Pittsburgh Pirates News: Gregory Polanco Tests Positive for COVID-19

The Pittsburgh Pirates will lose one of their key outfielders for the next few weeks as Gregory Polanco tests positive for COVID-19.

Recently, Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco had not been seen at camp for the last few days of Summer training camp. However, the news finally broke why Polanco had been missing from camp. He has offically tested positive for COVID-19. One of the first to report it was Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic on twitter:

Polanco was set to play a regular role for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020. After all, when he is healthy, Polanco can be an outstanding player at the dish. In his most recent mostly full season, that being 2018, Polanco got off to a slow start, but from June 17th onward, the slugger really took off.

In 281 plate appearances, Polanco was batting for a .301/.375/.585 line along with 15 home runs, 15 doubles, and nine stolen bases. Polanco had a 155 wRC+ in this stretch. Among players with at least 250 plate appearances in this stretch, Polanco ranked 11th in wRC+ among all players in baseball, and 7th in the National League, even surpassing Javier Baez (146), and Juan Soto (138).

However, a hard slide into second base in early September caused him to undergo surgiers for his leg and left arm. Not only did this sideline Polanco for the rest of 2018, but most of 2019. Polanco played just 42 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019. Injuries from the surgery were still plauging the slugger through most of 2019 as he hit just .242/.301/.425 through the 167 plate appearances he recieved that season.

A healthy Polanco can usually give you  20-25 home runs, a dozen or more stolen bases, and a .270/.350/.500 line. So to lose that kind of production for the Pirates is a major hit to the offense. The Pittsburgh Pirates currently have a few outfielders on the 60-man roster that could replace Polanco in the short term. Those options include Guillermo Heredia and Socrates Brito. On the Taxi Squad, they could add Jason Martin, Travis Swaggerty or Jared Oliva to the 60-man.

One option the Pirates could use is to move Adam Frazier to right field. Although most of his outfield innings have came from left field, Frazier still has 230.2 innings in right. This would open the door for Newman to move to second base, and get Cole Tucker regular reps at shortstop.

For now, the Pirates will place Polanco on the COVID-specific injured list. Keone Kela and Ke’Bryan Hayes could soon follow suit as they have either not been seen at camp in days, or have been placed on the injured list without a specific reason given.