TODAY: After a consultation with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, Rodriguez will get a PRP injection next week and then be shut down for the next four weeks, Pirates manager Don Kelly told reporters (including MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf).
JUNE 13: The Pirates announced that they have claimed right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks off waivers from the Angels and optioned him to Triple-A Indianapolis. He had been designated for assignment by the Halos a few days ago. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, catcher Endy Rodríguez has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Darrell-Hicks, 27, was an undrafted free agent signing from 2022. The Angels moved him from a starting role to the bullpen going into the 2024 season. He logged 62 1/3 innings combined between Double-A and Triple-A last year, allowing 2.60 earned runs per nine. He struck out 26.4% of batters faced, limited walks to a 5% clip and got grounders on 48.8% of balls in play. FanGraphs ranked him as the #21 prospect in the system going into this year.
The Angels added him to their roster in early April and he has been shuttled between Triple-A and the majors since then. In his 7 2/3 big league innings, he has allowed eight earned runs while striking out six and giving out four walks. In his 22 1/3 Triple-A innings, he has an 8.87 ERA but a lot of that is likely luck, as his .386 batting average on balls in play and 59.5% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side. His 21.3% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 46.7% ground ball rate are all decent numbers.
He still has a full slate of options and just a handful of service days, so he can potentially be a long-term depth arm for the Pirates if he continues to hang onto his 40-man roster spot. For now, he’ll head to Indianapolis and await his next big league opportunity.
As for Rodríguez, his status isn’t clear but the transfer to the 60-day IL is a bit ominous. He was only placed on the 10-day IL a few days ago due to right elbow inflammation. Based on today’s move, the Bucs don’t expect him back until August at the earliest. He missed the entire 2024 season due to UCL surgery on that elbow.
More information should be forthcoming on his status in the coming days or weeks. For the time being, he won’t factor into the club’s catching mix. Henry Davis and Brett Sullivan are the active backstops. Joey Bart is on the concussion-related IL but should be back in the mix soon since he has already begun a rehab assignment.
Photo courtesy of Raymond Carlin III, Imagn Images
Good stuff, okay whiff rate, exit velo, and barrel rate at Triple-A this year, especially considering he is in the PCL. A little worried about Endy though.
Hope it works out. I can definitely see the attraction for a GM to bring him in.
aren’t you the one who said that when Horowitz comes off the IL the offense would be better, MLB1225?
I don’t see much difference
That definitely wasn’t me.
I saw you Halos. You said that platoon with the trashed wrist that Toronto Cleveland wanted nothing to do with was going to make Pirates better.
Oh boy, not good for Endy
Looks like he Endy his career. 😢
Injuries aside, Endys hitting has been very underwhelming
Endy cannot catch a break…
As for the new guy, the numbers don’t look great at first glance, but he turned pro at a late age and hasn’t spent much relative time in the minors. Absolutely worth a look considering the current state of the big league bullpen depth.
Maybe Endy is just injury prone, or should stop being a catcher and focus instead on first base where his throwing arm isn’t as tested as it is behind the plate
He will never be able to hit well enough to play first base.
He had some time at second base in the minors I believe.That may be his only option going forward.
Darrell-Hicks will pitch well in a new environment. Pittsburgh probably will take time
Catchers are the hardest players to develop and when they keep getting hurt, that doesn’t help either. I don’t think they will trade any of them this year as they all seem needed and Endy has no value at this point.
A+
I like it, and I seldom say that about Pirates moves.
After Burrows had thrown only 81 pitches and striking out 8 Cubs, Kelly yanks him in favor of Borucki who gave up a homer by Swanson
The Pirates only have 1 hit through 5 games, a homer by Cutch and who just hit a single. Cruz on the other hand strikes out too much for being a lead off hitter including 1 in today’s game
Pham who drew a walk was picked off first base, not the first time he’s done that this year
Maybe it’s time to dfa Pham and promote Gorski who bats right handed and also plays first base
And since they don’t play Canario anymore, dfa him too then promote Cook who has been hitting the cover off the bat at Indy lately
TheMan 3
Why is Borucki not DFAed? His ERA is ballooning and why would you use him in a close game?
Shelton like move by Kelly, very disappointed.
I agree.
Borucki had an era of close to 5 even before he gave up the homer and lead.
Kelly has been a disappointment over his lineups and use of the bullpen.
I just don’t understand the logic of using Cruz against lefties. He’s batting less than.200 against them and leads the majors in strikeouts
Unless this team suddenly learns how to hit in the 9th inning, they can chalk up another one run loss
I also think it’s time to find another hitting coach. They are striking out more this year than last year
another one run loss by this pathetic offense.
