Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Will Craig to be Promoted to MLB Roster

It appears that the Pittsburgh Pirates are set to promote a former first-round pick to their MLB roster on Thursday

According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Pirates are set to promote a former first-round pick to their MLB roster. Before the start of Thursday evening’s game at PNC Park against the San Francisco Giants the Pirates are expected to promote first baseman Will Craig from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Craig was a first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Wake Forest University in 2016. During the 2020 season Craig made his MLB debut with the Pirates. He collected 4 at-bats, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

With Pirate first basemen dropping like flies, the team does not have very many options other than to go with Craig. With Colin Moran on the injured list, Todd Frazier having been designated for assignment and Phillip Evans exiting Wednesday afternoon’s loss with an injury, outside of Craig the only other options the Pittsburgh Pirates would have would be to play Erik González or Ben Gamel at first base.

So far this season with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians Craig has hit for a .231/.276/.654 slash line to go with a 119 wRC+. While he has collected just 6 hits in 26 at-bats, he has hit 3 home runs and 2 doubles.

This past offseason Craig was designated for assignment by the Pirates and went unclaimed. While Craig appears to be a non-prospect at this point, this will be an opportunity for him to prove he can latch on a MLB roster. If Craig can perform well, he could remain on the roster even has first  basemen begin to return. Especially due to his ability to also play third base and the corner outfield positions.

For however long both Moran and Evans will be out it appears that Craig will get the lion’s share of the at-bats. This may not be for an extended period of time though, as Moran has already resumed baseball activities and his IL stint could be short.