MILWAUKEE -- Cole Tucker had "the time of my life," and his time will come again.
Nick Kingham's might not.
The Pirates optioned Tucker, their first-round pick in the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft, back to Class AAA Indianapolis as part of an expected flurry of moves Saturday before their afternoon game against the Brewers. The rest: Kingham was designated for assignment, meaning teams have 10 days to claim him on waivers or he can be assigned to Indianapolis. Rookie Davis was placed on the 10-day injured list with a blister on his finger, Michael Feliz was recalled from Indianapolis, and Corey Dickerson and Jung Ho Kang, as had been made known Friday, were activated from the injured list.
Shortly before this announcement, Kingham was seen meeting in Clint Hurdle's office with Neal Huntington and athletic trainer Bryan Housand, which almost always is the precursor to one of those phony injury designations. It's anyone's guess why that wasn't how it played out.
Tucker, 22, was promoted after Erik Gonzalez's clavicle injury to become the starting shortstop right away and, in 38 games, slashed .196/.244/.321 with two home runs, including that magical moment in his debut April 19 at PNC Park. He was solid defensively throughout, and he had a bit of an uptick recently with seven hits in his past 12 at-bats.
“Cole needs to go play. Well done. More to work on,” Hurdle said. “To play at this level for this many games, I think it’s going to help him moving forward, and it’ll make him a better player with the next opportunity he gets.”
"I feel really good about getting here, being here, and what I've done," Tucker said at his stall minutes after being informed by Hurdle and Huntington. "All the adversity I've faced, I've learned from that, and it's going to make me a better player when I'm back. I feel really good about where I'm at, about the bonds and friendships I've made here, and I look forward to applying that in Indy and being a good shortstop for the Pirates when I'm back."
Of that adversity, I asked Tucker specifically about that May 10 night in St. Louis, where he committed two early errors but wound up winning the game for the Pirates, both in the field and at the plate:
Kingham's future is infinitely less certain.
He's 27, he's out of options, and it can't be presumed that any team would take a chance on a pitcher who has a 9.61 ERA in 14 appearances in 2019, four of them starts. In his past seven games alone, a span of 24 1/3 innings, he’s given up 32 earned runs, plus 45 hits and walks. That’s an average of 2.38 baserunners per inning pitched.
Almost as bad, those performances were accompanied by an attitude that was either delusional or defiant, as he'd be adamant after each he was doing nothing wrong and that hitters were just hitting good pitches. He did it again Friday night after being charged with another half-dozen runs.
Hurdle had already explained Friday how he'll use his outfield, regularly rotating four players -- Dickerson with Bryan Reynolds, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco -- while utilizing Melky Cabrera when he can. He explained Saturday, after Tucker's demotion, that Kang will back up at shortstop and third base, stressing that both Kevin Newman and Colin Moran are the starters at those respective positions.
That was the first such pronouncement for Moran all season, but he's batting .348 -- 23 for 66 with five home runs -- over his past 19 games, dating to May 19.
"Colin's swinging the bat well. They both are," Hurdle said, including Newman. "Jung Ho is going to have to earn his way into the lineup."
