5:01pm: The Pirates announced this evening that right-hander Chase Shugart was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Davis on the club’s roster. That will leave Pittsburgh to carry three catchers on the big league roster for the time being, with Davis joining Bart and Rodriguez.
10:41am: The Pirates are calling catcher Henry Davis up from Triple-A Indianapolis, MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf reports. No corresponding move is yet known, though Davis’ arrival is likely related to Joey Bart leaving yesterday’s game due to lower back discomfort.
Bart was the starting catcher in Pittsburgh’s 5-3 loss to the Reds, but he was replaced in the field prior to the bottom of the second inning. The Pirates described Bart’s status as day-to-day, yet having Davis on hand is a wise move even in the short term, so the team wouldn’t be entirely shorthanded behind the plate if backup catcher Endy Rodriguez also picked up an injury. More will be known later today on Bart’s status, and whether or not he might be headed to the 10-day injured list.
In any case, the situation has led to another big-league look for Davis, the first overall pick of the 2021 draft. Heralded for his batting ability at the University of Louisville, Davis has yet to show anything at the plate at the MLB level. After hitting .213/.302/.351 in 255 plate appearances in his 2023 rookie season, Davis had only a .144/.242/.212 slash line in 122 PA last year. His 2024 campaign was also marred by a pair of IL stints — one on the concussion-related injured list, and another due to hand inflammation.
Davis’ development has taken a few twists and turns, chiefly due to the Bucs’ experiment with Davis as an outfielder, as the team looked for ways to fit both Davis and another top catching prospect in Rodriguez into the lineup at the same time. This long-term view hit some immediate roadblocks, however, as Rodriguez missed the entire 2024 season due to UCL surgery, plus Bart (also a former top prospect during his time with the Giants) also broke out with solid numbers last year to claim the starting catching job.
The Pirates have now recommitted Davis to a catching-only path, while Rodriguez has seen a good chunk of action at first base in addition to serving as Bart’s backup this season. Perhaps regardless of how the fielding situation might develop, Davis isn’t going to stick in the Show unless he can hit, and it is still far too early to write Davis off at age 25. His minor league numbers also hint at the potential, as Davis has a .316/.417/.548 slash line and 15 homers over 346 career PA at the Triple-A level.
This could be Oneil Cruz to IL for his finger.
the article clearly states what happened to Bart, yet people are making wild assumptions
To be fair he posted his comment before it was announced that Shugart was being sent down
except that Cambo never mentioned anything about Shugart.
Bart had a collision at home plate a few days ago in the final game against the Cards. Wonder if this is a possible lingering affect from that. Hope Davis can at least be okay until Bart is good to go again, because he was off to a pretty solid start.
“having another Davis on hand is a wise move”
Another catcher, right??
I’m dying
I wondered that too.
You can never have enough Davises or enough pitching.
Eric? Yes.
Chili? Sure.
Storm? Okay.
Henry? TBD.
Jonathan Davis Davis.
Sammy Jr, to sing a few songs and get a couple laughs. Lord knows, this team needs it
Bart was injured in last night’s game, taken out and Endy moved from first base to catcher
I hope Davis can add some offense to this team because they stink
Maybe we will see the REAL Davis
As long as it’s on Ike.
Not* Ike.
Davis has been great at every level except MLB. doesn’t mean he will be in the MLB but does show he has a decent chance at it.
Not great at catcher but good enough if he can hit at around league average
I’m always leery of hitters whose performance drops off after a stint on the concussion list. The potential of a small but permanent change in eyesight worries me.
In a figurative sense, Pirates management gave this kid numerous concussions with their mind games. I’m hoping he can succeed here but maybe a change of scenery is a better option
A change of scenery is good for the entire team.
Too bad the management staff can’t be relocated
Yes the pirates, especially Shelton, are good at messing with you get players heads.
Sounds like what Tomlin did to Rudolph and Pickett.
Rudolph, ok
Pickett, eh….
this guy is going to hit at some point. Pirates need Joey Bart too.
