Pittsburgh Pirates News: Brault On Injured List

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a roster move a few days ago. They’ve recalled a recently claimed pitcher and placed Steven Brault on the Injured List.

On Friday night, Pittsburgh Pirates left-handed starter Steven Brault lasted just two innings, where he walked two and allowed two runs. He was removed from the game with what was described as left-shoulder discomfort. He was placed on the Injured List on Saturday. Given there are just two weeks left in the season, this is probably a season ending injury for a pitcher who missed most of the year with an injury.

On the year, Brault pitched just a total of  27.2 innings. In those innings he had a 5.86 ERA and 4.61 FIP. He also saw his fastball average 91 mph with just a 15 percent strikeout rate. For Brault, who was expected to be the veteran leader of the staff, this was a disappointing season. Not only were his results not there, he wasn’t able to stay healthy.

He was a prime trade candidate last offseason and was likely going to be this offseason. After making $2.05 million in arbitration last year, his cost won’t increase too much given the lack of innings he’s pitched this year. This likely means the Pittsburgh Pirates will hold onto him at least until the trade deadline to not only let him recoup some value but also provide a veteran arm on the staff.

In place of Brault the Pittsburg Pirates recalled reliever Connor Overton, a player they claimed off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays.  In his lone outing with Triple A Indianapolis Indians he threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and one walk. He has all three options and is still in pre arbitration. Overton will look to perform and compete for a potential bullpen spot for the Pirates in the 2022 season.