Pirates release Matt Curry, Candon Myles

The Pirates have released several minor leaguers, including Matt Curry and Candon Myles. Also, Michael Martinez has elected free agency.

Curry, a 2010 16th-round pick out of TCU, attracted a fair amount of attention when he hit .361/.477/.671 in a half-season at West Virginia in 2011. Now, that appears to have been a case of an older player from a big college program beating up on younger competition. Curry skipped Class A+ that season and headed to Altoona. He eventually hit well there in 2012, but he put up pedestrian numbers at Altoona in 2013 and 2014 and never got much of a shot at Indianapolis.

The Bucs picked Myles out of a Texas high school in the 11th round in 2011 draft and signed him to a $125,000 bonus, but the speedy outfielder never made it out of Class A.

Martinez declaring free agency is routine this time of year. Hopefully, the Pirates won't be have the need or desire next year to use someone like Martinez at the big-league level.