First overall pick back in ‘21 and has yet show anything in pro ball. Sounds like he’s destined as a massive early first round bust as a first overall pick. Him and Moniak both
no one ever said that Cherington was a baseball whiz
And look at that draft, it was pretty stacked
The 2021 draft has only produced one All Star from the entire first round (Jackson Merrill), and most of the players have either not made it to the majors or haven’t shown they’re major contributors. It sucks to whiff on the number 1 pick but if they hadn’t taken Davis they would’ve taken Jack Leiter, who’s also nothing special so far.
aLifetimeOfDefeats
The 2021 draft has only produced one All Star from the entire first round
============================
Judging a draft based on AS, 3 years after the draft, isn’t the way to go. Most of them will still be in the minors at that point. The haul from the draft are:
Leiter
Jobe
Mayer
Cowser
Painter
Frelick, maybe
Gavin Williams, probably
And that’s only what we have so far. Davis is looking like a really bad pick.
They should have brought a few more up. No way they can keep running guys out there batting 150
I agree.
Shelton keeps using Suwinski yet he’s clearly shown that he isn’t major league caliber
Shelton can’t decide who to bat lead off as well having written 8 different lineups already
This offense is worse than last year’s which I never thought possible
Jack showed he wasn’t last year but yet a failure of an offseason is leading to an embarrassment on the field. The line up last night was horrendous. You can make an argument Indy fielded a better team last night
another different lineup in tonight’s game.
I vividly remember watching the Bucs of the 60’s and 70’s.
Basically the same lineup every game.
But then again, those teams had talent
The 60s and 70s ended 55 years ago.
And we thought it was the hitting coach.
Maybe some of these guys just can’t hit no matter what.
I keep saying that yeah, player development has been horrendous but what about the scouts who evaluate talent? Ok, they’ve succeeded where young pitching is concerned but how is it that none of the kids they draft ever pan out at the MLB level? You’d think a blind squirrel gets an acorn once in a while. With the Pirates, the “rebuild” has apparently just come down to getting some warm bodies into the farm system
many of these players weren’t drafted by the Bucs so what does that say about those players who were drafted by another organization?
To me it says that the coaching staff has been a failure
Agreed. But to even get them, someone needed to scout and evaluate them to begin with. Not like they were brought in cold, off of the street
Think it’s a lot of both
good point George, or should I refer to you as Tired
Last night he had Chen batting third…shows this MORON knows diddly
I’ll defend Suwinski. Both Suwinski and Bae had good springs and were kept on the active. That was a mistake as there wasn’t enough playing time for both. Sheldon, in his infinite wisdom, compounded the problem by playing both sparingly initially so they both cooled off. On the other hand, waiver wire pickups such as Valdez and Camanro (sic?) both get to play regularly to prove themselves. Really, do the Pirates have so little faith in their system that they favor waiver wire pickups.
Sheldon, again in his infinite wisdom, threw just about everyone in the leadoff position when IKF was hot. Now, that IKF is no longer hot, Sheldon puts him in leadoff.
As long as Sheldon is manger, I have no expectations that the Pirates will be competitive and will continue to misuse whatever talent the Pirates have.
They’ll win so much when they get a new manager. Cherington has assembled such a fantastic team. Nutting has provided every resource possible. Manager is what’s holding the Pirates back.
no one expects them to win the championship Dream but they have been putrid already and that’s concerning
Manager isn’t the problem. He’s awful and will be fired soon. Someone has to be thrown under. But there’s not talent and no depth on the roster. Nothing to manage.
You guys thought a new hitting coach was the answer. Now it’s manager. Only solution is a new gm who hires the right development people.
if there’s nothing to manage why fire Shelon?
Different lineup #10 for today’s game.
Cruz is back but with Hunter Greene pitching, it will be another double digit strike out performance by this lackluster offense
Exactly. October fire them all. Starts with president. Let new president hire new gm. New gm hire manager. You can fire Shelton now just to see how players respond. See what you think of in house options. Just isn’t enough talent. Lots of hurt talent. When it comes back manager will look better.
The Bucs should trade Davis to a team that knows how to develop catchers while he’s still got some value.
you could say that about just about every player on this pathetic roster
Fair
Down 4-0 in the third thanks to a grand slam by De la Cruz, and no hits yet by the Bucs, chalk up another loss
The announcers said the.194 collective batting average by the Bucs is the lowest after 14 games in franchise history
Last year they broke the franchise record for most strikeouts in a season
One thing these batters are good at, consistency
Sad that Shelton will probably mismanage the rest of the year. Any other team would have fired the MORON 2 years ago.
He hasn’t s clue on how to set lineups, manage a bullpen and rotation.
