Vaccination numbers are nearing ideal totals

The magic number, in this case, is 85%.

Should the Pirates — and the rest of Major League Baseball — get there in terms of vaccinated players and primary on-field staff, that’s when the current COVID-19 restrictions could be relaxed. Mask usage would lessen. Communal clubhouse video could return. Players could eat at indoor restaurants, go to church or eat and drink on flights.

To facilitate that happening, the Pirates offered a voluntary vaccination clinic for players, coaches and team staffers after the home opener, a move that was part logistics and also to try to push for everyone to get vaccines when become available to all Pennsylvanians April 19.

“We’ve been working and playing under pretty strict protocols now for over a year,” general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday on his 93.7 The Fan radio show. “Some of the ways that we were all used to operating

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in the past may return as we get to higher levels of vaccinations. That’s part of why we’re encouraging that.

“More importantly, it’s just to keep people safe. We want our players safe, our staff safe, the fans safe, everyone around the team safe. We want to be able to play baseball in a way that’s safe, and vaccinations simply increase our chances of doing that.”

Cherington did not say whether the Pirates are nearing that 85% threshold, but he was encouraged by the participation level among players, coaches and team staffers.

The GM also was pleased with the amount of collaboration and lastminute shuffling that was done by the Pirates, Allegheny Health Network and Highmark.

“We had a really good participation rate, which was good to see,” Cherington said. “If people in our traveling party or people around the team are interested, we’ll find a way to support that. We certainly believe it’s good for the Pirates, good for everyone to participate in that. Ultimately understand and certainly respect individual peoples’ decisions on whether they want to do it or not. But it was great to see the strong level of participation. Just a really good collaboration.”

An additional component here involves players getting their second shots. The Pirates got through the first round in good shape; nobody has been unable to play, coach or work. But Cherington said there is some level of concern for those who received Pfizer or Moderna shots.

With games every day, Cherington said the Pirates will need to be strategic with how they schedule those, in case they lose a player to side-effects.

Injury updates

There’s not much new with Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cherington said. The rookie third baseman has taken ground balls but isn’t swinging a bat since going on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist strain on April 4. Technically, Hayes is eligible to come the IL Wednesday, although a couple of things would have to happen before that day.

“He’s been doing his defensive work,” Cherington said. “He’s progressing. Believe he’s going to get checked again [Sunday] by our medical staff and may have a better idea after that as to next steps.

“We’re not going to rush this. He’s going to tell us when he feels good enough to start swinging a bat, which will then dictate sort of the pace of the return. At that point, he would have to go through some onfield activity and go through a series of stuff to be able to be game-ready again. I don’t have a firm timeline on the return. We still feel good about the prognosis. He’s headed in a good direction.”

Another injured player who seems to be close is pitcher Cody Ponce. Cherington said Ponce has thrown a two-inning simulated game and soon would advance to three innings. After that, Ponce would be a candidate to return based on baseball reasons.

Happy for Musgrove

Cherington spoke with the Pirates coaching staff before Saturday’s game and had a bit of a message for them. The night before, San Diego native Joe Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in Padres history.

“They should feel good about it because a lot of the progress that he made,” Cherington said. “And again, I’m giving Joe credit for this, but it’s a shared effort — last year from the beginning of spring training to the end of the season, when he came off the IL and was so good at the end of the year, he’s carried that in to 2021 in terms of his pitch usage and the shape on his pitches, the way his body is moving, his arm action. It’s certainly come together for him in these first two outings. A lot of credit to go around but particularly happy for Joe.”