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Jason Delay

Braves Acquire Jason Delay

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The Pirates and Braves announced a trade sending catcher Jason Delay to Atlanta for cash. Pittsburgh had designated him for assignment on Tuesday. Atlanta optioned Delay to Double-A Columbus and transferred Reynaldo López to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Pittsburgh also optioned infielder Ji-Hwan Bae to Triple-A Indianapolis to make room on the active roster for Alexander Canario, who has reported to the team.

Delay had been with the Pirates since they drafted him in the fourth round in 2017. The Vanderbilt product cracked the big league roster for the first time in 2022. He worked as Pittsburgh’s backup catcher for good chunks of the 2022-23 seasons, combining for 127 MLB appearances. He only got into seven big league games last year and had been in Triple-A to begin this year.

The 30-year-old Delay owns a .231/.295/.315 batting line with two home runs across 373 career plate appearances. He’s a .239/.310/.338 hitter over parts of seven minor league seasons. Delay isn’t going to provide much offensively, but he has slightly above-average pitch framing grades and a strong reputation for his work with pitching staffs. He has yet to qualify for arbitration and has a couple minor league options remaining, so the Braves add him for minimal cost.

Delay is the fourth catcher on Atlanta’s 40-man roster. Drake Baldwin and Chadwick Tromp are dividing the MLB playing time while Sean Murphy is on the injured list. Murphy is at Triple-A Gwinnett on a rehab stint after breaking a rib early in Spring Training. He could return from the IL by the end of next week. Baldwin, one of the sport’s top catching prospects, will probably be optioned back to Gwinnett at that point. If they want to keep Baldwin on the MLB roster, they’d need to designate the out-of-options Tromp for assignment.

The Braves essentially had a free 40-man spot because of the López injury. The righty was placed on the 15-day IL earlier this week with shoulder inflammation. The Braves announced that he’ll undergo an arthroscopic procedure to confirm there’s no structural damage. Even in the best case scenario, he didn’t have much chance of coming back within the next two months. He’s officially out until at least the end of May but seems unlikely to return until the second half of the season at the earliest.

Pirates Option David Bednar

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The Pirates announced that they have optioned right-hander David Bednar to Triple-A Indianapolis and designated catcher Jason Delay for assignment. Those are the corresponding moves to add pitching prospect Thomas Harrington, a move which was reported earlier today.

The move highlights what a recent struggle it’s been for Bednar, who was once one of the most dominant closers in the league. From 2021 to 2023, he made 172 appearances for the Pirates. He had a 2.25 earned run average, 31.2% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. He gradually took over the ninth inning in Pittsburgh in that time, with three saves in 2021, 19 the year after and then 39 in 2023.

That production would have been exciting for any club but it was enhanced by the “local kid makes good” angle. Bednar was born in Pittsburgh, went to Mars Area High School and attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He was drafted by the Padres but made his way to his hometown club in January of 2021, just before his breakout, as part of the three-team trade that sent Joe Musgrove to San Diego.

But he’s been on a downward slide since then. He posted a 5.77 ERA for the Bucs last year. His strikeout rate fell to 22.1% and his walk rate climbed to 10.7%. He lost the closer’s role for the final month of the season.

His first three appearances in 2025 have gone poorly. On Opening Day against the Marlins, he was put into the bottom of the 9th in a 4-4 game. He allowed a triple, issued an intentional walk and then allowed a walk-off single. He got another chance the next day, getting the ninth with the Bucs up 4-1. A walk and a homer quickly made it 4-3, though Bednar then got three outs to record the save. On Sunday, he was again put into tie game in the ninth. A single, stolen base, throwing error and wild pitch quickly led to another loss.

It’s a frustrating mystery for Bednar and the Pirates, as his stuff doesn’t seem to have lost any zip. He averaged 96.6 miles per hour on his fastball in 2023 with opponents batting .188 and slugging .315 against it. Last year, his velo actually ticked up to 97.2 mph but the pitch allowed a .256 batting average and .459 slug. His splitter and curve didn’t seem to lose any velo either.

Bednar and the team have presumably been trying to find an explanation for his struggles without coming up with a clear solution, so the Bucs have taken the step of sending him to Indianapolis, perhaps with the idea of him having a chance to get into a good groove away from the pressures of the big leagues. In Bednar’s stead, the closing duties will perhaps fall to someone like Colin Holderman or Dennis Santana.

