Prior to today’s game, the Pirates placed left-hander Rob Zastryzny on the 15-day injured list due to discomfort in his throwing elbow. Righty Yohan Ramirez was called up from Triple-A to take Zastryzny’s spot on the active roster.
Zastryzny pitched just yesterday, facing four batters and recording one out in an appearance against the Cardinals. With a hit and two walks amidst those four batters faced, Zastryzny clearly wasn’t sharp, and it’s safe to assume that his elbow issue impacted his performance. The concern now is whether or not Zastryzny might be facing a more serious injury, as Pirates senior VP of baseball operations Bryan Stroh said today in a radio appearance that Zastryzny will be visiting a specialist when the club returns to Pittsburgh on Monday.
After being non-tendered by the Angels during the offseason, Zastryzny signed a minor league deal with the Pirates and broke camp with the club. Even before Saturday’s outing against St. Louis, it hadn’t been smooth sailing for Zastryzny, as he has a 7.94 ERA over 5 2/3 total innings this season. Control has been the biggest problem, as the lefty has almost as many walks (five) as strikeouts (six).
This is Zastryzny’s fifth MLB season, as he returned to the Show in 2022 after not getting any big league action in any of the previous three years. The southpaw pitched for the Cubs in 2016-18, then spent the next three seasons pitching on minor league deals (with the Dodgers, Orioles, and Marlins) and with the independent Long Island Ducks.
With Zastryzny now sidelined, Jose Hernandez is the only left-hander in Pittsburgh’s bullpen, as Jarlin Garcia is on the 60-day IL due to a nerve injury in his biceps area. Caleb Smith, Angel Perdomo, and Daniel Zamora are lefties with MLB experience who are pitching at Triple-A, but the Pirates would first have to make a 40-man roster move to add any of the three southpaws to their active roster.
If ever a player needed to buy a vowel …
Rob Zastryeuryrydbdjwjwndndn.
Marc Rzepczynski’s Scrabble partner.
or smith whatever his other name is and who’s proof that having a hot spring doesn’t always carry over to the regular season
I think they play czechkers.
In Czechia
To correct the article slightly: the Bucs actually have 5 lefties at Indianapolis with MLB experience. Kent Emanuel and Cam Alldred are the other 2, though they each have very minimal big league appearances. I think Emanuel is currently injured.
And those 2 are also not on the 40-man.
Pitched in one game with the Mets too
You would think they make a move. No way they are only going with Jose Hernandez as the only lefty in the pen