Pittsburgh Pirates News: Gregory Polanco Misses Second Consecutive Day

On Wednesday evening, Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco missed the team’s intrasquad scrimmage for a second consecutive day. Because, you know, the Pirates can never, ever have nice things.

Last week, manager Derek Shelton told the media that the Pittsburgh Pirates had, luckily, been rather healthy throughout the start of summer camp. Despite a few minor injuries, Shelton said that overall the team was in good shape.

Unfortunately, this might be changing. Pittsburgh Pirates starting right fielder Gregory Polanco missed his second consecutive intrasquad scrimmage on Wednesday evening. Shelton, however, did not release any details as to why.

Hopefully, it is nothing serious with Polanco. Throughout his career, Polanco has been plagued by injuries and inconsistencies. This includes his 2019 campaign when he was limited to just 42 games due to injuries.

When healthy, Polanco has looked like the top prospect he once was. In 2018, Polanco hit for a .254/.340/.499 slash line to go with a 123 wRC+ and a career-high 23 home runs in 535 plate appearances. Two years prior, in 587 plate appearances he hit for a .258/.323/.463 slash line, a 106 wRC+ and 22 home runs in 2016. In 2017? You guessed it, injuries limited him to just 108 games.

Dating back to spring training and Grapefruit League play, Polanco looked maybe as good as he had at any point in his career. All reports out of summer camp were similar. By all accounts, Polanco looks primed for a big 2020 season.

If the Pirates are going to surprise people and compete in 2020, they must have a healthy and productive Polanco. Hopefully, whatever is plaguing him will prove to be a minor issue and he will be back on the field for the Pirates soon.