The move isn’t likely to impact Bednar’s trajectory to free agency. He came into this season with his service clock at four years and 76 days. That’s 96 days shy of the five-year mark and he’s already added five more days this year. That means he needs about three more months in the majors to get over that line. Assuming he gets beyond five years at some point here in 2025, he would have just one season of club control remaining.

If he stays down for longer than that, the Bucs could theoretically gain another year. But in that scenario, he likely didn’t pitch well in the minors, meaning they probably wouldn’t tender him an arbitration contract since he is making $5.9MM this year. The arbitration system is set up so that salaries almost never go down, even with poor performance.

It will surely lead to plenty of “what-if” questions. The Bucs haven’t been competitive for most of the recent past, so Bednar’s name came in a trade rumors from time to time. The Pirates never clicked on any deal. In hindsight, plenty will say that they should have taken whatever offers were on the table, but it’s hard to fathom anyone foreseeing this quick downfall.

Delay, 30, has seen a decent amount of time as Pittsburgh’s backup catcher in recent years. From 2022 to 2024, he hit .231/.295/.315 in 134 games with solid glovework. However, the catching depth for the club has become more crowded. Endy Rodríguez missed all of 2024 recovering from UCL surgery but is now back. While he was gone, the club took a flier on Joey Bart and saw him break out. Between those two and former first overall pick Henry Davis, Delay was likely fourth on the depth chart.

The Bucs will now have a maximum of one week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next. The waiver process takes 48 hours so any trade possibilities would have to come together in the next five days. Delay still has options and hasn’t yet reached arbitration, so he could be an affordable depth addition for a club looking to bolster its catching corps.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Poll: Should The Pirates Trade A Catcher?

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For a few years now, the Pirates have had a couple of catchers as two of their top prospects. Henry Davis was taken with the first overall pick in the 2021 draft and has been under the microscope ever since. Endy Rodríguez was acquired in the January 2021 three-team trade that sent Joe Musgrove to the Padres and was declared Pittsburgh’s top prospect by Baseball America going into 2023.

There’s now a third name in the mix as Joey Bart had his long-awaited breakout in 2024. Selected second overall by the Giants in 2018, he struggled to establish himself at the big league level in San Francisco and had exhausted his option years by the end of 2023. He held onto his roster spot until the end of spring training 2024 but was designated for assignment at that time, getting flipped to the Pirates for minor league righty Austin Strickland.

Bart missed some time due to injury this year but got into 80 games for the Bucs and hit 13 homers. He slashed .265/.337/.462 overall for a wRC+ of 121, indicating he was 21% better than league average. His defense wasn’t highly regarded but that kind of offense behind the plate is hard to come by and was especially valuable on a Pittsburgh team that found it difficult to score runs. Among catchers with at least 250 plate appearances, Bart’s 121 wRC+ was fourth behind the Contreras brothers and Iván Herrera. With the same plate appearance threshold, he led all Pirate hitters in that stat.

Now there is theoretically a logjam with the three guys, as most clubs only roster two catchers at a time. The designated hitter spot probably doesn’t help, with Andrew McCutchen likely to be in there. He’s technically heading into free agency now but he and the Pirates seem to have an agreement whereby they can keep reupping with each other until he’s ready to retire. He’s now 38 years old but was one of the club’s only good hitters in 2024. For guys with 250 plate appearances, only Bart, Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz and McCutchen were above average by wRC+.

Rodríguez debuted in 2023 and didn’t hit much, with a .220/.284/.328 batting line and 65 wRC+ in his first 204 plate appearances. However, his defense was universally praised and he has hit better in the minors. He has slashed .295/.383/.506 on the farm overall and .285/.362/.450 at the Triple-A level. In December of last year, he underwent surgery on the UCL and flexor tendon in his throwing elbow and missed the entire big league season in 2024. He started a rehab assignment in mid-September and played in a handful of minor league games, suggesting he should be good to go for 2025.

Davis has had a more infuriating career so far, as he has destroyed minor league pitching but struggled badly in the majors. In 377 major league plate appearances thus far, he has struck out in 30.2% of them and hit .191/.283/.307 for a wRC+ of 61. But since the start of 2023, he has a 13.7% walk rate and 21.5% strikeout rate in the minors, helping him produce a combined .302/.424/.550 line and 158 wRC+.