Now the MORON was a hitting instructor. I wonder if he has his handprints on the hitting instructions. Like Tomlin does on the defense and offense
Shelton is awful. No doubt there
But when you watch this team you understand that they have few legitimate major leaguers. Turn the sound down and ignore the blather of guys like Block and Wehner, who perfectly fit as horrible broadcasters
Look around at what they fielded last night. Let’s start with Heaney, a garbage pitcher, who throws a couple nice innings, then suddenly gives up a hit, drills two batters and then grooves a pitch for De La Cruz to hit a slam
Look at the punchless offense.
Endy, Davis are awful
Valdez fits perfectly here as a hitter. And fielder
IKF is strictly bench
Hayes is the biggest bust here in years
And Reynolds? Are we sure Haines isn’t coaching him?
Pham? A joke
What does it say that your 37 year old Cutch is the only fearsome batter in your lineup?
I still laugh that some here predicted this team to contend. Baseball people knew this was a train wreck but let’s listen to the analytics lovers who want you to know that what you actually see isn’t real
Shelton is awful. But while Leland would at least get more hustle and professionalism from this group—sorely missing here—even he couldn’t get many more wins
This team leads the majors in called third strikes which suggests they still don’t know how to protect the plate
It’s only the 2nd inning but so far they’ve wasted a double. And then a triple. And then Frazier looked like an infielder playing left
But I take solace in knowing the Reds don’t know how to bunt either
After IKF tripled, Chang should have bunted down the 3rd base line. Anything to try and score a run instead he strikes out.
A game they needed to win and the master manager doesn’t play Hayes but plays Chang and against a strikeout pitcher.
Shelton deserves to be fired
Exactly. The kid couldn’t hit in the minors, let him swing away against one of the hardest throwers in MLB. I’m sure there are probably analytics geniuses here who would salute that
To be honest last years team was better then this one. They need to make a coaching change by at least Memorial Day weekend.
Personally, the good news is that since the Pirates are so mismanaged and bad, I feel no desire to watch them and have more time to do other things. Guess it is time to head to the forest to walk the dogs.
Yes, agreed. I haven’t felt this way since Russell was manager
Lloyd McClendon was no prize either
Joey Bart was selected second overall in the 2018 draft. In his first 503 plate appearances, which were taken over the course of four seasons, Bart hit .219/.288/.335 — .623 OPS, 77 wRC+.
Bart didn’t hit well until last season with the Pirates, at age 27.
Therefore, I’m pleased to see Henry Davis be recalled. He has too much potential not to get another real shot.
When I watch Davis it’s obvious that his biggest strength as a hitter is pull side power. The huge issues that hold him back from what I see is that he doesn’t have the bat speed to catch up to inside heat on a consistent basis and his pre-swing load is too pronounced and starts too far towards his back hip to make up the difference. I don’t know what adjustments would be most effective for him whether it’s keeping his hands out in front earlier, getting his plant foot down sooner, taking a half step away from the plate, etc, but I would tell him to ignore every pitch on the outer third of the strike zone until he figures out how to do damage with pitches on the inner third.
It sounds like you have some good ideas and that whatever has been holding him back can be fixed. Let’s hope the new hitting coach can help make that happen.
Jimmy-And at least that is a plan.
He can get away with not doing that in the minor leagues.
Not in MLB.
And if he has not made any changes this year he probably has not been tutored effectively this year by the new hitting instructor.
Richard- I admire your enthusiasm regarding the Pirates.
You probably are not a hardened veteran fan though.
I too saw the glass half full and hopefully with rising water.
Unfortunately,I now see it half empty,and the water dropping.
Pirates ownership needs to make significant personnel changes as this is a failing business.
The Pirates are building a roster that guards against a statistically improbable catcher injury chain (MLB catcher IL rate ~10-12% annually, simultaneous injuries <2%) while undercutting their ability to match the NL Central’s dynamic benches.
They were not deliberately building a roster with an eye on depth at C. They already were developing both Davis and Rodriguez when they were lifted Bart via waivers.
They have since both tries Davis in RF and Rodriguez at 1B preparing for a future with both. That future they envision with both bats in lineup and not tying up DH spot.
It’s much more pathetic than that Tigers. Hilarious old york thinks they came up with this genius plan. Eventually when Nutting pays attention and sees the attendance and tv numbers and then checks standings he will fire Shelton and Cherington won’t be far behind. They are as stupid as baseball people get. No plan. They are toast. Hired by a NHL guy.