The umpire didn’t help much either calling pitches outside the zone as strikes but batters need to learn to protect the plate by fouling off those pitches and they instead either get called out on strikes or swing to try and pull the ball
If it’s outside, try hitting the ball the other way
Worthless Hayes did this on the last pitch of the game and struck out
Whining and Moaning Pirates “fans” are complaining
about ONEIL CRUZ, who is on pace for 4.2 WAR, 29 HR, and 55 SB.
Cruz would be one of any team’s best players, but there are Pirate “fans” who will whine and moan about everything the Pirates do simply because it was done by the Pirates
The lead off batter is supposed to get on base more often than the other players and Cruz fails to do that on a regular basis
His homers are massive and he steals bases but he’s only hitting .229 and leads the majors in both strikeouts and called third strikes
He’s 26 years old and should have improved this year and hasn’t
As life long Pirates fan I have a right to complain
If you don’t like my opinion mute me Richard
The sad thing is that Cruz has the highest OBP on the Pirates except for McCutchen. At this point in his career, McCutchen is not a leadoff hitter.
While Cruz is not great or even an all-star, he has improved from last year. He still strikes out a lot, but his strikeout rate has declined by almost ten percent. His walk rate is way up. He has already stolen more bases this year than he did in all of last year.. His BA is down though. Does he need to improve more? Of course, but he has made some progress. I am more bothered by Reynolds’ and others’ tendency to ground into double plays.
I agree with almost everything you said except that Cruz is on pace to strike out 203 times when last year he struck out 181 times.
Clearly he’s not lowering his rate
My bad, strike out rate was 3.3 last year. This year is 3.0.
he’s also on pace for over 200 strikeouts
Today’s Pirate “fans” would have booed Roberto Clemente out of town after his fifth season. At that point, he had a .career 706 OPS that was eleven percent below league average.
They would have called him a bust and a bum.
That .296 batting average in ’59 says otherwise, Richard.
Richard, How is the savior at 1st doing? You know, MR OPS!
Clemente had a .718 OPS that was Eight Percent (8%) below the league average for that season.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s current .690 OPS is Seven Percent (7%) below this year’s league average.
Well, maybe because the Pirates won the World Series in 1960 (Clement’s fifth season) with a talented roster…
You’re a piece of work.
The Shelton clone is giving the only player yesterday responsible for the lone run the day off
They deserve to lose
Gene Lamont is advising Kelly
1959 was Clemente’s fifth season. At the end of that season, he had a career OPS of .706, which was eleven percent below league average.
Ke’Bryan Hayes is giving the Pirates league-average production.
In 265 plate appearances, Hayes has provided 0.8 WAR.
The league average for 3B over that number of PA, is 0.86 WAR.
Oneil Cruz now has a .343 on-base percentage.
There are only two Pirates with 100 or more plate appearances who have a higher on-base percentage. Andrew McCutchen;at .347. And Joey Bart at .349.
we know they suck. We don’t need reminding from a coffin dweller
Pirates WAR Leaders
Skenes 3.0
Cruz 1.9
Keller 1.7
Falter o.9
Hayes o.8
Santana 0.8
It doesn’t matter how much Oneil Cruz strikes out . . . because . . . he is on-pace for 4.2 WAR, 29 HR, and 56 SB.
The team is last in the league in runs scored so yes, striking out and not getting on base matters
The Pirates scored 3.1 Runs per Game this year with Derek Shelton as manager. They have scored 3.3 Runs per Game with Don Kelly as manager.
That small difference is easily explained as a matter of Luck.
Under Shelton, The Pirates had a team BABIP of .272. Since Kelly took over, the team BABIP is .301.
Tommy Pham has been one of the best fielding left-fielders in major league baseball this year. Among those who have played at least 300 innings in LF, he ranks third in Defensive Runs Saved.
Oneil Cruz is the Pirates leadoff hitter because he has the third highest OBP on the team and is much faster than the two players who have a very slightly better OBP than he does.
His 25 stolen bases also lead the team – by far.
You say that Pirate fans will whine about anything Pirates yet you are the complete opposite Excuse-Maker.
” Tommy Pham has been one of the best fielding left-fielders in major league baseball this year. Among those who have played at least 300 innings in LF, he ranks third in Defensive Runs Saved.”
COME ON MAN!
Richard ignores the fact that Pham only has 4 XBH and no homers and only has driven in 8 runs
Pham, despite his good defense, has been an offensive liability for a team that is last in the league in runs scored
Pirate BB Rate Leaders (100 or more PA)
– Oneil Cruz 14.8%
– Joey Bart 12.4%
– Andrew McCutchen 11.2%
– Enmanuel Valdez 10.8%
– Jared Triolo 10.2%
Among the 163 MLB players with enough PA to qualify for the batting title, Oneil Cruz ranks Ninth (9th) in walk percentage.
you are annoying coffin dweller
and he ranks first in strikeouts
Seems Keller hates pitching with a lead.