All of this will lead to some interesting decisions for the Bucs. Bart isn’t great defensively but is a big bat on a club that didn’t have many this year. Rodríguez has played some other positions but a big part of his appeal is his strong work behind the plate. Davis has also dabbled in playing the outfield but the offensive expectations are even higher at that position than at catcher, so moving him into the outfield mix would put even more pressure on his bat.

Davis and Rodríguez still have options, so it’s possible that the Pirates could keep all three, with two of them in the majors and one in Triple-A. But Rodríguez is already a solid defender by big league standards and has done plenty of hitting in the minors, making it fairly wasteful to have him back down there. Davis doesn’t have much left to prove on the farm with his big numbers there. Arguably, the best thing for him is to see more big league pitching and get accustomed to it.

Another path they could choose is trading one of these three. Doing so would sacrifice some depth but Jason Delay is also on the 40-man roster and is still optionable. But there are also arguments against trading each of the three.

Davis might feel expendable at the moment with his relatively weaker defense and the fact that he hasn’t put it together offensively just yet, but the path of Bart is a cautionary tale. The Giants would surely love a mulligan on letting him go and the Pirates are probably aware that they could end up on the other side of such a trade. Given that Davis was such a highly regarded prospect, it’s not hard to imagine them flipping him and quickly regretting it when they have to watch him have his breakout elsewhere.

It wouldn’t be an ideal time to trade Rodríguez either, as he’s coming off a completely lost season. With some health and a step forward at the plate, he could improve his value tremendously this year and down the line.

Selling high on Bart might be appealing because they grabbed him at such a low point and saw him take a big step forward. But as mentioned, the club had so few productive hitters in 2024 and subtracting one of them would be a risky ploy.

Though there’s potential downsides with these considerations, the Pirates might think about it anyway. They generally don’t spend a ton of money in free agency but need to upgrade the roster somehow. General manager Ben Cherington has had his job since November of 2019 and the club has been stuck below .500 since then. They were rebuilding for the first few years of his tenure but expectations have been raised with some flashes of winning baseball in the past two campaigns. Unfortunately, they finished with a 76-86 record both last year and this year, perhaps leading to a bit of desperation in getting over the hump in 2025.

It’s possible that the free agent catching market could work in their favor this winter. The best available backstops are guys like Danny Jansen, Carson Kelly and Kyle Higashioka. Jansen is coming off a nightmare season and is a big question mark right now. Higashioka is coming off a career year but will turn 35 in April, making it fair to wonder if he just peaked. Kelly has been inconsistent in his career and more okay than great even when at his best. The Cardinals will likely make Willson Contreras available on the trade market but he has a pricey contract and is about to turn 33 years old. Christian Vázquez is in a similar situation to Contreras as a pricey veteran but with the offense and defense flipped, as Vázquez is a glove-first guy and Contreras bat-first.

Several clubs could use help behind the plate, with the Rays, Padres, Nationals, Cubs, Reds, Phillies and Braves just some of the possibilities. All three of Pittsburgh’s catchers are cheap, with Davis and Rodríguez still in their pre-arb years and Bart just getting to arbitration for the first time. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Bart for a modest $1.8MM salary in 2025, not much above next year’s $760K league minimum. Those affordable salaries would naturally appeal to clubs with budgetary or competitive balance tax concerns.

What do you think the Pirates should do with their many catching options? Have your say in the poll below!

Pirates Place Henry Davis On 7-Day Concussion IL

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The Pirates announced this evening that they’ve placed catcher Henry Davis on the 7-day concussion IL. Catcher Jason Delay was recalled from the minor leagues to take Davis’s spot on the active roster. Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported earlier today that Delay was joining the Pirates in Denver.

Davis, 24, was selected by the Pirates first overall in the 2021 draft. He made his big league debut with Pittsburgh last year but has generally struggled on offense in 91 games in the majors over the past two years with a .197/.292/.319 slash line in 357 career trips to the plate. Those struggles at the plate have been combined with somewhat lackluster marks behind the plate; Davis was actually used almost exclusively as an outfielder in his first taste of big league action last year, but an offseason injury to Endy Rodriguez allowed Davis to work his way back into the mix for starts at catcher. In 27 games at the position this season, Davis has posted -2 Defensive Runs Saved.