Davis in outfield was 2023. No plan they were so desperate for a bat and never taught Davis how to catch so just threw him in RF. He had no feel for it was awful. End of that experience. Endy got hurt in DR out for all of 2024. Davis learned to catch in off season by non pirates instruction. Passable. Delay can’t hit. They signed Grandal. Davis couldn’t hit. Grandpal got hurt. Bart was a gift on dfa at perfect time.
There’s no master plan. Endy looks most promising but both him and Davis could be future dfa. That’s more likely than having so many catchers and a injury proof plan that they are going to have some in outfield and 1b and dh. Hope for the best but Pirates hitting development is as awful as it gets. Davis Endy never amounting to anything good wouldn’t surprise me at all. Nothing on them. They just got stuck on the wrong team. They had have talent to be been good.
I recently watched a video on Nutting. I ve always heard the guy was cheap, but he is seems far cheaper than I had imagined.
The only time he’s really spent has been investing $5M in Dominican Republic. That however is self serving as it helps produce cheap young talent.
It’s sad for fans of anyteam to be stuck with penny pinching owners. It’s especially sad when a team has a rich history like Pirates have.
Catchers are probably the hardest position to develop as well. They need to have plans for their young players and stick to them. It’s hard when injuries happen obviously but clearly what they’ve done for years isn’t working. If they put Cruz in center a year or two earlier, he wouldn’t be making as many mistakes. Not every player is a versatile utility guy.
where’s John Van Meter when you need him?
@Tigers3232 Not even cheap. Cheap would be getting a 1 or 2 million outfielder instead of Pham for 4. A 3 or 5 million reliever instead of Chapman at 10.5 That’s what I would have done. They waste a lot of $. Look at what other small markets are spending that make more $ than Pittsburgh. They are either all cheap or all broke.
Consider OAK was threatened with losing revenue sharing, I think Nutting possibly was trying to avoid that.
I’m just speculating and have nothing to back this. But seems probable as they re continuous in bottom 3rd of payroll.
Maybe but Oakland draws much more out of revenue sharing than Pittsburgh. Pirates attendance was 1.7 1.8 million. Oakland nowhere close to that. Pirates had have pretty good tv deal. Had 7th 1 4 1 9 draft picks. Drafting high you spend more $. They do spend on scouting development analytics. Extended 3 players. Spend 80 some million on free agents. Years they had grievance filed they where like 50 million or something ridiculous. Nothing ever came from that either so must have spent enough.
Either way it’s stupid. Instead of spending $ on just Chapman get 2 relievers. Or a better healthier starter than Gonzales. Spend 2 million more get Grichuk. Or get Tauchman and Canha. They needed more than 1 reliever and 1 outfielder.
And neither have done anything to show they are long term major leaguers. Yet another instance of the player development programming failing miserably
Rotten front office
Crazy they thought they had two great catching prospects but found a solid everyday catcher off waivers and these two can’t hit in the majors.
Crazy is a good word
Crazy they have no one on their roster who came up through their farm and has proven he is a real major leaguer
Hey, but Horwitz is taking BP now! He’s gonna make people forget they gave a back end starting pitcher away and signed a wannabe Randy Tomlin
Crazy. It’s crazy that anyone would buy a ticket to see this “ team”
357 .471 .500 .971 Canha
250 .308 .458 .766 Grichuk
128 .236 .170 .407 Pham
313 .313 .375 .688 Pillar
It’s way too early but yourdreamgm specials vs Pham. Canha Pillar minor league deals. I would have signed both along with Grichuk. Suwinski should be in AAA with Bae. Frazier at 2b not outfield. Canha can play 1b. It takes a lot of depth to get through a season and the pirates clearly don’t have it. Could have easily.
Heck even Cruz is doing better
216 .275 .243 .518
200 .286 .400 .686 Winker
200 .308 .311 .619 Kepler
Way way way too early but Cherington choose the worst outfielder available.
300 .364 .550 .914 Grichuk vs LHP which is what you are paying him for
400 .500 .400 .900 Tauchman
286 .340 .367 .707 Andujar
Yep and there will be immense pressure on Horowitz to produce because the lineup is so poor and he’s the only player they acquired worth a darn.
there should already be immense pressure on Shelton to win
Instead he picks his lineup out of a hat hoping the players don’t strike out and score at least one run
Why play Chang against a pitcher that throws 100 mph on a steady basis?
