The Pirates have optioned seven players, the team announced on Twitter. They include relief pitchers Geoff Hartlieb, Sam Howard, Edgar Santana and Yacksel Rios, as well as outfielder Jason Martin and third base prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes. But the most notable name in the bunch is shortstop Cole Tucker. The 23-year-old had been hitting well in spring training before the league-wide shutdown, putting up a slash line of .296/.387./.667, much better than his 2019 big league output of .211/.266/.361.
Tucker was a well-regarded prospect going into 2019, coming in at #83 on the FanGraphs Top 100 Prospects. He went on to have an up-and-down year, getting called up and making his big league debut on April 20 before being optioned and recalled twice more as the season wore on. He ended up getting into 56 games and producing a lackluster 61 wRC+ at the plate , but balancing that out with solid enough defense at short to break even in the WAR department with 0.0, according to FanGraphs. The numbers at Baseball Reference are slightly kinder, pegging him at 64 OPS+ and 0.2 WAR.
The shortstop position in Pittsburgh is currently occupied by Kevin Newman, who put together a very nice season in 2019, with a wRC+ of 110 and 2.4 fWAR. Erik Gonzalez should be slotted into the backup role, although JT Riddle could also play some shortstop in a pinch. It seems the team thinks the best path forward for Tucker is to get regular playing time in AAA and try to force his way into the picture. “We definitely believe in Cole as an every-day player”, said Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter. “He’s young enough where we think he should be playing every day still. Certainly see him contributing at the major league level really soon.”
A bit surprised initially about Santana, but I understand it. Although I feel that if he had a normal spring training, and faced live batters regularly throughout the month, he wouldn’t have been optioned.
Cole Tucker and Ke’Bryan Hayes seem to be service time related shenanigans.
the Pirates have Moran, Frazier, and Newman at 2nd, 3rd, and SS. no need to have either up really.
Plus Hayes didn’t do all that well at AAA anyways. I’d rather him get a few more reps at Indianapolis before just giving him third base.
He probably wont be given 3rd base when he gets called up anyway. He could be used as a righty platoon and late inning defensive replacement with Moran given his big lefty split difference and defensive struggles.
I thought Tucker was already past that? He got called up in April and played in a bunch of games.
He can still have his service time manipulated. The Twins kept Buxton in the minors after his rehab 2 seasons ago in order to get an extra year of control.
Tucker will get his chance once Erik Gonzalez runs into an outfielder.
Anyone fear that there’s not going to be any baseball this summer?
Based on what we’re seeing unfold daily across the world, I don’t see 2020 season getting off the ground at all.
Santana just needs to pitch. He will be here this season as will tucker and Hayes
I love reading comments because usually the arguments make me happy.
So how does the super 2 work this year if say they start season July 1st….would that mean they can call up players around then and not count as a full year?