The youngster nonetheless figured to work in tandem with veteran Yasmani Grandal while Joey Bart was on the injured list due to a thumb issue. Those plans were scuttled, however, when Davis was struck in the face mask by a foul ball during yesterday’s game against the Rockies. Davis went through concussion protocol after the game, and evidently the Pirates had enough concern that the felt it best to place him on the IL. The seven day injured list for concussions offers teams additional flexibility when dealing with possible concussions, offering them the opportunity to shelve a player for just one week in order to minimize the incentive for players to try and play through what could wind up being a dangerous head injury.

With Davis now out for at least the next week, the Pirates will turn to Delay to fill out their catching corps. The 29-year-old was a fourth-round pick by the Pirates back in 2017 and broke into the big leagues with the club back in 2022 as the primary backup to Roberto Perez, although he quickly stepped into a larger role when Perez suffered a season-ending injury. Delay remained a key piece of the club’s catching mix in 2023 alongside Austin Hedges and Rodriguez, offering offered quality framing skills despite his lackluster offense (68 wRC+ in 354 trips to the plate).

Delay found himself buried by the acquisitions of Bart and Grandal on the club’s depth chart headed into the 2024 season and ultimately appeared in just one game this year before suffering a knee injury. Delay ultimately required surgery back in April and missed six weeks while rehabbing the injury, but was reinstated from the 60-day IL earlier this month and has been playing at the Triple-A level while awaiting his next opportunity since then. That opportunity has now arrived, and Delay figures to serve as the backup to Grandal for the big league club for at least the next week, though neither Davis nor Bart have a specific timetable for their return to action.

Pirates Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Pirates announced a series of roster moves today. They recalled catcher Henry Davis, outfielder Jack Suwinski and infielder Liover Peguero from Triple-A Indianapolis. They also selected the contract of right-handed reliever Ben Heller from Indy. In one corresponding move, they placed infielder/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae on the 10-day injured list with a right wrist sprain, retroactive to June 3. Outfielder Michael A. Taylor went on the paternity list, opening another roster spot, while left-hander Jose Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A and catcher Grant Koch was designated for assignment.

Additionally, the club reinstated catcher Jason Delay from the 60-day IL and optioned him to Triple-A. To open a 40-man spot for him, left-hander Marco Gonzales was transferred to the 60-day IL.

The news on Davis was reported on the weekend. Manager Derek Shelton was on 93.7 The Fan earlier today, as relayed by Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and revealed the news about Suwinski, Peguero, Bae and Taylor.

Davis, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2021 draft, returns to the majors after spending a bit more than a month in Triple-A. He’d gotten out to not only a rough start in 2024 (.162/.280/.206 in 83 plate appearances) but to his overall big league career. The former Louisville star also struggled through 255 plate appearances last season in his debut campaign and carries a disappointing .201/.297/.319 slash to this point in the majors.

Of course, that’s a small sample of just 338 plate appearances — far too limited a data set to make any broad-reaching conclusions about Davis’ long-term outlook. He looked reinvigorated during his short time in Indianapolis, utterly laying waste to International League pitching. In 101 turns at the dish, Davis recorded an outrageous .296/.436/.642 batting line with seven home runs and seven doubles.

Davis has long been viewed as a bat-first catching prospect, which admittedly makes his early struggles at the plate concerning but also creates some optimism that he’ll eventually turn a corner in the batter’s box. The Pirates’ hope is that this brief Indy reset will be a catalyst for just such a turnaround. And with Joey Bart now joining fellow catcher Endy Rodriguez on the injured list, Davis should have a clear opportunity to prove he can carry some of those gains over to the MLB level.

Suwinski will return after just a week in the minors. He was optioned last week after struggling to a brutal .174/.268/.297 slash to begin what he hoped would be a strong follow-up to last year’s 26-homer breakout. His rate stats were better in Indianapolis, as he hit .250/.276/.429 with a homer and a triple in his seven-game sample, but Suwinski also fanned in 13 of his 29 plate appearances (44.8%). That’s not the type of progress for which he and the team were hoping, but Bae’s injury created an outfield need and forced the team’s hand.

Heller, 32, has pitched in parts of five major league seasons and has a 3.06 ERA in 50 big league innings, albeit with a below-average 20.9% strikeout rate and a hefty 11.8% walk rate. Metrics like FIP and SIERA both peg him north of 5.00. He’s benefited from some decent fortune on balls in play (.261 BABIP) and a sky-high 89% strand rate that’s about 17 percentage points higher than average.

