Pirates reveal Endy Rodríguez injury diagnosis after abrupt exit

The Pittsburgh Pirates currently have an almost unthinkable number of players on the IL right now, including but not limited to Spencer Horwitz, Jared Jones, Jared Triolo, Nick Gonzales, Johan Oviedo, and Colin Holderman. Bryan Reynolds, although not officially on the IL, is also out with a shoulder tear.

All of these injuries have tested the Pirates' already questionable depth, leading to multiple call-ups in the first two weeks of April — Alexander Canario, Tsung-Che Cheng, Kyle Nicholas, Henry Davis, and a couple others who have already been sent back down.

The last thing the Pirates needed was another injury, but that's what they got on Monday night. Endy Rodríguez was pulled from his fifth start as a catcher after just 10 pitches from starter Paul Skenes. Skenes threw a curveball that landed in the dirt in front of home plate; it skipped and hit Nationals rookie James Wood in the leg, and then traveled further backward to hit Rodríguez in his throwing hand.

Rodríguez was pulled from the game and replaced by Davis. This made him and Skenes the "first-ever battery of No. 1 overall draft picks," but it was hard to appreciate the novelty when Rodríguez looked like he might be the next to join the Pirates' IL.

Endy Rodríguez has a right index finger laceration after taking a bounced curveball to the hand in Paul Skenes' latest start for Pirates

Pirates PR added that he was being attended to by medical staff as the game continued, but they didn't provide further insight into the severity of Rodríguez's injury.

Well, a laceration sounds better than a fracture or a break, at least? If there's no structural damage to the bone, that could be good news for the Pirates, as it probably wouldn't warrant an IL stint. However, it's fair to assume that the team will get him some extra testing to cover all of their bases.

If Rodríguez does need to go onto the IL, that still leaves Pittsburgh with two catchers, Joey Bart and Davis, but Davis hasn't done much in the way of offensive offerings in his three starts so far this season. To be fair, neither has Rodríguez, but an IL stint for him would also have repercussions for first base.

Hopefully, Rodríguez's injury will prove to be mild enough that he doesn't need to join Horwitz, Jones, and Co. on the IL. The Pirates really can't afford to lose more players right now.