Made no sense but Hayes, hey, he needs a rest
Standing around down at 3rd really wears you out
I was being sarcastic about Horwitz. My expectations of him are in line with my expectations of Pham, Frazier and Valdez
They have one semi-scary hitter here: Cutch
Cutch nearly hit one over the fence in yesterday’s game, so why didn’t he play today?
I guess playing Frazier in the outfield would give us a better chance to win, especially with his excellent batting performance
Not that things would improve a ton, but Shelton has to go shortly. I was listening to another podcast and they said no matter how well he gets along with the players, how can you get motivated when a guy has such a bad record after so many seasons? The losing stench becomes too strong and becomes acceptable to the rest of the club.
The number problem I have with him is that he does not demand hustle, fire and intensity. If you want to kill a team’s chances of competing, that’s the way you do it. Guys routinely jog or wave the white flag on at bat and it’s never corrected. That kind of stuff spreads
Tim Benz (sp) of the Trib has an interesting article this morning, Shelton is indeed on the hot seat, saying that because he has a great relationship with the players, that hasn’t provided any motivation for them to play better.
In my opinion as well as others here I believe, Shelton lacks real leadership qualities.
No discipline, no teaching or anything related to basic fundamentals and no sense of direction using different lineups for every game
He claims they need to win “in the margins” and do the little things right, yet they screw them up so often.
I understand that baseball has changed
Everything is power now. Home runs. Doubles.
Exit velocities. Launch angles
But with an anemic offense like this, you’d think a manager realizes that some other ways to pressure the opposing teams must be hatched.
The Pirates seemed intent on being a running team during the first week or ten days of the season. That’s nice but when you only get 3 or 4 hits, what else have you got?
Shelton refuses to bunt runners up. He won’t hit and run (which admittedly wouldn’t equate to much with this crew). He refuses to put together line ups that maximize the ability to score runs.
Most of all, he won’t demand his players run everything out. He won’t demand intensity, focus and understanding of game situations
You’d think someone would’ve pulled Cruz aside by now to tell him he could be a superstar with some hard work, some modicum of wanting to improve.
You’d think someone would enlighten Hayes as to what “cornerstone of the franchise”—what he was called when he signed the big contract—actually means
You’d think young players would emulate Cutch hustling down the line on ground balls.
But they look uninterested. Apathetic. Ok with losing in embarrassing fashion
To me, that’s all on Shelton.
Holding players accountable. Demanding professionalism—that’s part of winning in the margins. Along with doing things that good managers do during games
It’s almost as if he thinks that perhaps the good fairies will show up and everything will take care of itself
we will find out in tonight’s game if Shelton’s idea of winning is contingent upon believing in good fairies.
For the 11th time in 17 games, another different lineup this time using Cruz to bat lead off and Valdez in the number 4 spot.
I guess he figures that if Cruz gets on base he will steal second and be in a position to score a run.
Yesterday we had runners in scoring positions twice and the best the following hitters could do is strike out
Ortiz got his first win last night and struck out 10 Royals. You know, the guy that analytics folks here didn’t see as much of a loss since Heaney is a Pirate and Mlodzinski is a starter
But hey, Horwitz will be back from wrist surgery soon to do a Roy Hobbs imitation
I haven’t listened to any of the post game nonsense that Shelton ordinances dishes out and am curious if anyone has
He, like Tomlin is an effective liar
The headed liars club monster…the MORON, egomaniac Tomlin and Cheetos man.
Good news. Pham is hitting the ball hard still. Average should be on the way up. If he can elevate the ball even get above .200!!!!!
he’s hitting the ball hard when he’s not being called out on strikes
He only gets hits in extra inning games.
As a 60 year pirate fan. I CANNOT watch them anymore. Only time I watch is when skeenes or Keller is pitching.
The absurdity of the MORON and his different daily lineups makes me want to shoot the TV with my pellet rifle.
The problem with Shelton is that he manages according to ANALytics. Which for some is good, but for the MORON it’s bad. You see the MORON is too dumb to be stupid
I agree, we don’t have the talent for using analytics.
Keep your pellet gun handy, he wrote another different lineup for tonight’s game
Man3. What else is new with this MORON
Do you remember me I’m buuba hotep. Nice to be back
Good to have you back, Cosmo21. Your hatred of the moron is equal to that of myself and others here
Yes man3…like you I’ve been following the buccos since I was 10 in 1965. I’ve never felt this fed up with them before. Such a rich history. All being destroyed by a cheap owner, a MORON manager and a fantasy league gm.