That said, Heller has also posted genuinely intriguing numbers in Indianapolis this year — none more so than his enormous 43% strikeout rate. Through 18 1/3 frames, he’s yielded a 4.91 ERA, but most of the damage against him came in one stretch of four straight appearances in which he allowed runs. He’s since rattled off 5 2/3 shutout frames, fanning 10 opponents along the way against four walks. Command is still an issue for Heller, but his 10.1% walk rate in Triple-A is a bit better than his big league standards.

Koch was only just called to the majors for his big league debut when Bart landed on the injured list. The 27-year-old former fifth-rounder appeared in three games but did not collect a hit in eight trips to the plate. He’s a .236/.295/.362 hitter in parts of two Triple-A seasons. The Pirates will have a week to trade Koch, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

Delay played a prominent role with the Pirates over the past couple seasons and hit .251/.319/.347 in 187 plate appearances last year. That’s respectable production for a backup catcher, but Delay is generally considered just that — a backup option behind the dish — whereas Davis is the potential future if not at catcher then perhaps at first base or in right field. The Pirates understandably want to give Davis as many opportunities as possible, and he’ll now slide back into the primary catcher role with veteran Yasmani Grandal backing him up.

As for Gonzales, his move to the 60-day IL was largely procedural. The team needed a 40-man spot to reinstate Delay, and Gonzales has been on the 15-day IL since April 14. He’ll be eligible to return later this month, but he’s yet to begin throwing. He’s out with a strained left forearm muscle and may not be back until the season’s second half at this rate.

NL Central Notes: Imanaga, Hayes, Delay, Candelario

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Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga was set to take the ball for a start against the Cardinals last night, but after rain caused the game to be postponed until July he’s seen his start pushed back until the club’s game against the Brewers on May 29. That scheduling change will give Imanaga a whopping ten days rest between his most recent start against the Pirates last week and his next, but Patrick Mooney of The Athletic writes that manager Craig Counsell made clear that Imanaga’s extended layoff wasn’t injury related, instead describing the decision as a “proactive” effort to manage his workload amid the 30-year-old lefty’s workload.

It’s not necessarily news that the Cubs are managing Imanaga’s workload, as he’s started just two games on regular rest so far this season. By inserting additional rest day’s into the lefty’s schedule, the club is hoping to soften Imanaga’s transition from the typical NPB schedule, where teams utilize six-man rotations with one day off a week allowing starters to pitch just once a week, to MLB’s five-man rotations with less frequent days off. It’s hard to argue with the results of Chicago’s plan, as Imanaga has been the best starting pitcher in the sport by the results this season and has authored a historic beginning to his big league career: his microscopic 0.84 ERA is both the lowest in baseball this year and the lowest of any rookie pitcher’s first nine starts in the modern era.

Imanaga’s peripheral numbers largely back up his stellar performance to this point, as well; his 27.8% is the 13th-best figure in all of baseball this year among qualified starters, while his 4.3% walk rate places him ninth. Only Chris Sale, Jack Flaherty, and Pablo Lopez have struck out more batters while walking fewer than Imanaga this year, leaving the 30-year-old’s complex $53MM guarantee with the Cubs appearing to be one of the biggest steals of the offseason a third of the way through the 2024 campaign.

More from around the NL Central…

  • The Pirates offered updates on a handful of injured players today, as noted by Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Most notable among those updates was that regarding third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hayes has been on the shelf for two weeks due to low back inflammation but has resumed full baseball activities, and manager Derek Shelton told reporters (including Hiles) that they will meet to discuss the next steps of his rehab process. Given that encouraging update, it’s feasible to imagine Hayes heading out for a rehab assignment in the coming days, which could allow the third baseman to return to Pittsburgh at some point in early June. Jared Triolo has handled the hot corner while Hayes has been on the shelf.
  • Sticking with the Pirates, that same list of injury updates also relays positive news regarding catcher Jason Delay. The backstop underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee in mid-April and was expected to miss at least six weeks of action before undergoing baseball activities, but is already slated to start a rehab assignment just over a month after undergoing the procedure. Delay is currently on the 60-day injured list and would first be eligible to return to action in early June, although it’s feasible his rehab assignment could last longer than that given the lengthy layoff. Yasmani Grandal and Joey Bart have handled duties behind the plate in Delay’s absence, and it’s unclear if Delay would return to the big league club or be optioned to the minor leagues once healthy enough to be activated.
  • The Reds scratched infielder Jeimer Candelario from their lineup against the Dodgers earlier today due to neck stiffness, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Candelario, 30, struggled in the early going of his first season with the Reds but has begun to heat up in recent weeks with a .279/.343/.492 slash line in his last sixteen games. It’s not yet clear if Candelario will be out for longer than today’s game, but even a brief absence would be a brutal blow for a Cincinnati club that is already without Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and TJ Friedl due to injuries as well as Noelvi Marte due to a PED suspension. Santiago Espinal and Spencer Steer are starting tonight at third and first base, respectively, and figure to handle the infield corners for as long as Candelario is out of action.

