Pittsburgh Pirates: Injury Updates, News, and More

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had quite the week with injures, prospect news, and the Gregory Polanco situation, here is all of that summed up.

2021 1st overall pick Henry Davis suffered a right oblique strain on August 24th and was placed on the 7-day injured list with High-A Greensboro. Davis’s injury is expected to take more than 7 days to heal just like most oblique strains. Davis was batting .308/.387/1.195 and hit 3 home runs with 7 RBIs and a stolen base over 8 games.

JT Brubaker was placed on the 10-day IL yesterday with a thumb contusion he suffered during his first at-bat against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night. Brubaker tossed 5 scoreless innings and struck out 6 while allowing 4 hits and three walks and was rewarded with the win, his first since May. He went on to say that the way he was pitching felt like he was back early in the year when he 3-0 in his first 7 starts.

In a corresponding move to placing Brubaker on the IL, Bryse Wilson was activated off of the IL. Wilson was placed on the IL on August 15th because of fatigue over his three Pirate outings.

Wilson came over from Atlanta in the Richard Rodriguez trade and has been average overall. The 23-year old righty rejoined the Pittsburgh rotation on Wednesday night and pitched 5 scoreless innings and seven strikeouts against the D-Backs but ended up with a no-decision as the Pirates are still without a sweep as we near the end of August.

Gregory Polanco has had quite the week. About a week before he was waived, Gregory said he would love to finish his career with the Pirates, and it looks like he still might. After shockingly getting waived and going unclaimed on waivers, Polanco remains on the active roster and is still playing in games. Polanco most likely did not get picked up because of his inconsistent season and his absurd $11 million 2021 salary, which is high for his production and age at this point.

One of Pittsburgh’s 2020 international free agent signings received a promotion to the Low-A Marauders. 19-year old Po-Yu Chen is an RHP who spent the last season with the DSL and FCL Pirates. Chen’s stats are shown from his time with the FCL Pirates and are very impressive, he is 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 6 starts and 26 innings. Chen won’t be up anytime soon but is an exciting prospect to watch and is another addition to the loaded Pittsburgh farm system.

Pittsburgh Pirates outfield prospect Jack Herman was named Low-A South East player of the week for last week’s performance. Herman slashed .292/.352/.508 and had an OPS of .860, as well as 2 home runs and 6 RBIs, and a walk-off 3-run home run during the week of 8/16. Herman is playing more this year than he has in his 4-year career and is still young.

The Pittsburgh Pirates recalled first and second baseman, Michael Chavis, from Triple-A Indianapolis on Monday and made a big splash against Arizona. Chavis, 26, came over in a trade with Boston that sent them Austin Davis and so far the Pirates seem to be winning the trade. Michael is 4-for-16 so far with Pittsburgh but has a home run, three RBIs, and a run scored. Although the slow start, Chavis has positional and offensive upside and is controlled for some time into the future.