Tucker back ... for a short time?
It’s the second half of August, and the Pirates are nowhere near contending for anything.
As such, it was expected that, at some point soon, they would call up Cole Tucker to take a longer look at a former first- round pick who could be their shortstop of the future.
The Pirates did that Friday, promoting Tucker from Class AAA Indianapolis, but there’s a bit of a catch.
“Short- term help,” manager Clint Hurdle said when asked why Tucker was called up and reliever Geoff Hartlieb was optioned to Class AAA. “We’re playing a player short.”
That would be Jose Osuna, who started serving his five- game suspension Wednesday, meaning Hurdle potentially could have had a three- man bench for the first of a three- game series Friday night against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park.
Bringing someone up was expected. Even Tucker, who showed some flashes in the 36 games ( 30 starts) he played with the big club earlier this season, producing an OPS of .706 in his first 10 games before swing- and- miss issues started.
But calling this a short- term stay? For someone who needs to prove he can play at this level and a player in whom the Pirates need to discover what they have? That was a little strange.
“It’s the coolest thing ever to be able to play at the highest level,” Tucker said. “To be here and to be back here is super humbling as well because you know how hard it is to get here and stay here.”
The number of strikeouts will be something to watch for Tucker, who had 34 in his first 112 at- bats, a strikeout rate of 30.4 percent. In his past 54 games at Class AAA, in which he’s produced an OPS of .704, Tucker has struck out 51 times in 216 at- bats — 23.6 percent.
“I’m trying to have more consistent, professional at- bats, learning what the league is teaching me,” Tucker said. “Playing at the highest level, pitchers obviously have an idea what they’re doing. I’m just trying to learn what they’re trying to teach me and how they’re trying to attack me.”
Sending Hartlieb down was logical. In seven games that spanned six innings of work, He had a 10.50 ERA, allowing five runs on eight hits and recording just three outs over the past two games.
Reynolds’ powering up
Bryan Reynolds began the day with a National League- leading .335 batting average, while his .404 average in 12 games this month ranked second among National League players behind New York’s Wilson Ramos (. 417).
Most impressive, though, might be his recent power surge. Reynolds has six home runs over his past 16 games. Of his 23 hits in that span, 11 have been doubles or homers, which works out to a slugging percentage of .742. In his first 81 games this season, Reynolds slashed .327/. 397/. 491.
From his seat, Hurdle has seen Reynolds successfully stick with his gap- to- gap approach. The home runs have more been the result of pitchers making mistakes.
“He’s always working to stay behind the baseball and catch it on the back side,” Hurdle said. “He’s not a guy we’re trying to incorporate a whole lot of pull- side, lift power to because that’s not his game. He doesn’t pull ground balls. He hits balls hard, and they’re basically from gap to gap. That’s been his strength.
“[ It has been] a combination of maybe more experience, hitting what he’s hunting, but also a lot of times it’s been pitch location. [ Pitchers] are making mistakes, and he’s plastering them.”
The sample size is small, but according to FanGraphs, Reynolds has chased 28.2 percent of pitches out of the zone in this current run compared to 32.1 percent the rest of the season.
“It’s a joke. I’m over him,” Tucker teased about Reynolds’ success so far. “He’s the best ever. Get out one time. Come on.”
Reunion of sorts
As Tucker was meeting with reporters, Mitch Keller stopped by with an inside joke — some sort of noise. Tucker and Keller are close, the result of having been drafted in successive rounds in 2014. The Pirates clubhouse also is beginning to look a lot like the 2018 Altoona Curve, with those two plus Reynolds.
“It feels like our Altoona team is here in Pittsburgh,” Tucker said. “It’s what we always talked about. We want to have a ton of success. We want to win. We want to get better. What better place to do it?
“It’s cool to see people who have worked so hard since we were 17 or 18 years old, Mitch especially.”