Oh, by the way, to all you fathers out there, hope you’re having a happy Father’s Day and your offspring are treating you well.
I have noticed that after Kelly gives a player a game off, that player goes into a slump
IKF was batting. .309 before he was given a game off and is now batting .285
Reynolds is in a 1-14 slump, Hayes just can’t hit, Canario needs to be dfa and hitting coach Matt Hague is actually worse than Andy Haines
Why didn’t Kelly use Cutch as a pinch hitter for Hayes then use Triolo to play 3rd base
It’s like Kelly doesn’t want to win
The good from the Cubs series was that the Pirates gave up only nine runs. Impressive given that before this series, the Cubs average over 5.5 runs per game.
The terrible was that the Pirates scored only seven runs.
In other words they have good pitching but bad hitting.
The Pirates have no power.The bottom of the order is bottomless.The leadoff man is the only power hitter.
Anyone who thought that Kelly is a miracle man with this batting group is going to be let down.Reynolds is having a bad year and that hurts the Pirates immensely.
Unfortunately there is no one in the minors that can clearly help.
It is probably time to dfa Canerio and bring Jack back up but platoon him with Pham like they should have been doing all along.
Pham is a good left fielder and saving a run is as good as hitting one in but they need to seriously consider releasing him if and when anyone else steps up to mediocrity in the AAA outfield.
I would also bring up Nunez and play him at third base for a couple of weeks to try to light a spark under Hayes.
Striking out has not kept Oneil Cruz from having his .345 on-base percentage, which is 29 points higher than the league average.
When Willie Stargell’s career ended, he had the second-most strikeouts in major league history. The only player to have more was some bum named Reggie Jackson.
I do not recall Stargell or Jackson ever leading off.
Cruz has a .345 on-base percentage. The only Pirates with a higher OBP are McCutchen at .347 and Bart at .349.
He;s getting on base, so it doesn’t matter that he has a high K rate. He’s been a good leadoff hitter.
Not the point.
Home runs with no runners on is one run.
He should be batting third.
McCutcheon and IKF should be one and two so that the home runs happen much more often with men on base.He would have someone on base about 2/3 of the time.
More runs equal more victories.
Cruz can still walk at three and still steal a base as he would have Reynolds and somebody decent after him to drive him in.
Cruz strikes out 40% of the time so many of his 34 extra at bats per year leading off versus batting third are wasted.
Batting their third best hitter ninth is also worse than stupid.
It also gives Cruz a couple of batters to study the pitcher.
Cruz is 26 and has hit 53 career homers
At 26 Stargell had 92
homers and Jackson had 156 homers
you can’t even come close to comparing Cruz’ bat with those two players
Bednar can’t be blamed for the pitiful offense that only had 5 hits, all singles
But Kelly can be blamed for writing yet another pathetic lineup
Resting Cutch when Monday is an off day was crucial to an already bad offense
The problem with long time Pirate fans is that we cannot get them out of our blood because we remember before free agency when the teams were basically on a level playing field and the 60’s and 70’s brought fine Pirate teams.
I definitely think that Kelly is an improvement but how much should be proven by the end of this year.
But any of us would have been an improvement over Shelton.
He is using his relievers more,making some mistakes,but hopefully learning in the process.Remember that he is a rookie manager.
I shared your outlook at the beginning of this year when I saw the glass half empty but getting rid of Shelton for even Bozo the Clown would have been an improvement.
Both must have thought that McCutcheon is ancient as you do not rest one of your best hitters unless he needs it.
I just hope that if they trade any of the players with service remaining after this year that they actually get good bona fide ML players for them.
This has been the way of Cherington and baseball in general.I do not understand why 90 years of the live ball era when home runs abounded that they would put the best home run hitter batting first.This current craze may have even started before the NL DH which in my mind would have been really stupid.
I know that in 153 games played say that the lead off hitter will get maybe 17 more at bats but unless you have a deep lineup 1-9 that position will really have the least men on base on average.
Why put your only real home run hitter there,especially one who strikes out 40% of the time?
On another note,I am pleased that you have gone back to the poster name that you were born with and thus honor your personal history!
Another lost year for Endy.
They are going to have to move him somewhere but they have plenty of second basemen.
He is not a first baseman.
Next year will be lost also as he will have to play in AAA to make up for two lost years.
They should have taught Bart how to play first base in Spring Training.