The Pirates announced they’ve selected right-hander Austin Brice onto the major league roster. Pittsburgh placed righty Yerry De Los Santos on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.
Brice is back for a second stint with the Bucs. He made two appearances, tossing 3 2/3 innings of two-run ball, before being designated for assignment. Brice passed unclaimed through waivers and accepted an assignment back to Triple-A Indianapolis, where he’s logged the majority of the season. The 30-year-old owns a 4.41 ERA through 34 2/3 innings of relief there, fanning batters at a quality 27.2% clip against a solid 8.6% walk rate. Brice has also induced ground-balls at an above-average clip in the minors to earn his way back.
A former ninth-round pick, Brice has gotten to the majors in each of the last seven years. He’s pitched for the Marlins on two separate occasions, along with stints as a Red, Red Sox and Pirate. In 165 2/3 career innings, he owns a 5.16 ERA with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk rates. Brice is out of minor league option years, meaning he’ll have to stick on the active roster or again be designated for assignment.
De Los Santos, 24, made his major league debut this season. He’s come out of the bullpen 26 times, posting a 4.91 ERA but showing more interesting peripherals. He’s averaged north of 95 MPH on his fastball, induced grounders at a very strong 52.8% clip and posted a league average strikeout rate (albeit without many whiffs on a per-pitch basis). That’ll unfortunately be his entire body of work for 2022, as he’s dealing with a lat strain in his throwing shoulder. With less than 60 days remaining on the regular season schedule, De Los Santos’ season is over.
Pirates are chasing rings while Tatis is chasing ringworm.
Is Brice eligible for the off-season?
That’s too bad for Yerry.There was a reason then why he got beat up yesterday.He has pitched well this year and this will of course limit his innings pitched this year which could be a good thing.I hope that this is not more serious than just for this year.
I had thought that they had not given Brice much of a chance earlier in the ML’s but he has not pitched well in AAA either.I do not understand why Bolton did not get a call.I also would have thought that Contreras should be brought up now also.This rebuild should be starting to show real signs of improvement,but they are still very hit or miss,mostly miss.
I heard that Contreras will be up in September. I really miss him because he was doing pretty well. The pitching honestly hasn’t been terrible, but this offense is downright atrocious. Cruz and Hayes have done better recently, as has Reynolds, but still. Even if they’ve been producing at an average or better level, you still have six other line-up spots who are basically replacement level bats or below. I have no idea why Josh VanMeter is still here. That is the most frustrating player I’ve ever watched.
I thought that BC had done a good job moving the young players up and down but since Yoshi was released I would have thought that the gates would have been opened and several of the players who will be 40 man rostered in the winter would have been brought up by now to give them a taste of the big leagues.
I had wanted them to show improvement by winning ten more games than last year but they are two games “below .500 “ as of now for that goal to happen.
I agree that the pitching has been fairly good,especially if you take out Castillo and Van Meter records.
But this is definitely no lumber company.
I also thought that after the deadline, the Pirates would open the gates for players. Swaggerty and Suwinski should be flanking Reynolds, JVM needs DFA, recall Diego, and you’ve made the line-up better already.
Except that is three for one.Castillo needs time in AAA.Swaggerty has just been OK there.I think Suwinski has real,promise,has hit well in his first time in AAA,but his strikeout numbers from ML has followed him there.Why do they have Padlo?Why hasn’t Bae been brought up?Why wasn’t Oviedo brought up instead of Brice.If Brice deserved it why weren’t his AAA numbers a lot better.Service time should not be a problem at this point.They could release Underwood and bring Bolton up.I realize that BC May have good reasons for not doing these things but they are certainly not evident to me.
Why?
Because management has a weird like for players such as Van Meter and even Madris, who at 26, hasn’t really shown much.
Shelton is a horrible manager and Cherington an equally horrible GM
The trifecta is the cheap owner, Bob Nutting, who by the way just purchased a Distillery in Pittsburgh
I hope it goes belly up
They probably keep JVM around because they feel any other position player is not ready for a late season tryout. He prevents kids from getting a crash and burn introduction in the big leagues. If that’s not the case, I really don’t what it is though.
I think that JVM has photos of someone.
They also got stuck without a backup first baseman which they needed in the worst way and JVM is one in the worst way.
You are probably right but there are enough players that could be promoted that they could take turns coming up with the unlimited annual option total.They have at least three players that they could easily remove from the 40 man roster at this point.
Contreras should be up now, but I fear Oscar Moran will ruin him as he has every other pitcher on this staff
Idk Mitch Keller doesn’t look ruined lol
Nor Brubaker or Bednar.
In fact the pitching has been better than I expected.
Keller is 25, been in the majors now for 4 years, he was supposed to be an elite pitcher, one that has Cy Young abilities
Better late than never.
