The Pirates' roster certainly has a new look compared to a week ago.
Part of that is due to injuries, but some meritocracy is also in play. Roansy Contreras, the Pirates' top-ranked pitching prospect, has been called up and is starting Tuesday. Outfielder Cal Mitchell and right-hander Yerry De Los Santos, Class AAA Indianapolis' best hitter and relief pitcher thus far, have both had their contracts selected and been promoted to the majors.
It's arguably the most noticeable overturn of multiple highly-rated prospects the Pirates have had in years.
"We want more and more guys to get that opportunity," Ben Cherington said on the field at PNC Park Tuesday on those three player's promotions. "We've got to pick our spots and timing. This week it's Cal's turn and Roansy's turn and Yerry's turn, and we'll see what happens down the road."
At 17-24, the Pirates certainly have plenty of room for roster improvements. Unlike last year, where they did not have any top prospects to promote until the end of the year, there's a deeper player pool to pull from this year.
That option to play the kids should create more competition.
"I think you have to be patient, to some respect, with all guys," Derek Shelton said. "There's very few guys that comes up to the big leagues and then all of a sudden, boom, they've got it, they go. But on the flip side of that, you also have to perform at the major-league level. We're getting closer to situations where at the upper-ends of our organization that we have players that are going to be close to major-league ready or get the opportunity to play here. There is some 'you have to play well and continue to play well.' "
MORE FROM THE GM
• Contreras, Mitchell, De Los Santos... there are still two noticeable absentees from the big-league roster right now: Oneil Cruz and Mason Martin. Being the top prospect in the system -- and with Kevin Newman now on the 60 day injured list -- Cruz is the more pressing player.
Cruz has heated up in May, which includes a game-tying home run in Indianapolis' game Tuesday.
"The at-bats continue to go in the right direction," Cherington said. "He’s starting to impact the game, impact the ball more. Working hard and doing all the stuff we’re asking him to do. We feel like the direction is very positive."
Cherington was also complimentary of Cruz's defense at shortstop and the improvements he has made there. Even with some injuries up the middle, that is not rushing him to the majors.
"It comes back to what we talked about before with timing, just wanting to see some things checked off. Really feel good he’s heading in a really positive direction. He’s so important to us. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we would like to see him get opportunity in the Major Leagues and I believe we will in 2022. For right now, we feel, for a variety of reasons, that Rodolfo Castro and Diego Castillo are here. Those are the right guys to get time at shortstop right now. We’ll continue to assess that."
• Cherington said Sunday that Henry Davis had a small fracture in his left wrist.
From the sounds of it, though, it doesn't sound serious.
"We're hoping that he can wrap up baseball activity in days, not weeks. But it's obviously going to go off how he's feeling, and he's feeling better from what I know. But we're going to be cautious too and listen to what he's saying. But our hope is that he's ramping up baseball activity before too long."
• Speaking of that radio show.
Cherington commented before Sunday's 18-4 loss to the Cardinals that he was "encouraged" by how the Pirates are deploying pitchers and building lineups. You can read that transcript here.
Here is his follow up on that Tuesday. Again, presented in full:
"I think that the results at the Major League level — and good results at the Major League level — are what we’re all in this for. Right? We’re all working hard every day to try to improve and get better. All we want to do is win baseball games in Pittsburgh. And so when the outcomes aren’t that way, and in a particular day where it’s a tough day — obviously, Sunday was a tough day — we’re all frustrated. Our fans are frustrated and everyone’s frustrated. We share that frustration. I love that there’s enough passion here that people are frustrated by that.
"I talked about progress because I really believe we are making progress. I think that we can both be honest and say we’re really frustrated about a bad outcome, particularly a game like Sunday where we didn’t play well. Really frustrated. I think that’s true. I think it’s also true, and I believe it’s true to say that we believe progress is being made. Those are two different things. I understand that, over time, yeah, the progress needs to turn into outcomes with the Major League level. I know that and that’s what our fans expect. That’s what we certainly expect and want and that’s what we’re driving toward.
"But, we do see progress because we believe we’ve got more talented players here, more and more talented players throughout the organization. We believe those players are getting better and will continue to get better. We also believe that we’ve spent time really looking at every aspect of baseball operations and trying to find ways to improve how we do our work. You name it, in any area. And we’ll continue to try to get better and all those things adds up to results. And, of course, while we’re doing all that, we’ll all be frustrated. These guys here in this clubhouse will be as frustrated as anybody when the outcomes aren’t good. We want to win. We’re competitive. But we’ve also got to try to help each other compartmentalize that, show up the next day, focus on the stuff we can do to control that progress. That’s what I was trying to get to on Sunday."
