Pirates Injury Update: Tim Mayza, Jared Jones, Spencer Horwitz, Bailey Falter

When the Pittsburgh Pirates first placed left-handed reliever Tim Mayza on the 15-day injured list with a lat strain back on April 19, the move flew under the radar. After all, it was the corresponding move – recalling two-time All-Star closer David Bednar from Triple-A Indianapolis after his early-season demotion – that was more noteworthy.

However, Mayza's injury has turned out to be more severe than initially reported, with Alex Stumpf of MLB.com reporting that the southpaw has both a lat strain and a teres major injury and will be shut down from throwing for six weeks.

It's a huge blow to the Pirates' bullpen, as this likely means that Mayza will be transferred to the 60-day IL and won't be back until after the All-Star break.

Mayza signed a one-year, $1.15 million free agent contract with the Pirates in February. He had a strong start with Pittsburgh, posting a 2.89 ERA with eight strikeouts over 9 1/3 innings of work. The Pirates still have three left-handers in their bullpen – Ryan Borucki, Caleb Ferguson and Joey Wentz – who can pitch in middle relief.

Pirates Injury Update: Bailey Falter, Jared Jones, Spencer Horwitz, Dauri Moreta

First baseman Spencer Horwitz, who is recovering from offseason wrist surgery and has yet to make his Pirates debut, is currently facing live pitching at the Pirates facility in Florida. In fact, he recently hit a live BP against right-hander Dauri Moreta, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Moreta has been throwing between 20 and 25 pitches in simulated games and is set to throw one more this week before the team determines next steps, per Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There is still no timeline for Horwitz's return.

Right-handed pitcher Jared Jones is approaching the six-week mark in his recovery from a UCL strain and is set to have more imaging done later this week. If the imaging comes back clean, according to Beazley, Jones will be allowed to progress to some form of throwing activity.

Finally, the Pirates got some positive news on left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter, who left Tuesday's start early with lower back tightness. Manager Derek Shelton said (via Beazley) that Falter was “moving around alright” and “should be fine moving forward," so it would seem that the Pirates have avoided a worst case scenario (for now).

More Pirates content from Rum Bunter