Pirates immediately hit reset button on Johan Oviedo, call up hot pitching prospect

Johan Oviedo's return from the 60-day injured list did not go as planned. In his first start since 2023, Oviedo was only able to give the Pittsburgh Pirates one inning of work before being supplanted by right-hander Yohan Ramírez during the second inning of Monday's 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Oviedo slogged his way through a 43-pitch inning with spotty command and control of his pitches. The 27-year-old got all three outs by way of the strikeout, but also walked three batters and allowed two runs on two base hits.

There was no way Pirates manager Don Kelly was going to send Oviedo back out of a second inning of work, and it appears that Ben Cherington and the Pirates' front office won't even allow the right-hander to get a second start.

Pirates immediately hit reset button on Johan Oviedo, replace him with hot prospect

According to Pirates' beat reporter Alex Stumpf of MLB.com, the Pirates are optioning Oviedo back to Triple-A Indianapolis and plan to call up right-hander Cam Sanders. The 28-year-old hurler has been a strikeout machine of late and is set to make his Major League debut whenever he enters out of the Pittsburgh bullpen.

Sanders is a former late-round pick of the Chicago Cubs who joined the Pirates organization this past year. The right-hander has always been able to racks up Ks, but was also wildly erratic and posted unsustainable walk rates. He's appeared in both Double-A and Triple-A this season and owns a phenomenal 30.5% strikeout rate and (still somewhat high) 12.0% walk rate.

Sanders' 1.91 ERA and 2.95 FIP will certainly bolster the Bucs' bullpen over the final two months of the season. He's earned a total of 11 saves in the minor league this season, and has been quite impressive since the calendar flipped to July. In his last nine outings, Sanders has only allowed two earned runs over 11⅓ innings of work.

At this point in the season, the Pirates will take a flier on any arm they can get. As for Oviedo, it appears he's headed back to the minor leagues to get in some more reps. Though it was great to see him return to the diamond after almost a two-year absence, Pittsburgh can't afford to run him out there every fifth day if he can't command the strike zone.

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