Astros, Pirates Have Discussed Joey Bart
Earlier this month, the Pirates were reported to have interest in trading for Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes. That no longer seems to be on the table now that Pittsburgh has agreed to a one-year, $12MM contract with DH Marcell Ozuna. Indeed, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette confirmed that those trade talks have “since gone quiet.” However, Mackey also added a notable tidbit about those talks: The two sides discussed catcher Joey Bart as part of the package the Pirates would send to the Astros in exchange for the two-time All-Star Paredes. Mackey went on to speculate that it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bart come up in future trade talks as well.
After years of struggling to live up to his top-prospect billing in San Francisco, Bart blossomed into a productive part-time player with Pittsburgh. Over the past two seasons, he owns a .745 OPS and a 110 wRC+ in 173 games. His defensive metrics have been poor but passable, considering his above-average offense. All in all, he has produced 1.3 FanGraphs WAR in back-to-back campaigns; his 2.6 total fWAR puts him among the game’s top 25 catchers since 2024.
As valuable as Bart has been for the Pirates the last two years, they can afford to part with him. General manager Ben Cherington told reporters (including Mackey) that he believes former top prospects Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez are capable of handling a “primary” catcher’s workload. He expressed the same faith in rookie Rafael Flores Jr. While Cherington went on to say that he will “hold onto that depth” for as long as he can, eventually, he’ll have to make a decision. The Pirates can’t carry four catchers on their Opening Day roster. The club certainly could decide to stick with Bart, the most proven choice, and option two of Davis, Rodríguez, and Flores to the minors. Yet, trading Bart also seems to be on the table.
The Astros still make sense as a suitor. After losing Victor Caratini in free agency to the Twins, Houston only has two catchers on its 40-man roster: starter Yainer Diaz and projected backup César Salazar. Non-roster invitee Carlos Pérez is the only other backstop in camp with big league experience. Salazar is entering his age-30 season with a .586 OPS, 0.3 fWAR, and 36 MLB games to his name. Pérez hasn’t played in the majors since 2023. And while Diaz ranked seventh among catchers in defensive innings last year, he still only started 111 games. There’s no question he could use a more proven backup.
The Rays are another potential suitor to consider; they were reportedly hoping to trade for a catcher back in January after missing out on free agent J.T. Realmuto. The Red Sox are another team that was, at least at one point, looking to improve behind the dish. Bart is set to make $2.53MM in his second year of arbitration eligibility. He will remain under team control through 2027.
Joey Bart Drawing Trade Interest
Pirates catcher Joey Bart is drawing some trade interest, according to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hiles adds that teams interested in Bart (including at least one AL club) are valuing him as a potential bench bat to hit left-handed pitching, rather than as a starting catcher.
That’s understandable, given the season Bart has had. The 28-year-old has appeared in 64 games for Pittsburgh this season with a .244/.343/.302 (87 wRC+) slash line in 236 plate appearances. He’s combined that with below average defense across the board behind the plate and especially weak framing numbers. With that said, Bart has raked against southpaws with a .333/.424/.451 (150 wRC+) line against them in 59 plate appearances this year. Bart performing well against lefties is also consistent with his career, as his career 106 wRC+ against southpaws is 21 points higher than his mark against right-handers.
That ability to crush left-handed pitching would make Bart a strong bench option for a team that struggles against lefties like the Royals (76 wRC+), Rangers (77 wRC+), or Reds (77 wRC+). The Reds and Rangers already have a lefty-mashing backup catcher in Jose Trevino and Kyle Higashioka respectively, but the Royals would be a particularly interesting fit as Bart represents a clear upgrade over Luke Maile and could pair with Freddy Fermin in future seasons behind the plate if this is franchise stalwart Salvador Perez‘s final year in Kansas City. The Royals have a middling 54-55 record but are just three games out of a Wild Card spot and have already acquired Randal Grichuk and Adam Frazier this summer. Bart is controlled through the 2027 season, so he could be a sensible addition for teams that aren’t squarely all-in on 2025.
Bart may not fit other teams quite as perfectly as he does the Royals, but there are still some other interesting fits. The Padres are known to be in desperate need of catching help and Bart would be an offensive upgrade over either Elias Diaz or Martin Maldonado. The Rays and Mets could be other solid fits, although Tampa’s recent acquisitions of Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia seemingly leave them well-stocked in terms of catching talent while the Mets might be reluctant to part with the top-shelf defense backup catcher Luis Torrens is providing behind the plate.
The Pirates face an interesting dilemma regarding Bart. The 28-year-old’s 2024 season looked at the time to be a breakout performance as he slashed an excellent .265/.337/.462 (121 wRC+) with 13 homers in just 80 games, and there surely would’ve been clubs intrigued by Bart as a potential starting catcher last winter after that performance. That could make holding onto him in hopes he bounces back offensively to raise his value a worthwhile course of action, particularly given his remaining team control. On the other hand, 2024 is the only time across parts of six seasons in the majors where Bart has looked like an above-average offensive player, and with both Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez looking for an opportunity to develop behind the plate next year perhaps the Pirates should get something for Bart now if they can and more fully devote the catcher position to their former top prospects next year.
