Chad Kuhl has tested positive for COVID-19, the Pirates announced ahead of their series with the Brewers in Milwaukee Monday.
The Pirates have been able to go through contract tracing and are continuing to test the vaccinated members of the team.
“I want to applaud Chad because when he felt symptoms, he told us and we were able to get him tested,” Derek Shelton told reporters over Zoom. “We were also able to do contact tracing. He did a really good job of making us aware of that.”
Kuhl can return to the Pirates after he is symptom-free for 10 days, Shelton said. The Pirates reached the 85% vaccination mark for their traveling party in early June. Kuhl is the first Pirates player to have a confirmed positive test this season.
While the Pirates have had players go on the COVID-19 injured list this year because of league protocols or out of an abundance of caution, this is the Pirates' first confirmed positive test.
Kuhl was not scheduled to pitch this series. Max Kranick will start Tuesday, and Steven Brault will be activated off the injured list Wednesday.
Taking his place on the roster is right-hander Shea Spitzbarth, who had his contract selected from Class AAA Indianapolis.
With the Indianapolis Indians, Spitzbarth was 3-2 with a 1.41 ERA, 25 strikeouts and a .179 opponent batting average over 32 innings pitched.
“He's thrown the ball well and he deserves the opportunity to come up here and show us what he's got,” Shelton said.
Spitzbarth, 26, was taken with the first overall pick in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft this winter. He throws a low-90s fastball and relies on tunneling his pitches to get hitters out.
In an additional, unrelated move, the Pirates claimed left-hander Anthony Banda off waivers from the Mets.
Banda, who turns 28 next week, allowed eight runs – six earned – over 7 1/3 innings with the Mets this season. In parts of five years, he is 5-3 with a 6.14 ERA over 23 games pitched, five of which were starts.
He works primarily with a four-seam fastball, changeup mix, with the heater averaging 94 mph.