Pirates Acquire Daulton Jefferies From Giants

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The Pirates have acquired right-hander Daulton Jefferies from the Giants in exchange for outfielder Rodolfo Nolasco, per Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com. Jefferies had been designated for assignment by San Francisco earlier this week. The Pirates later announced the deal, transferring catcher Jason Delay to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Jefferies.

Jefferies, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Giants in the offseason and was added to their roster in the early days of the season. He has since tossed 4 2/3 innings in the majors, though he allowed nine earned runs in that time. His work in Triple-A this year has been much better, with a 3.44 earned run average in 18 1/3 innings, striking out 22.7% of batters faced while giving out walks jst 6.7% of the time.

The fact that Jefferies is even able to take the mound is a feat in itself. He underwent thoracic outlet surgery in June 2022 before requiring a Tommy John procedure that September. Having those two significant procedures in quick succession prevented him from pitching in any official capacity 2023.

Prior to that injury odyssey, he had thrown 56 1/3 innings for the Athletics over the 2020-22 seasons, with a 5.75 ERA in that time. He once had a bit of prospect hype, particularly after throwing 79 minor league innings in 2019 with a 3.42 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate and 2.8% walk rate.

But his stock stalled out a bit from there. With the minor leagues being canceled in 2020, he was only able to toss two innings in the majors. He spent most of 2021 in Triple-A with a lackluster 4.91 ERA, then the aforementioned injuries came for him the year after.

Jefferies still has an option left, which makes him appealing as a depth starter. The Bucs have Johan Oviedo and Marco Gonzales on the injured list, the former out for the whole season. Paul Skenes is going to make his debut tomorrow, joining a rotation with Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Martín Pérez, Bailey Falter and Quinn Priester.

Perhaps Jefferies will take over for Skenes in the Triple-A rotation and try to work his way back to the majors. The Pirates could call upon him due to injury or underperformance from one of their other starters in the months to come, though Jefferies will be out of options next year. He came into 2024 with between one and two years of service time, meaning he could be retained well into the future if he continues to hold onto his roster spot.

He lost his spot on the Giants’ roster when that club promoted Mason Black, but the Giants will now get a non-roster prospect in return. The 22-year-old Nolasco is commended for his power but has concerning strikeout problems. He was punched out 34.2% of the time in Single-A last year but also drew walks at a 16% clip and hit 20 home runs. He moved up to High-A this year and is striking out at a 43.7% rate.

He’s clearly going to be a project for the Giants but one they’ll happily take for a guy that got squeezed off their roster. Baseball America ranked Nolasco the #27 prospect in the Pirates’ system last year, giving his power a 70 grade on the 20-80 scale, though noting that he’ll have trouble getting to that power if he keeps getting punched out so often.

As for Delay, he has been on the 10-day IL since early April. He underwent surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee in the middle of April. It was reported at that time that he would need six weeks before returning to baseball activities. His 60-day clock is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he can technically be reinstated in early June, though his rehab won’t allow for that.

Pirates’ Jason Delay Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Pirates catcher Jason Delay underwent surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee, the team informed reporters (via the MLB.com injury tracker). It’ll be six weeks before he’s cleared to return to baseball activities. He’ll surely need to embark on a minor league rehab stint once he’s ready for game action.

Delay only made one appearance before going on the shelf. He’s currently on the 10-day injured list but should move to the 60-day IL once the team needs to create a 40-man roster spot. The righty-hitting backstop got into 70 games a year ago, hitting .251/.319/.347 in 187 trips. That’s below-average but hardly disastrous production for a solid defensive catcher.

