The Pirates have announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game. Catcher Tyler Heineman has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right groin strain. Left-hander Dillon Peters has been placed on the 15-day IL due to left elbow inflammation. To take those roster spots, the club has recalled lefty Eric Stout and selected catcher Taylor Davis. There was a vacancy on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move will be required in that regard. Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had Davis’s promotion shortly before the team announcement.
Davis, 32, was drafted by the Cubs in 2011 and worked his way up to make his MLB debut with them in 2017. He got into just 20 MLB games with the Cubbies over the three-year stretch from 2017 to 2019. He was outrighted at the end of that season and signed a minor league deal with the Orioles. With the pandemic canceling the minor league seasons that year and Davis not getting called to the bigs, he never logged any official action. Last year, he got traded to the Pirates and added two more games to his MLB tally. He was released at the end of the year and re-signed on a minor league pact. In 35 Triple-A games this year, he’s hitting .282/.358/.320.
The Pirates have dealt with some attrition behind the plate this year, as Roberto Perez underwent season-ending surgery in May. Michael Perez was designated for assignment and traded to the Mets a few weeks ago, leaving Heineman and Jason Delay as the catching tandem. With Heineman now hitting the shelf, it seems it will be Delay and Davis, at least for the time being. The severity of Heineman’s injury isn’t known at this time.
True baseball men like myself can appreciate a good Pirates transaction thread every once and awhile.
Ahhh yes, Taylor Davis, that guy who is famous for making faces at the camera.
I like Davis. I think he deserves a shot at regular MLB ABs eventually.
Just can’t keep catchers this year. By my calculations Davis will be #6.
#7 if you count a half game of Josh Van Meter as the emergency catcher!
Is there a reason why Taylor hasn’t gotten more MLB time? he seems to have hit well in the minors over all.
Runners have successfully stolen 27/31 times against him in AAA this year. Other years don’t look much better. I know part of that’s going to be on the pitchers, but I’m going to guess that’s part of it.
I don’t paymuch attention to stolen base percentages in MiLB, really even MLB unless i’m trying to talk up a trade or something 😉
but yeah if he isn’t the best of catchers then that would def explain why. At his age and bat if he wasn’t that good at it i’m surprised he wasn’t moved.
I was at a game a few years ago when he hit a grand slam for the Cubbies for his first career HR. Pretty awesome moment
Don’t forget Knapp too. Revolving door of catchers until Henry is ready.
Or Edny. You can make a case that Edny might be a better prospect.
Endy’s versatility is nice, but he’s not gonna be a regular catcher. Its his bat thats gonna get him to the big leagues.
Endy isn’t that bad of a catcher, he just can play other positions decently as well. Really he is probably better than Henry but Henry hasn’t played else where that much.
Pirates went from no catching prospects to having two of the better catching prospects. Regardless of where they end up on the diamond.. it is a good problem to have 🙂
Severino would be nice. These guys all stink. Last year stallings and Michael Perez almost made it the whole year without any IL stints. Stallings had one short one in September
The pirates called up the wrong Davis I went Henry Davis not this guy
Hopefully going to see an article saying that the Pirates DFA VanMeter and claim David MacKinnon.
If they DFA VanMeter who will buy Shelton’s dinner and clean his shoes on the road!