swing man for West Virginia. He was one of the Power’s few effective pitchers, especially out of the bullpen, where he had a 2.91 ERA. 2011 Navarro joined Bradenton in mid-April, but struggled in a dozen relief appearances and one start, with a .292 opponents’ BA. He’s always been somewhat of a flyball pitcher and he had trouble in the FSL with gopher balls, allowing nearly one every five innings. He did have good walk and K numbers. He spent some time in extended spring training and was assigned to West Virginia in July. He made half a dozen relief appearances, then joined the rotation in late July, making eight starts through the end of the season. He pitched well, somewhat better in relief than starting. His BB and K numbers were very good. He was tough on left-handed batters, who hit only .205 against him in the SAL. Navarro will return to Bradenton to open 2012. He was eligible for the Rule 5 draft after the 2011 season, but wasn’t selected. By the time the next season starts he’ll be 24, which is a couple years older than preferable for that level. He’ll pitch out of the bullpen along with two other very similar lefties, Porfirio Lopez and Jhonathan Ramos. |
STATS |
| Baseball Reference–Minors Fangraphs MiLB.com |
CONTRACT INFORMATION |
| 2012: Minor League Contract |
PLAYER INFORMATION |
| Signing Bonus: N/A MiLB Debut: 6/5/2007 MLB Debut: N/A MiLB FA Eligible: 2013 MLB FA Eligible: N/A Rule 5 Eligible: 2010 Added to 40-Man: N/A Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
TRANSACTIONS |
| 2006: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an international free agent. |

