Pittsburgh Pirates: Series Victory Slips Away, Takeaways From Series Loss Against the Diamondbacks

Catching situation needs to change... now

At this point there is not much else to be said about the Pirate catching situation. Austin Hedges is hitting .167/.250/.208 with a 31 wRC+, he has struggled to control the opposing running game and has struggled with pitches in the dirt.

After going 0-for-3 on Sunday, Jason Delay is 3-for-20 this month with a walk and eight strikeouts. Delay benefitted from a batting average on balls in play of nearly .500 in April, with that number starting to level out the Pirate backstop is back to being the poor hitter he's always been.

There's a strong argument to be made that Sunday afternoon's loss was on Delay more than any other pitcher. Pirate pitchers threw four wild pitches, however, all four were pitches that Delay should have blocked. Honestly, three of the four should have been ruled passed balls. These wild pitches led to a pair of Arizona runs. Without these pitches getting past Delay, the Pirates easily could have been leading 3-2 after 6 innings.

Delay also committed a throwing error on Sunday after that helped contribute to a late inning insurance run for Arizona. Entering the game his Defensive Runs Saved this season was -2, and Sunday was another poor defensive game for Delay.

At this point, neither Hedges nor Delay are starting level catchers in the majors. Honestly, Delay probably isn't even a MLB level catcher. Keeping Henry Davis in the minors where he is dominating offensively is just flat out wrong.

Is Davis a finished product as a catcher? No, not at all. However, it's hard to believe he'd be wrose defensively than Delay. Add in the fact Davis has an elite offensive ceiling and would be a massive upgrade over Hedges and Delay offensively, and it's time for the former no. 1 overall pick to get the call to the majors.