Josh Palacios is Eyeing a Return to the Majors with Pirates
p/c: Indianapolis Indians
During last offseason’s Winter Meetings, the Pittsburgh Pirates added outfielder Josh Palacios in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft from the Washington Nationals.
Before the MiLB season got started, Josh Palacios represented Team Netherlands in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, along with his brother, Richie, who is a prospect in the Cleveland Guardians’ organization. This was made possible, because their mother is from Curaçao.
The Altoona Curve is where Palacios was assigned to, when the 2023 season began. In eight games, he slashed .265/.324/.324.
Because the Indianapolis Indians were dealing with injuries, Palacios was promoted to their roster on April 21st.
Since arriving to Indianapolis, Palacios has been on an absolute, hitting spree. In fact, he was named Player of the Week in the International League, for the week of April 25th.
Palacios continued his hot hitting on Sunday, with 3 hits against the Toledo Mud Hens, which extended his hit streak to 12.
While with the Indians, Palacios is posting a ridiculous .434/.500/.774 slash line, in 60 plate appearances. During the 12-game hitting streak, seven of those have been multi-hit performances. In addition, Palacios is striking out only 11.7% of the time.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington and assistant GM Steve Sanders are familiar, with Palacios’ work, as both were in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization - at the time Palacios was a rising prospect.
Palacios has some big league experience under his belt, with the Jays in 2021, and the Nationals last year.
The eventual call ups of Endy Rodriguez and Nick Gonzales to Pittsburgh will be the most anticipated. Although Palacios no longer falls in the category of a prospect, perhaps his strong showing at Indianapolis will be enough to give him another opportunity of reaching the Majors at some point in 2023.