The Bucs lost presumptive catcher Endy Rodríguez to an offseason injury that required season-ending elbow surgery. They signed Yasmani Grandal to a $2.5MM free agent deal. Plantar fasciitis sent him to the IL before Opening Day. Delay’s injury almost immediately put a third catcher on the shelf. The Pirates acquired former #2 overall pick Joey Bart in a DFA trade with the Giants. He’s splitting time with another one-time top draftee, Henry Davis, behind the plate.

Davis has had a very tough start to the year, hitting .173/.286/.231 in 64 plate appearances. He has nevertheless remained the clear #1 option above Bart, who has only gotten three starts. Bart is out of minor league options, so the Bucs could be faced with a tough roster decision once Grandal is ready to return. For the time being, the Pirates figure to stick with their duo of former top picks.

The Pirates also provided an update on starter Marco Gonzales. The southpaw went on the 15-day IL over the weekend after he was diagnosed with a forearm strain. Gonzales will be completely shut down from throwing for a few weeks, but there’s presently no consideration of surgery. Pittsburgh recalled righty Quinn Priester from Triple-A to start tonight’s game against the Red Sox. He could hold a rotation spot while Gonzales is on the shelf.

Central Notes: Grandal, Delay, Borucki, Gipson-Long, Edman, Martínez 

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Alex Stumpf of MLB.com offered a series of Pirates injury updates today.

Yasmani Grandal is still a few weeks away from coming off the injured list as he recovers from plantar fasciitis. However, he seems to be making good progress, and Stumpf reports that he will begin baserunning in the coming days. He has already been participating in simulated games. The two-time All-Star spent his last four seasons with the White Sox. His days as one of the best catchers in baseball are long behind him, but the Pirates are hoping he can be a capable veteran backup.

In less positive catching news, Jason Delay has been shut down from all baseball activities with little explanation. He has been on the IL since April 3 (retroactive to April 1) with right knee inflammation. The long-time minor leaguer had a mini breakout with the Pirates last year. Although his offensive numbers weren’t so impressive, he played 68 games behind the dish and put up strong defensive metrics, looking like a solid backup option.

On the pitching side, Ryan Borucki is recovering quickly from left triceps inflammation that landed him on the IL retroactive to April 6. Borucki, 30, entered the year hoping to follow up on a strong 2023 season in Pittsburgh. While the southpaw struggled through a pair of injury-riddled seasons with the Blue and Mariners in 2021 and ’22, he was a master of control for the Pirates in 2023. In 40 1/3 innings, Borucki walked just four batters. The only other pitcher with so few bases on balls (min. 30 IP) was Jacob deGrom. Stumpf notes that Borucki will begin playing catch soon, and he shouldn’t be on the IL for much longer than the minimum 15 days.

In other news from around the NL and AL Central:

  • The Tigers released a medical update today (shared by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press) that revealed right-handed pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long is dealing with right forearm tightness. He was already on the IL recovering from a groin strain. The 26-year-old is undergoing medical evaluation to determine the severity of the injury. Gipson-Long made four starts for the Tigers last year but retains his rookie eligibility for 2024. He is the team’s No. 10 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and No. 19 according to Baseball America.
  • Cardinals center fielder Tommy Edman has been approved to begin his hitting progression, reports Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His first step is hitting off a tee. While Edman will still need plenty of preparation to transition from a tee to MLB-caliber pitching, this marks an important step in his recovery. The Gold Glove-winner has been sidelined all year with a wrist injury.
  • Guardians infield prospect Angel Martínez has been on the 10-day IL since Opening Day with a right foot contusion he suffered this spring. Today, he was sent to Triple-A Columbus for a rehab assignment. Although Martínez is on Cleveland’s 40-man roster, he has yet to make his MLB debut. He will likely stay at Triple-A once his rehab stint is up, where he will look to improve upon a poor showing at the plate last season. Martínez, 22, is widely considered a top-10 prospect in the Guardians system. He is a candidate to earn a call-up to the MLB squad in the event of an injury to another infielder.

Pirates Acquire Joey Bart

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April 3: It’s right knee inflammation for Delay, per Stumpf.

April 2, 9:41PM: Delay is going to be placed on the 10-day injured list, according to MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf (via X).  This will open up room for Bart on the active roster, and while the nature of Delay’s injury isn’t yet known, it now explains the Pirates’ interest in acquiring Bart.

8:32PM: The Pirates have acquired catcher Joey Bart from the Giants for minor league righty Austin Strickland.  FanSided’s Robert Murray (X link) was the first to report Bart’s move to Pittsburgh, while NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic (via X) reported Strickland as the return piece of the deal.  The Pirates announced that right-hander Colin Selby was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot for Bart.

