BRADENTON, Fla. — On Saturday, Cole Tucker was asked about the Pirates’ shortstop competition, and he shrugged it off.
Tucker, Kevin Newman and Erik Gonzalez all had a certain claim to the starting shortstop gig, some stronger than others. But there’s room for just two of them at most to make the opening day roster. Tucker understood the reality, but a player can’t think too hard about roster structure, since those decisions are made outside of his control.
On Wednesday, the Pirates announced their latest round in a series of cuts, and Tucker was one of the casualties. He and right-handed pitchers Miguel Yajure and Sean Poppen have been optioned to the minor leagues, while outfielder Troy Stokes Jr., first baseman Will Craig and catchers Joe Hudson and Andrew Susac have been reassigned to minor league spring training.
After the game, the Pirates added to this list, reassigning left-handed reliever Braeden Ogle and utility man Hunter Owen to minor league camp, as well.
“The conversation we had with [Tucker] was probably one of the better ones I’ve been in when you send guys out,” manager Derek Shelton said Wednesday. “He was extremely thoughtful. He had really good questions about his personal growth and things that we identified. Sometimes when you have those conversations, as soon as you tell guys they’re being optioned, they shut off. He was great. He asked questions. He asked specific questions. We talked about things he had done in spring training, things that we felt he needed to do better and really gave him a plan of attack with things that we thought could be helpful moving forward.”
It isn’t necessarily a surprise that Tucker was the odd man out in the race. Gonzalez doesn’t have any minor league options remaining, so cutting him would mean subjecting him to waivers. Newman, meanwhile, was the de facto starting shortstop heading into last season after an impressive 2019 campaign, and he’s picked it up again this spring, leading the team in walks, batting average and on-base percentage while striking out zero times in 20 at-bats.
Plus, Tucker has struggled. Last season, he slashed a meager .211/.266/.361 and was just 4-for-23 this spring. So while Tucker has become a bit of a fan favorite in recent years, he was always the logical player to option if the Pirates are interested in keeping all three on the roster.
The rest of the cuts aren’t necessarily surprising, either. Yajure has impressed in his debut with the Pirates after coming to Pittsburgh in the Jameson Taillon trade this offseason. He is now their 12th-ranked prospect in the system, according to MLB Pipeline.
Yajure has pitched just six innings in four games in the Grapefruit League, allowing three earned runs over that time, but that’s also included two sterling efforts. He struck out two Atlanta Braves in two shutout innings on Mar. 9. On Tuesday, it took him just seven pitches to get through a one-strikeout inning against the Minnesota Twins.
Stokes was an offseason waiver claim for the Pirates. He was later designated for assignment and snuck through waivers without being claimed by another team, allowing the Pirates to reassign him to minor league camp now. Stokes, too, has had his flashes of potential, namely hitting two home runs this spring.
Like Tucker, though, he seemed to be the odd man out, in a sense. The Pirates have multiple players competing for their starting centerfield gig, including Anthony Alford, Dustin Fowler and Brian Goodwin, and Stokes didn’t figure to challenge any of them for a roster spot, especially after clearing waivers.
The same goes for Will Craig, who has been knocking on the door of the major leagues for a bit now. He was previously capped by the presence of Josh Bell and remains in a similar spot now that Colin Moran has the starting first base job in his grasp. The addition of Todd Frazier this offseason certainly didn’t help Craig’s prospects.
Owen appeared to be capped in a very similar way, since he featured mostly at the corner infield and outfield spots, positions where the Pirates have clear starters ahead of him for now.
Poppen and Ogle would appear to be depth figures out of the bullpen. They could very well feature with the Pirates this season, since they’ve expressed how important pitching depth will be to them, but it was hard to see a spot for them on the opening day roster among the arms that are currently there.
Susac and Hudson are deep depth for the Pirates behind the plate. Jacob Stallings, Tony Wolters and Michael Perez were always more likely to make the Pirates’ roster, and that remains the case.
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak
First Published: March 24, 2021, 4:16 p.m.