You ever heard of a pitcher, named Sandy Koufax..took him close to five years to be one of the greatest pitchers….you haven’t s clue to what you are talking about…besides always bashing the pirates
Out of the University of CIncinnati. I believe.
Couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
Best pitcher ever then for five years before his elbow became shredded.
He used to own the Pirates,along with about every other team.
But the Pirates beat up on his mound mate Don Drysdale.
Mitch Keller is no Sandy Koufax but thanks for the ridiculous comparison
I wasn’t comparing him to Keller. .I’m pointing out that sometimes it takes four or five years to mature as a pitcher. .I’m guessing you can’t comprehend. . And speaking of ridiculous… you’re postings are absurdly stupid
Feel bad for Yerry. I’m a big fan of his and I really liked his early work so far.
Every time i see a post about someone being selected, called up, etc, i’m always hoping that Van Meter is DFA’d in a corresponding move. No such luck yet.
If VanMeter is DFA’d, Pirates fans are going to run through the streets as if the Pirates just won the World Series.
Yawn!!! All I want to know is, when is the next fireworks night?
I’m so frustrated with the moves the pirates aren’t making. I’ve been following them since 1965. And this is mind boggling to keep playing Gamel and Underwood and Van meter. I’m assuming the reasons are financial and that’s bullcrap.and not to call up Oviedo is outright stupid. I think the manager and the whole coaching staff should be fired at seasons end.
I think with the youngsters you need an older established manager….not a Shelton/hurdle clone
I think Shelton has done a decent job and I think that this is mostly BC call.I think it stupid if they are manipulating service time at this point.They need to keep moving on to show hope to however many fans they actually have left.
I agree with you on everything but Shelton….he’s garbage
15 strikeouts today by Bucs batters, 4 from Cruz alone then Manager Whiz pinch hits for Delay with Van Meter and he swings at a pitch nowhere near the strike zone
That’s the common way of this team and it’s failed leadership
TheMan-Cruz needs to be optioned.He is not a major league hitter no matter how much hype they give him.
They just are not a good team.Why would you use Van Meter to pinch hit when there is no team in ML’s who would have this guy.
They need to make massive personnel changes NOW.Keep on moving these guys until someone sticks.
Holderman needs to be named the closer to see whether he can do it.They gave up their second best hitter for him.Newman needs to play every day as he is one of the few competent ML players that they have.Let Castro play until he stops hitting.Oviedo needs to come up,along with Bae.
Heck,even give Martin a chance.What can it hurt at this point and they need a first baseman.
BC and Shelton need to get their acts together real quick.
But who are the knuckleheads?Its the fans.I used to watch Hee Haw( But mainly for Gunilla Hutton and Misty Rowe),and Jethro used to go to Grandpa Jones and say,”It hurts when I do that!” And Grandpa,to his everlasting glory would say,”Well,don’t do that!”
I follow each game but very quickly will spend my time doing something else.
.
What good does it do to send Cruz down….he has to play….no one is hitting much..might as well see the kids
We’ve seen the kids play.They sent Mitchell and Suwinski down,why not Cruz?Why is everyone so enamored with him?He was a 234 hitter in AAA.Do you think that he is magically going to become a good hitter in the ML’s just by repetition?Losing becomes a habit,and it has become one so far for the Pirates.Do you think that he should have more time in AAA to learn how to hit?How do you know that the Pirates did not bring him up just to show that they are improving?It isn’t working.If he was such a prospect why didn’t he hit at least 300 in AAA?They have given him a chance in the Majors,and would be able to tell his attitude if he is optioned out.That has happened to many a fine player early in their careers.If the current minor leaguers like Peguero are so good they will pass Cruz by If he does not show quick improvement.He is not going to do that in the majors.
My advice to you is to look at some of the veterans batting averages this year….quite a few hitting around 200.. including joey votto…hitting is down in the majors…
My advice to you is that Joey Votto is about 257 years old and how much can the league batting average be down-10 points max?
The Pirates have tried to get by with smoke and mirrors in the past.I think that you mean well,but we all have to face the music some time.Young Pirate hitters have not proven that they can hit ML pitching,and most are not even close to doing so.Most also have not had sufficient time in AAA to prove that they can hit even there.That is why there needs to be a carousel with these guys this year to give them a taste of the big leagues and to show them what they have to work on.It has proven to be a lot.
Sending down Cruz to play Newman is barely a lateral movement.
I am not necessarily disagreeing with your statement Inasmuch as Newman has no power but he is an average Major League hitter at this point otherwise and they have very few of them.How many times do you trot someone out who strikes out so much without damaging their confidence?My point is that Cruz’ roster spot and playing time can be covered by Bae to find out what he can do.Let these guys earn their roster spots.More time in AAA will not be a waste for those young players who do not have a year there and I am not sure that they have hyped Cruz so match that he may be thinking prima Donna status.