The second overall pick of the 2018 draft, Bart has hit .219/.288/.335 over 503 plate appearances since making his Major League debut in 2020.  Buster Posey’s decision to opt out of the 2020 pandemic-shortened season gave Bart an early look in the bigs, and after playing in only two MLB games in 2021, it seemed like Bart would get a clear shot at becoming the Giants’ next catching stalwart after Posey’s retirement.

However, Bart’s struggles in 2022 resulted in Curt Casali and Austin Wynns getting a good chunk of the playing time behind the plate.  With some injuries also setting Bart back last season, Patrick Bailey (himself a first-round pick in 2020) stepped in and seized the starting catching job, which made it seem like only a matter of time before the Giants moved on from Bart entirely.  That reality came to pass last weekend when Bart was designated for assignment, as San Francisco hadn’t been able to find a trade partner during the offseason.

There is some irony that Bart is now heading to Pittsburgh, as the Bucs seemingly had an overload of “catchers of the future” just a few months ago.  With Henry Davis as the first overall pick of the 2021 draft and Endy Rodriguez emerging as a top-100 prospect, it seemed like the Pirates were considering using Davis in the outfield in order to use Rodriguez behind the plate and get both players into their lineup.  Those plans changed when Rodriguez tore his UCL in winter ball action, and he’ll miss the entire 2024 season recovering from surgery.  Davis has now started most of the Bucs’ games at catcher this season, with Jason Delay working as a backup.

This arrangement comes in the wake of Yasmani Grandal’s season-opening IL stint due to plantar fasciitis, as Grandal was signed to a one-year, $2.5MM deal to assume at least a part-time role behind the plate.  Since Bart is out of minor league options, he’ll have to stay on the Pirates’ active roster or else face the DFA wire again if Pittsburgh wants to send him down to Triple-A via an outright assignment.

Given how Grandal’s return will shake this catching situation up once more, it would seem like there’s plenty of fluidity within what the Pirates might do behind the plate.  Delay could be sent to Triple-A, essentially replacing Ali Sanchez (who elected free agency last weekend) as the top depth option in the minors.  Or, Davis might conceivably go to Triple-A if the Pirates want to let him work on his catching defense in a less-pressurized environment than the big leagues.  There’s even some chance Pittsburgh could also perhaps use Davis, Delay, and Bart on the 26-man roster, with Davis getting work at DH or in the outfield in order to create playing time for the other two catchers.

Selby posted a 9.00 ERA over 24 innings for the Pirates last season, in his first taste of MLB action.  The righty was a 16th-round pick for the Bucs in the 2018 draft, and he has worked almost exclusively as a reliever since the start of the 2021 season.  Scouts regard the hard-throwing Selby as having plenty of stuff but with shaky control, as evidenced with his 30.8% strikeout rate and 16.5% walk rate over 30 1/3 innings with Triple-A Indianapolis last season, en route to a 3.86 ERA.

Over Selby’s 24 Major League frames, he had a 26.3% strikeout rate, but again struggled to limit free passes in posting a 13.2BB%.  It seems like there’s a decent chance Selby might be claimed off waivers by an interested team, as the 26-year-old seems to have some upside if he can limit his walks.

For San Francisco, there’s some obvious disappointment in the official end of the Bart era, as the team ended up getting very little return on a second overall pick.  Hindsight is always 20-20, though it’s easy to wonder what president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi might’ve been able to obtain for Bart had the catcher been traded earlier in his career, though rival executives might’ve also wondered if something was up if Zaidi had been too eager to offer a seeming top prospect.  It is also fair to wonder if Bart’s career path might’ve been different if he hadn’t suffered hand and thumb injuries after being hit by pitches in 2019, or if he’d had the benefit of a smoother minor league development path in a world where either the pandemic doesn’t happen, or if the Giants didn’t move him so quickly to the majors.

The return for Bart is a lottery ticket in Strickland, who was an eighth-round pick for the Pirates in last summer’s draft.  The University of Kentucky product has yet to begin his pro career, and Baseball America’s scouting report cites his three-pitch mix, headlined by a fastball that usually sits in the 93-94mph range.  Strickland generates a lot of grounders and he has mostly worked as a multi-inning reliever, so this might hold appeal to a Giants team that has traditionally been creative with its usage of pitchers.

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