Broken wrist bone idles Smith-Njigba
The Pirates made a roster move on Friday.
Not the one many fans wanted them to make, mind you, as shortstop Oneil Cruz remains with Class AAA Indianapolis.
This also wasn’t one they wanted to make.
But after a collision with Bryan Reynolds Wednesday in St. Louis, Canaan SmithNjigba suffered a non-displaced fracture of the scaphoid bone in his right wrist, and the Pirates on Friday placed him on the 60-day injured list (retroactive to June 15).
Taking Smith-Njigba’s place will be reliever Cam Vieaux, a 28-year-old lefthander who has gone 3-0 with a 2.28 ERA, 23 strikeouts, a .147 batting average against and 0.90 WHIP across 27⅔ innings in 18 appearances (one start) this season.
When Smith-Njigba and Reynolds collided, the former fell to the turf and braced himself with his right hand, causing the injury. SmithNjigba actually toughed it out for two-more at-bats, flying out to left and grounding to shortstop, before Jack Suwinski replaced him in the seventh inning.
“I give him a ton of credit because he took two more atbats and kept pushing off,” manager Derek Shelton said. “But it just got to the point that it was bothering him. We got some imaging done [Thursday] and saw what had happened.”
The injury throws a wrench into any plans the Pirates might have had for Smith- Njigba, who was added to the 40-man roster this offseason and made his MLB debut Tuesday, becoming the first Pirates player to double in his first MLB at-bat since Tony Sanchez on June 23, 2013.
At the time he was promoted, Smith-Njigba was hitting .277 and led Class AAA Indianapolis with a .795 OPS through 52 games. He was also tops in doubles (15) and had 33 walks against just 52 strikeouts.
“When I talked to him [Thursday], I just told him how much I appreciated that he grinded through two atbats,” Shelton said. “It’s unfortunate. He worked really hard to get here. But I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s going to work hard to get back to where he needs to be.”
In the interim, Bryan Reynolds, Suwinski and Cal Mitchell are the three natural outfielders left on the roster. Tucupita Marcano is next in line. And, as long as he’s here, Hoy Park could provide another option.
A good Vieaux
While Pirates fans continue to clamor for Oneil Cruz — Monday looks like the day — Vieaux probably wasn’t the one many expected to see. But the 28-yearold southpaw has been deserving. A sixth-round pick in 2016, Vieaux has pitched to a 1.64 ERA over his past 15 appearances dating to April 26, holding opponents to a .123 average. Lefties have hit just .128 against him this season.
Vieaux used to start but this season converted to a full-time bullpen role. The deployment has agreed with him. He has enjoyed throwing, say, two innings instead of four or six, allowing him to orient effort and focus toward a smaller sample.
“Things started going well, and I just kept going with it,” Vieaux said. “Also, switching to the bullpen and having a secure spot has definitely helped me out. Last year, I was kind of back and forth between doing both. Arm feels great, holding up nicely.”
With the Indians playing a series at Gwinnett, manager Miguel Perez summoned Vieaux after he finished his pregame throwing. Vieaux said he knew something was up based on the size of the crowd.
“I just saw everyone staring at me,” he said.
After showering and packing his things, Vieaux’s flight to Pittsburgh on Thursday night was actually canceled. So he flew into Cleveland, slept there Thursday night and drove to Pittsburgh Friday morning.
No complaints, though. After 132 appearances (103 starts) over parts of six professional seasons with the Pirates, Vieaux can finally call himself a major leaguer.
“This is what we’ve been working for,” said Vieaux, who has a 3.76 ERA and 472 strikeouts in those 593⅓ innings. “Finally paid off. Pretty surreal. Hasn’t really set in yet.”
Yoshi soon
The Pirates are optimistic Yoshi Tsutsugo ( lumbar muscle strain) can start a rehab assignment in the next 57 days, Shelton said. Assuming that goes well, Tsutsugo would be activated from the 10-day injured list thereafter.
Signed to a $4 million contract this offseason, Tsutsugo has struggled mightily. In 35 games, Tsutsugo has hit .177 with a .538 OPS, the power that enticed the Pirates to pick Tsutsugo over Colin Moran conspicuously absent.
While Tsutsugo’s on-base percentage (.281) was OK, his slugging percentage (.257) seemed to indicate something was wrong.
“I don’t know if he was fully healthy at all this year,” Shelton said. “But the fact that we’ve had this time off and he’s moving in the right direction, it’s important because I think last year we saw a different guy than we saw this year at the beginning of the year.”
Tsutsugo last appeared in a game May 24.