WASHINGTON — The reshaping of the Pirates roster — like it or lump it — started Monday at Nationals Park, and its first casualty was Cal Mitchell, who was optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis when Josh VanMeter returned from the 10-day injured list.
Mitchell, 23, appeared in 26 games for the Pirates, hitting .193 with a .553 OPS. The highlight for Mitchell came when he homered in back-to-back games (June 5 and 7), collecting multiple hits in each game. He also broke up a no-hitter with two outs in the top of the ninth inning on June 14 in St. Louis.
But with the Pirates wanting to bring VanMeter back, Mitchell was stuck behind Bryan Reynolds, Jack Suwinski and Bligh Madris, squeezed out of a spot.
It’s something we can expect to see plenty over the next few weeks, as the Pirates return rehabbing veterans to the active roster, a practice that isn’t going to sit well with the sizable group that bought into the play-the-kids movement.
“We’re talking about a guy who was not on the roster and worked his way onto the 40-man roster,” manager Derek Shelton said of Mitchell. “In the next probably 10 days, we’re gonna have a bunch of moves. We have a bunch of guys out on rehab. For Cal’s sake, we need to get him back down. We need to get him playing every day. Initial impression was really good.”
As for what Mitchell can work on in the minors, Shelton said the Pirates have emphasized to him the speed of the game while also gauging how quickly others are making adjustments to him. Shelton didn’t directly say it, but it sounded like the Pirates would like to see Mitchell make adjustments faster in his next big league opportunity.
Although fans have made it plenty clear that they’d rather see the Pirates prioritize youth, VanMeter gives them a veteran player who has experience at multiple positions. The 27-year-old had also seemingly found his stroke before fracturing his left ring finger on June 1.
Over his last 10 games before leaving the lineup, VanMeter hit .333 with a .912 OPS.
“I was getting consistent at-bats, which helps a lot,” VanMeter said. “Felt like the adjustments I was working on with [hitting coach Andy] Haines were starting to click. I was on a good run. Kind of unfortunate how everything happened.
“Hopefully we can pick up where we left off. Having 3 1/2 weeks off is never ideal, but you just have to go out there and compete and do your best.”
While VanMeter and the Pirates originally were working to find padding to protect his finger, they ditched that idea in the name of comfort.
“It feels good,” VanMeter said, “so we’re just gonna roll with it.”
Yajure starts, Banda DFA’d
Another move the Pirates made on a busy Monday was to promote Miguel Yajure, who started against the Nationals, while designating Anthony Banda for assignment.
It’s Yajure’s second stint with the big club this year, the right-hander having gone 1-0 with an 11.32 ERA prior to his start against Washington. Banda, meanwhile, was 1-0 with a 6.41 ERA in 23 games totaling 19 2/3 innings, with 22 strikeouts and five walks.
In parts of two seasons with the Pirates, Banda went 2-2 with a 4.70 ERA in 48 appearances.
“We’re starting to make roster moves,” Shelton said. “We talked about it before, he became the last guy, the crunch. When we’re making these moves, we’re ultimately going to get to the guys at the bottom of our roster. In this case, it was Anthony.”
The other addition the Pirates made for this series was adding catcher Jason Delay to the taxi squad. Delay made his MLB debut on June 14 in St. Louis, going 0 for 2 with a walk. In 28 games with Class AAA Indianapolis this season, Delay has hit .220 with five doubles, a triple and eight RBIs.
Waiver news
Jerad Eickhoff cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Class AAA Indianapolis, the Pirates announced. Eickhoff started last week against the Cubs and gave up 10 runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Meanwhile, Heath Hembree cleared waivers, but the Pirates granted him his unconditional release. Hembree, signed on the first day of spring training for $2.125 million, had a 7.16 ERA in 20 appearances totaling 16 1/3 innings, walking 14, striking out 12 and giving up five home runs.
Procedural with Kranick
On Saturday, the Pirates — on paper — recalled Max Kranick from Class AAA Indianapolis and placed him on the 60-day injured list. And while Kranick remains out until next year following right elbow UCL reconstruction surgery, they made the move because it opens up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Their 40-man roster currently has two openings.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: June 27, 2022, 10:49 p.m.