Nearly all of Jared Oliva’s season so far has been spent rehabbing.
The 25-year-old outfielder, who is the Pirates’ No. 15 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, tweaked his oblique in April, on the first day of the Pirates’ alternate training site. He’d been going through drills all day and felt fine, but when it came to batting practice, he felt a pop, as he calls it, and suffered a Grade 3 oblique strain, meaning the muscle was ruptured as opposed to just a moderate strain.
He stayed in Pittsburgh for a while with the Pirates’ medical team, then took off to Bradenton, Fla., to rehab at the Pirates’ spring training site in Pirate City. It took 4-6 weeks, as it was supposed to, before Oliva was able to return to Indianapolis and finally begin his season.
That finally happened this past Saturday, when Oliva debuted with Indianapolis, going 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. He’s now played four games, hitting .214 with two walks and five strikeouts. It’s a modest start and no conclusions can really be drawn. That’s true for Oliva himself, who’s really just happy to be back in the mix right now.
“It’s obviously cool to be back in the ballpark with fans,” Oliva told the Post-Gazette this week. “That’s really what it’s all about. But yeah, like I was saying, you kind of take it for granted sometimes, and unfortunately when an injury or something happens and you’re not able to be on the field every day or as often as you like, you take it for granted, and it makes you really appreciate playing the game of baseball. As simple as that sounds, you get to play baseball. You don’t have to play baseball. So I mean it’s just been a blast being up here, being back with the guys I’ve played with.”
Oliva is in a unique spot within the Pirates’ organization. He, fellow outfielder Travis Swaggerty and right-hander Miguel Yajure were the three top-30 prospects the Pirates placed in Class AAA to start the season. The rest of the highest-touted guys are lower in the system.
But Oliva started the year on the injured list, Yajure debuted on the Pirates before suffering an elbow injury that’s held him out recently and Swaggerty is out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Oliva is now the highest-ranked player who could conceivably reach the majors in the near future.
Of course, that’s also dependent on how he plays. The book on Oliva is that he’s an outstanding defender with plus speed, but could use some development on the offensive side. Baseball America’s scouting report of Oliva reads that he “is ready now to be a reserve outfielder in the majors with his speed and defensive acumen. He’ll need to continue making gains with the bat to become more.”
That’s not to say he’s been a bad hitter at all in the minors. He’s hit in the .260-.270- range at his stops at Low-A, High-A and Class AA Altoona. In 2018 at High-A, specifically, which was in Bradenton at the time, he found a little power, too, stroking nine home runs over the season, which was tied for third-most on the team.
When he made his major league debut with the Pirates last season, he played in just six games toward the end of the year, going 3-for-16 with six strikeouts. He says now that he was encouraged by his own approach and some of the hard contact he made. That tracks: He had a hard hit rate at 40%, which is five points above league average and an average exit velocity around 93 mph, which would be top 10 in the league this season.
Obviously, that is six games. Any stat produced over that short of a span means next to nothing. But even if Oliva was encouraged by his own play, the more important thing for him was the opportunity to take in as much information from the Pirates’ players as possible.
“I just tried to be like a sponge almost, try to be a fly on the wall and see how guys go about their business at that level. So I thought it was really cool, just seeing what Ke’Bryan [Hayes] did, [Adam] Frazier, [Bryan] Reynolds, just guy after guy what makes them tick during the season, and yeah, I took away a lot from that week span, just seeing how guys approaches in the game really work, defensive side, positioning, you can take away a little bit from each thing.
“Everything gets a little more advanced, but I think that week really helped me in terms of heading into next spring training or this past one of, like, what it really looks like. I know I just stuck my toe in the water, but it gives me a good idea of what it’s going to look like the next time I get an opportunity.”
That’s all in keeping with how Oliva spent his down time with his injury. He said he watched a ton of baseball and tried to visualize what sort of things he could implement in his own game or what he would do in similar situations.
The frustrating part for him was just that the progression is slow from there. It’s watching and then more watching and wanting to try things in the cage but being unable to. Even after he started ramping up his activity in the cage, it was 15 swings off of a tee or a few swings against soft toss, where it’s hard to work on any actual mechanics other than simply moving to make sure the oblique is getting it’s proper work.
“That was the challenging part of watching videos of some guys and being like, ‘Gosh I want to get in the cage and work on it,’ ” Oliva said. “But no, once I got back and started baseball activity, I just tried to continue doing what I was doing [in spring training]. Obviously it was a month off, got to get the rust off kind of thing, so I tried just continuing what I was doing.”
All of that said, Oliva is still on the precipice of the majors, just like he was last year, in spring training and before the injury.
