Tucker time
GM Ben Cherington indicated Cole Tucker could get the call back to the majors.
After the dust from the trade deadline settled, it was pretty much presumed that the Pirates would find room for an athletic middle infielder who also dabbled some in the outfield.
Tucupita Marcano, the centerpiece of the Adam Frazier trade? Not so much. Sounds like it might actually be Cole Tucker who gets a shot first, provided he remains healthy and continues his recent offensive uptick.
Appearing on 93.7 The Fan for his Sunday radio show, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington brought up Tucker’s name unprompted when talking about athletic, versatile fielders and also stating that the Pirates expected Marcano, who’s only 21, to remain in the minor leagues for now.
“You can add Cole Tucker to that,” Cherington said after host Greg Brown brought up Marcano, Michael Chavis ( acquired from Boston for Austin Davis) and Diego Castillo, a shortstop the Pirates got from the Yankees for Clay Holmes. Hoy Park, who was the other piece of the Holmes deal, would also fall into that category, as Brown suggested versatile players who might earned themselves a look.
“All of those guys have primary positions that they’ve played most in their careers, and that will always really important to maintain that primary position. In Cole’s case, he’s a shortstop. That’s his primary position. It’s important to maintain that. But his ability to do other things on the field gives him the opportunity to come up and make an impact for us at some point.”
Tucker played plenty of outfield in 2020 and recently reprised that role with
Class AAA Indianapolis, shifting out to right field a few times last month. In his first game out there, on July 21, Tucker injured his thumb diving for a ball. He has since bounced back and forth between shortstop and right field.
Over his past eight games, Tucker has hit .333 with a double, a home run, four RBIs, five runs, eight walks and six strikeouts. The sample size is obviously small, but Tucker walking more than he struck out should be seen as encouraging.
The two most important things with the 2014 firstround pick’s offensive game include eliminating the strikeouts — which involves better plate discipline — and also the ability to generate more power by better involving his lower half.
Both are reasons Tucker started the season doing skill development work in Bradenton, Fla., instead of joining Pirates players at the alternate site in Pittsburgh.
“You look at Cole’s year, I think you can look at two things,” Cherington said, transitioning into talk about Tucker missing time with some sort of respiratory infection, as well as a couple need-based call-ups to the big club, moves that often left him functioning as a bench player without regular at-bats.
“There have been some interruptions in his year,” Cherington said. “The key for him will be able to play consistently. When he’s done that, we’re seeing a better player. We’re seeing a player who has improved since last year. Knock on wood, hopefully he gets a chance to do that in Indy. He’s had a couple good nights in a row, which is encouraging to see.”
As for Marcano, who slotted in at No. 7 on the Pirates’ MLB Pipeline rankings, it makes sense. Entering Sunday’s games, Marcano had hit .260 with a .777 OPS in 47 minor league games while producing just a .182 average and .484 OPS in his 44 MLB at-bats.
“Certainly wouldn’t rule out anything, but he’s really young,” Cherington said. “He’s a 21-year-old already at Class AAA. I think this is a good time for him to get consistent at-bats in Class AAA. It gives us a chance to get to know him and go into an offseason with a really good plan. We’ll see what happens, but looking forward to seeing him play every day for Indy for now.”
Pitching plans
Another part of Cherington’s show was dedicated to talk about pitching plans the rest of the way. To summarize: be prepared to see a lot of different guys starting games for the Pirates.
Bryse Wilson, acquired in the Richard Rodriguez deal, will go Monday in Milwaukee. Cherington also said that Steven Brault would likely start this week; the Pirates have “TBA” listed for Wednesday’s series finale.
Meanwhile, Cherington said Miguel Yajure (MLB Pipeline No. 12) threw live batting practice Sunday in Florida, and the Pirates continued to rebuild Dillon Peters’ arm strength; the left-hander the Pirates got from the Angels for cash could be in the mix to get some starts down the stretch.
Chad Kuhl, Wil Crowe, JT Brubaker, Max Kranick (MLB Pipeline No. 26), Cody Ponce and Mitch Keller are other pitchers who will likely get starts, Cherington said, and they could even utilize Class AAA Indianapolis to ensure nobody is sitting around for too long.
“We expect that we’ll have starts at the major league level to give guys an opportunity to show what they can do,” Cherington said. “We’ll likely have a number of guys taking those starts.”
Strange-Gordon leaves
Dee Strange-Gordon, an infielder who had been at Class AAA Indianapolis and was trying to work his way back to the big leagues, exercised the opt-out in his contract and was officially released.
Strange-Gordon, 33, is a two-time All-Star who has been trying to revive his career with most of the NL Central. Since February, he has been with the Reds, Brewers, Cubs and Pirates, although he has not yet received a chance at the MLB level.
Across 53 games in the minors, Strange-Gordon is hitting .248 with a .660 OPS. With Class AAA Indianapolis, Strange-Gordon hit .221 with a .661 OPS, producing three homers and nine RBIs in 16 games.