Pirates Outright Brett Sullivan
June 18: Sullivan cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Indianapolis, according to the MLB.com transaction log. It’s not clear if he’ll elect free agency or accept the assignment.
June 16: The Pirates announced that right-hander Dauri Moreta has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. To open a 40-man roster spot, catcher Brett Sullivan has been designated for assignment. Sullivan was on the active roster, so the Bucs now have an open spot there. That perhaps suggests that catcher Joey Bart will be reinstated from the IL. The club is off today so that may not be official until tomorrow.
Pittsburgh called Sullivan up last week to add depth behind the plate after losing Endy Rodríguez to injury. Bart has been out since late May, so the Bucs needed a backup catcher behind Henry Davis. Sullivan picked up three starts behind the dish. He went 1-6 with a walk and three strikeouts. It marked his third straight season logging limited MLB action. Sullivan appeared in 40 games with the Padres as a depth catcher in 2023-24. He’s a .204/.250/.291 hitter through 112 plate appearances at the highest level.
This is the second DFA of the season for the 31-year-old Sullivan. San Diego outrighted him off the 40-man roster during Spring Training. They traded him to the Bucs for outfielder Bryce Johnson a couple weeks later in a swap of non-roster players. Sullivan has spent the majority of the year in Triple-A, where he’s hitting .218/.254/.318 in 30 games. He’ll be traded or placed on waivers this week. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, he could elect free agency in lieu of an outright assignment back to Indianapolis.
Moreta last appeared in the majors in 2023. The 29-year-old reliever has been on the injured list since undergoing UCL surgery in Spring Training 2024. He’s been on a rehab assignment since late April. Pitchers typically can spend 30 days on a rehab stint but that is sometimes extended for those coming back from elbow surgery. Moreta is evidently healthy but struggled to command the ball on his rehab stint, walking nearly 17% of batters faced. The Pirates will keep him in Triple-A for now as he tries to find more consistency.
Pirates Call Up Henry Davis From Triple-A
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.
Poll: Should The Pirates Trade A Catcher?
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!
Should the Pirates trade a catcher?
-
No, keep them all. 26% (1,034)
-
Yes, trade one, but I'm not sure which. 26% (1,014)
-
Yes, trade Davis. 25% (993)
-
Yes, trade Bart. 16% (632)
-
Yes, trade Rodríguez. 6% (232)
Total votes: 3,905
Pirates Outright Billy McKinney
Sept. 9: McKinney went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, per the Pirates’ transaction log at MLB.com. He can either elect free agency now or accept the assignment and become a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Sept. 6: The Pirates designated outfielder Billy McKinney for assignment Friday, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to catcher Joey Bart, who’s been reinstated from the injured list.
McKinney was traded from the Yankees to the Pirates over the winter in exchange for international bonus pool space. He’s spent the bulk of the season with Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate where he’s missed time with injury but posted a sound .295/.396/.450 batting line in 154 plate appearances when healthy. Pittsburgh selected him to the 40-man roster late last month, and he’s appeared in 10 games, hitting .200/.286/.240 in that small sample.
A 2013 first-round pick by the A’s, McKinney has found himself involved in plenty of notable trades over the years. He went from Oakland to the Cubs as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade in 2014, then was flipped from Chicago to New York as part of the 2016 Aroldis Chapman blockbuster. The Yankees eventually traded McKinney to Toronto as part of their deal for veteran lefty J.A. Happ.
McKinney has gotten looks with seven different big league organizations but never topped 276 plate appearances in a single big league season with one team. He’s played in 321 MLB games and picked up 943 plate appearances, batting .209/.284/.386 in that time. The former top prospect has appeared in parts of seven Triple-A seasons and slashed .274/.359/.504 with 56 homers in 1304 plate appearances at that level.
Pirates Designate Jake Woodford For Assignment
The Pirates announced that they have placed catcher Joey Bart on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain and recalled catcher Henry Davis, a swap that was reported yesterday. They also reinstated infielder Nick Gonzales from the injured list and designated right-hander Jake Woodford for assignment. Robert Murray of FanSided reported on X that Woodford was being designated for assignment prior to the official announcement. Prior to that, it was noted by members of the Pittsburgh beat that Woodford was clearing out his locker. Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review was among those to pass that along on X.
Woodford, 27, was selected to the club’s roster at the end of July. He has since tossed 22 innings for the Bucs over six appearances, allowing 6.95 earned runs per nine. When combined with his time with the White Sox earlier this year, Woodford has an 8.01 ERA on the season.