The question now becomes when he’ll get his opportunity. The Pirates’ outfield, aside from Bryan Reynolds, has been a rotating cast of struggling players. Right fielder Gregory Polanco probably isn’t going anywhere soon, but Ka’ai Tom has struggled mightily through 32 games. Oliva is teammates now with Dustin Fowler, Anthony Alford and Troy Stokes Jr., all of whom have played with the Pirates this season and been subsequently designated for assignment.
It would make sense that Oliva would get an opportunity soon. He isn’t worrying about that too much, confident that his performance will earn him a call-up. Now that he’s healthy again, that possibility seems nearer.
“I feel like guys would be in the wrong spot if they’re not thinking that,” Oliva said. “Yeah, I know what I can do, and there’s still some unlocked, I wouldn’t say potential, but things on the field that I’ve been working on that I could show, and I feel like I could help the team win with those abilities, hands down. If you’re not confident in what you’re doing, then I think it would be really tough when that opportunity does come for guys, but yeah, I totally think who I am as a person, player, will definitely impact the team positively. I’m excited to get things rolling, because I want to show what I can do.”
TOP 10 REPORT
Numbers through Thursday’s games
1. Nick Gonzales, 2B, High-A Greensboro: Out until roughly July with an injury to his right pinky. Was leading the Grasshoppers with a .917 OPS before his injury.
2. Quinn Priester, RHP, High-A Greensboro: Strung together a couple of good starts in a row now, most recently striking out a season-high six opponents while allowing one run, five hits and one walk Tuesday. His season ERA has now shrunk to 3.52.
3. Oneil Cruz, SS, Class AA Altoona: Has at least one hit in 28 of the 34 games he’s played this season, including at least one in 18 of his last 19 games. His most recent, absurdly athletic highlight was an outfield assist from shortstop. You read that correctly.
Oneil Cruz delivers a strike to home plate to keep the SeaWolves off the board in the first inning.
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) June 16, 2021
Spencer Torkleson's single made it 1-0 'Wolves after 1 inning.
LISTEN: https://t.co/aioWvW3Svf
WATCH: https://t.co/6GP894jPtF pic.twitter.com/5zBQpKe5GN
4. Liover Peguero, SS, High-A Greensboro: Homered Thursday for the first time since May 5 and his third this season. Appears to be rebounding well after a tough return from his injury. He now has hits in four of his last six games and is slashing .267/.340/.400.
5. Hudson Head, OF, Low-A Bradenton: Now has a 25-game on-base streak and is hitting the ball a bit better in the last week. Has bumped his average back over the Mendoza line, starting to use his bat a bit better after relying heavily on walks throughout much of the season. Has three doubles in his last four games.
6. Tahnaj Thomas, RHP, High-A Greensboro: Struggled in his second-most recent start last Friday, allowing four earned runs and two unearned runs on six hits and four walks. Bounced back fairly well Thursday with a three-inning outing and now sports a 4.37 ERA. Walks appear to be his problem right now, as opponents are hitting just .202 against him.
7. Brennan Malone, RHP, GCL Pirates: Was moved from Low-A Bradenton to rookie ball for developmental purposes. Had allowed four runs over 3 2/3 innings before the move.
8. Travis Swaggerty, OF, Class AAA Indianapolis: Will be out for the remainder of the season after undergoing right shoulder surgery.
9. Cody Bolton, RHP, Class AA Altoona: Likely will not pitch this season after undergoing right knee surgery.
10. Carmen Mlodzinski, RHP, High-A Greensboro: Absolutely dealing right now. Has allowed just two earned runs all season. Has now strung together three straight, five-inning starts. Opponents are hitting .173 against him and both his ERA and WHIP are below one, while he’s striking out more than 13 hitters per nine innings.
Other Notables:
- 1B Mason Martin (No. 14) has turned it on a little bit in Altoona, with hits in four of his last five games. He mashed two home runs Thursday, which is encouraging for a corner infielder whose calling card is his freakish power.
- Altoona’s ace, RHP Roansy Contreras (No. 19), remains an absolute beast this season. He went seven innings for the first time in his most recent start, striking out 10 while allowing just two hits, one walk and one earned run. His ERA sits at 2.03, and he’s striking out 12.8 batters per nine innings.
- RHP Jose Soriano (No. 23) underwent Tommy John revision surgery and will be out for the next 16 months at least, according to Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk.
- Greensboro appears to have a pair of off-the-radar sluggers on its hands. 24-year-old INF Aaron Shackleford leads all Pirates minor leaguers with 10 home runs but is slashing just .203/.321/.466. 23-year old OF Matthew Fraizer, on the other hand, is hitting .329/.417/.550 and is just behind Shackleford with the long ball, already hitting eight in his first 36 games, which ties with him Cruz and Altoona INF Rodolfo Castro for the second-most homers in the Pirates’ farm system.
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPesak
First Published: June 18, 2021, 5:47 p.m.