The Pirates are trying to keep Joey Bart (back)off the injured list, Ben Cherington told Greg Brown today during his weekly radio hit on the Pirates Radio Network.
Bart was removed from Friday's contest against the Reds in Cincinnati after his back locked up on him during his first at-bat. Cherington said today that it was something that was bothering Bart throughout the day, but it wasn't enough to keep him out of the lineup. He said it worsened after his first at-bat, which caused them to remove him from the lineup.
"He kind of had been battling it all day that day, even in pre-game, but wanted to give it a go and it locked up a little bit more during the game and we had to take him out," Cherington said. "He's responded really well the last couple of days which means we're going to try and keep him off the IL. Obviously at that position, you can't just have one catcher. That led to the recall of Henry (Davis) and we optioned a pitcher (Chase Shugart) to open up that spot."
The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft has been good for the Pirates ever since he was brought to Pittsburgh on April 2 of last year. He's hitting .275/.370/.425 this year with a .795 OPS in 40 at-bats. That's paired with 11 hits, the second-highest total on the team, and five RBIs.
In his first action at the major-league level this season, Davis went 0-for-3 last night and started behind the plate today.
A few other notes from Cherington's availability:
• Cherington noted that Alexander Canario, who's only played in seven games and garnered 16 at-bats since the Pirates acquired him from the Mets for cash considerations, is a player that "in a perfect world, probably needs regular playing time to get unlocked and that's difficult to provide." With the injuries that the Pirates have suffered early this season, Canario has gotten a few opportunities, but he's only hitting .125 and his two hits have come via a single and a home run last night. Canario doesn't have any options remaining so the Pirates will need to find a way to get him involved at the major-league level.
• The Pirates general manager was also asked about Tsung-Che Cheng this afternoon and he admitted that the 23-year-old middle infielder was probably called upon earlier than they would've liked. Before receiving the call earlier this week, Cheng had only played 11 games for Class AAA Indianapolis between the end of last year and this season. He tallied seven hits and one double in 27 at-bats with the Indians and was hitting .071 this season before being called up.
"(Jared) Triolo comes into the year as our backup shortstop and when he goes down, you have to have someone on the roster who's going to be a backup shortstop and with Nick (Gonzales) also on the IL, we just didn't have that," Cherington said. "So we had to add someone to the roster that could play short and Cheng, we call him Z, we know he can do that. He can definitely play shortstop defensively, no question about that. He's arguably already an above-average defensive shortstop. He's still working on his offensive game coming into 2025. This was his year to play in triple A and it probably still is but once your in triple A things are going to happen and you're going to come up. Whatever happens, he'll benefit from that."
• David Bednar also has made three appearances for Class AAA Indianapolis and hasn't allowed a hit, run or walk while striking out five. Cherington said Bednar is doing "exactly what you'd expect him to do."
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
1:56 pm - 04.13.2025DOWNTOWNCherington: No IL for Bart (back)
The Pirates are trying to keep Joey Bart (back) off the injured list, Ben Cherington told Greg Brown today during his weekly radio hit on the Pirates Radio Network.
Bart was removed from Friday's contest against the Reds in Cincinnati after his back locked up on him during his first at-bat. Cherington said today that it was something that was bothering Bart throughout the day, but it wasn't enough to keep him out of the lineup. He said it worsened after his first at-bat, which caused them to remove him from the lineup.
"He kind of had been battling it all day that day, even in pre-game, but wanted to give it a go and it locked up a little bit more during the game and we had to take him out," Cherington said. "He's responded really well the last couple of days which means we're going to try and keep him off the IL. Obviously at that position, you can't just have one catcher. That led to the recall of Henry (Davis) and we optioned a pitcher (Chase Shugart) to open up that spot."
The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft has been good for the Pirates ever since he was brought to Pittsburgh on April 2 of last year. He's hitting .275/.370/.425 this year with a .795 OPS in 40 at-bats. That's paired with 11 hits, the second-highest total on the team, and five RBIs.
In his first action at the major-league level this season, Davis went 0-for-3 last night and started behind the plate today.
A few other notes from Cherington's availability:
• Cherington noted that Alexander Canario, who's only played in seven games and garnered 16 at-bats since the Pirates acquired him from the Mets for cash considerations, is a player that "in a perfect world, probably needs regular playing time to get unlocked and that's difficult to provide." With the injuries that the Pirates have suffered early this season, Canario has gotten a few opportunities, but he's only hitting .125 and his two hits have come via a single and a home run last night. Canario doesn't have any options remaining so the Pirates will need to find a way to get him involved at the major-league level.
• The Pirates general manager was also asked about Tsung-Che Cheng this afternoon and he admitted that the 23-year-old middle infielder was probably called upon earlier than they would've liked. Before receiving the call earlier this week, Cheng had only played 11 games for Class AAA Indianapolis between the end of last year and this season. He tallied seven hits and one double in 27 at-bats with the Indians and was hitting .071 this season before being called up.
"(Jared) Triolo comes into the year as our backup shortstop and when he goes down, you have to have someone on the roster who's going to be a backup shortstop and with Nick (Gonzales) also on the IL, we just didn't have that," Cherington said. "So we had to add someone to the roster that could play short and Cheng, we call him Z, we know he can do that. He can definitely play shortstop defensively, no question about that. He's arguably already an above-average defensive shortstop. He's still working on his offensive game coming into 2025. This was his year to play in triple A and it probably still is but once your in triple A things are going to happen and you're going to come up. Whatever happens, he'll benefit from that."
• David Bednar also has made three appearances for Class AAA Indianapolis and hasn't allowed a hit, run or walk while striking out five. Cherington said Bednar is doing "exactly what you'd expect him to do."
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