It’s the second straight rough campaign for Woodford, who had previously posted some decent results with the Cardinals. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he tossed 116 innings for that club with a 3.26 ERA. His 15.4% strikeout rate in that time wasn’t special but he limited walks to a 7.5% clip and got grounders on 45.8% of balls in play. But his ERA jumped to 6.23 last year, which led the Cards to non-tender him, and his ERA has crept even higher here in 2024.
With the trade deadline in the rear-view mirror, the Pirates will have to place Woodford on waivers. Based on his struggles, the interest is likely to be minimal, meaning he should be a free agent in the coming days. When the White Sox designated him for assignment earlier this year, he passed through waivers unclaimed and then elected free agency, a right he had based on having at least three years of major league service time.
Pirates To Recall Henry Davis, Place Joey Bart On 10-Day IL
Henry Davis is on his way back to Pittsburgh. The Pirates will place catcher Joey Bart on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, reports Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. To replace Bart on the active roster, the team will recall former top prospect Henry Davis from Triple-A Indianapolis. Presumably, the Pirates will announce these transactions before tomorrow’s game against the Cubs at PNC Park.
Davis, 24, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, and he was a consensus top-100 prospect in the game entering the 2022 and ’23 seasons. However, he struggled in the majors last year, batting .213 with a .653 OPS over 62 games in his rookie campaign. Drafted as a catcher, he also struggled to adjust to his new role in right field, producing -6 Outs Above Average (OAA) and -9 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) in just 417 1/3 defensive innings.
The Pirates returned Davis to his natural position in 2024, but his results at the plate were no better to kick off his sophomore campaign. He hit so poorly over the first month of the season (.486 OPS in 23 games) that he was optioned to Triple-A in May. Although he immediately turned things around in the minor leagues, slashing .296/.436/.642 over 23 games, Davis struggled once again after earning another promotion to the majors; he went 2-for-17 over six games in June. His tough luck continued when a concussion forced him to the IL, and after he was cleared to play, he was optioned back to Triple-A, in large part because Bart was performing so well.
Indeed, Bart, 27, has been nothing short of excellent for the Bucs in 2024. The Pirates traded for him in April after he was designated for assignment by the Giants. He missed most of June with a thumb injury, but aside from that, he has been one of the team’s best hitters all season. Across 63 games, Bart is batting .272 with 12 home runs and an .844 OPS. His defensive metrics behind the plate are below average but not dreadful, and that’s more than acceptable with the way he’s been hitting the ball. The Pirates will hope his hamstring injury proves not to be too serious.
While Bart is out, Davis will get another chance to prove himself against big league competition. It’s already clear he has nothing left to prove at Triple-A. As usual, he was red-hot during his latest stint with Indianapolis, batting .314 with six home runs, seven stolen bases, and an .881 OPS over 34 games since coming off the IL. Veteran backstop Yasmani Grandal has been hitting well for the Pirates in the second half (.906 OPS in 14 games – not to mention his walk-off home run this afternoon), but Pittsburgh, now eight games back in the NL Wild Card race, has little incentive not to give Davis the bulk of the playing time while Bart is on the mend.
Pirates Place Martín Pérez, Joey Bart On Injured List
The Pirates have placed left-hander Martín Pérez on the 15-day injured list due to a left groin strain and placed catcher Joey Bart on the 10-day injured list with an left thumb injury, per a team announcement. (Further details on Bart’s injury aren’t yet available.) In a pair of corresponding moves, Pittsburgh reinstated third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the injured list and selected the contract of catcher Grant Koch, who’ll make his big league debut when he first gets into a game.
Pérez exited his Sunday start after three innings. The 33-year-old appeared to tweak something while covering first base on a third-inning grounder (video link). While he finished out the frame, he was replaced in the fourth inning. Bart also departed yesterday’s contest early, but the severity of his injury — or even a formal diagnosis — has not yet been provided by the team.
Pittsburgh signed Pérez to a one-year, $8MM contract in the offseason, hoping he could provide some veteran stability at the back of a rotation they were expecting to rely heavily on Mitch Keller, Jared Jones and Paul Skenes. Through his first 11 starts, he’s more or less been that. Pérez has pitched to a pedestrian 4.71 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate in 57 1/3 innings. That number is still skewed to an extent by one nightmare outing that saw Pérez shellacked for nine runs at the hands of the Brewers. His combined ERA in 10 other starts sits at a far more palatable 3.61 mark.
While the veteran is on the shelf, the Bucs will still have that trio of Skenes, Jones and Keller to anchor the rotation, with Bailey Falter alongside them as well. They will likely need to find a fifth starter at some point, but they should have some time to figure that out. They were off yesterday and will be off again on Thursday and Monday. That means they could theoretically keep those four guys on regular rest through the first week of June without need of another starter.
