Pirates recall team's hottest prospect as Bryan Reynolds' temporary replacement

Out of nowhere, the Pirates pulled Bryan Reynolds in the second inning in Game 1 against the Tigers on Tuesday. Alexander Canario took his place and hit a clutch two-run single, but that gave them the lead for only a couple of innings, paving the way for an eventual 7-3 loss.

During the game, Pittsburgh annouced that Reynolds' wife was having their third child. Luckily, that shut down any injury or trade concerns, but now they will be without their two-time All-Star for a few days.

In the meantime, Billy Cook will take his place, according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com.

Pirates recall Billy Cook to take Bryan Reynolds' place as he heads to the paternity list.

Cook debuted with the Pirates last season, shortly after being acquired at the trade deadline for Patrick Reilly. The trade made sense for both teams, helping fill one another's prospect needs. Cook was excellent with Indianapolis and got called up and played 16 games to conclude 2024.

In that short major league stint, Cook belted three home runs with a .673 OPS and a 79 wRC+. In Triple-A that season, his OPS climbed to .849, and he was showing excellent amounts of extra-base power, but that completely shifted in 2025.

Cook got off to one of the slowest starts in 2025, concluding May with a sub .600 OPS and 50 stirkeouts. Things were not looking great at the plate for Cook, but all of a sudden in late May and June, he turned things around. Dating back to May 25, Cook has collected 10 multiple-hit games, and was riding an eight-game hit streak at the time of his promotion.

In June, his batting average has skyrocketed to .458 with four doubles and six RBI. He still has yet to hit a home run in 2025 and his power has somehow disappeared, but this month has made his batting average climb to .271, a significant improvement on where he sat entering the end of May.

This June version of Cook is definitely what fans would like to see over Tommy Pham. Unfortunately, it still feels unlikely that the Pirates will DFA Pham once Reynolds is back, so Cook may not be here very long. Hopefully Don Kelly will throw Cook into the lineup over Pham so we can see more of what he's got at the major league level. We have all seen enough of Pham, so Pirates fans at least deserve a sneak peek of the future.