Whether they wait until then or decide to bring up another arm sooner, they have some options. Quinn Priester and Daulton Jefferies are each on the 40-man roster and currently on optional assignment. They also have some non-roster guys with major league experience, including Domingo Germán and Wily Peralta.
Behind the plate, Bart’s injury gives the Bucs three catchers on the IL, as Jason Delay and Endy Rodríguez were already on the shelf. Rodríguez is out for the year due to UCL surgery while Delay underwent knee surgery earlier this year. Delay recently started a rehab assignment but has only played two games as part of that so far.
The Bucs have Yasmani Grandal on the roster and could have perhaps recalled Henry Davis to join him. Davis was optioned after hitting just .162/.280/.206 in the big leagues but has slashed .297/.444/.672 at Triple-A since being sent down. That latter line has come in a small sample of just 18 games and perhaps the club wants him to keep getting regular playing time away from the bright lights of the show. It’s also possible that Delay will be ready shortly and they didn’t want to promote Davis just for a few days. Another explanation is just that Koch happened to be available, as Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review relays on X that Koch was on the taxi squad.
Whatever the logic, the result is that Koch will get to the big leagues for the first time. The 27-year-old was drafted back in 2018 and has been climbing the minor league ladder since then. He has never really been on the radar of prospect evaluators and has hit just .203/.284/.322 in his minor league career. That includes a line of .167/.211/.259 in Triple-A this year while striking out in 42.4% of his plate appearances.
Despite the lackluster offense, Koch was the primary backstop of Skenes when the two were both at Triple-A, as relayed by Alex Stumpf of MLB.com on X. Stumpf then theorizes that the two could perhaps work together tomorrow, when Skenes is scheduled to start. Whatever the plan is, Koch will be making his major league debut as soon as skipper Derek Shelton sends him onto the field.
Pirates Option Henry Davis
The Pirates announced today that catcher Yasmani Grandal was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Fellow backstop Henry Davis was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis in a corresponding move. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com reported that Grandal was at the ballpark prior to the official announcement.
Davis, 24, was the first overall pick in the 2021 draft and was considered one of the top prospects in the league on his way up through the minors. He was able to make his major league debut last year but the club’s other notable catching prospect, Endy Rodríguez, handled the bulk of the work behind the plate. Davis mostly played right field and hit .213/.302/.351 in his first taste of the majors.
That wasn’t especially impressive production but it’s not uncommon for prospects to scuffle when first promoted to the big leagues and didn’t necessarily warrant concern, but it did raise questions about how the club would proceed. Rodríguez didn’t hit much in his debut either but the Pirates seemed to prefer him behind the plate, based on the way they handled the playing time last year.
Rodríguez required UCL surgery in December, which put him out of action for the entire 2024 season. That was obviously bad news for the Bucs but it did at least open a window for them to experiment with Davis behind the plate at the major league level for an extended stretch of time.
The results haven’t been especially encouraging thus far. Davis has a grade of -3 from Defensive Runs Saved so far on the season. Each of Statcast, FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus rank him as a subpar pitch framer so far this year.
But the larger problem is that his poor offense has gotten even worse from last year. He has drawn walks in 13.3% of his plate appearances but has also been struck out at a huge 34.9% rate. He currently sports a batting line of .162/.280/.206 for a wRC+ of 48. His average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate are all in the 37th percentile or lower among qualified hitters.
The Bucs had signed Grandal to serve as a veteran complement to Davis this year but he had to begin the season on the IL due to left foot plantar fasciitis. Jason Delay was on the roster with Davis to start the year but the Bucs acquired Joey Bart from the Giants as Delay was placed on the injured list and later required knee surgery.
While Davis has struggled, Bart has been flourishing. His 28.2% strikeout rate is on the high side but he’s drawn walks at a 17.9% clip and hit three home runs already. His .219/.359/.531 slash line translates to a 151 wRC+. That’s a small sample size of 39 plate appearances, but since he’s out of options and Davis is struggling, it makes sense to keep him around and see what happens.
For now, Davis will head down to the minors to try to get in a better groove as Bart and Grandal share the big league catching duties. In the long run, the Pirates will have to answer some questions about their plans behind the plate. Grandal is a free agent at season’s end but Rodríguez will be back in the picture for 2025. If Bart can last on the roster for the rest of the year, he can be retained via arbitration for three future seasons, but is out of options and needs to be kept on the big league roster. Davis still has a full slate of options and just 14 games of Triple-A experience, so keeping him at that level for a while isn’t outrageous. But if catching isn’t in his future, there will come a point where it makes sense to move him and allow him to focus more on offense and outfield defense.
From a service time perspective, Davis came into 2024 with 105 days of service, leaving him 67 shy of the one-year mark. He’s added 36 here so far this year and could still get over that line if he comes back for another month-plus at some point.