After being claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees in November, it’s been a bumpy ride for Pirates outfielder Greg Allen on his way to making his Pittsburgh debut.
Allen looked like a shoo-in for an Opening Day roster spot and likely a starting job in the Pirates’ outfield thanks to a strong spring training performance, hitting .294 with a .752 OPS on a triple, two home runs and four stolen bases.
Then came the setbacks.
The 29-year-old, a 2014 sixth-round pick by Cleveland, suffered a fairly serious left-hamstring strain as spring training was winding down, so he found himself on the 60-day injured list when Opening Day rolled around rather than the Pirates’ roster.
Allen initially appeared to be on track to return from the injured list when he was first eligible on June 6, but then he suffered another hamstring strain during the rehab process — this time on his right leg. Talk about tough luck.
Finally, Allen has a locker with his name on it tucked in the corner of the PNC Park clubhouse, and he’ll make his Pirates debut Saturday against the Miami Marlins, playing center field and batting second.
“It's been an experience,” Allen said prior to Saturday’s game. “In life, you'll get a lot of obstacles that might come your way, things don't always go according to plan. You gotta adjust and do the best you can to make the best of the situation. Working diligently with our medical staff, strength and conditioning staff, we were able to iron some things out and finally get the body to a point where it’s feeling healthy, feeling good. I'm definitely grateful to them for their help and support throughout this process.
“But, yeah, been a little longer than expected.”
Allen started a rehab assignment with Class A Bradenton on July 6 and moved up to Class AAA Indianapolis on July 12. In six total games in the minor leagues, Allen hit .429 with three RBIs and five strikeouts, solid numbers for someone playing his first live action in months.
The Pirates brought Allen up to the big league roster with some time still available on his rehab assignment, largely due to trading designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach to the New York Mets. His active roster spot opened up thanks to a flurry of moves involving Vogelbach, that trade’s return in Colin Holderman and Michael Perez being designated for assignment (and eventual trade).
With Vogelbach gone, there are plenty of at-bats on the table. Allen will be in a good position to take over a number of those, especially with Bryan Reynolds on the 10-day injured list. Although Allen said his body feels good, manager Derek Shelton plans to work him up to playing back-to-back games.
“Number one, credit to him because he got hurt in spring training and has been grinding to get back,” Shelton said. “It's nice to have a guy that's kind of a veteran guy back in our clubhouse. Especially with Bryan being out, and [Allen being] a guy that's played centerfield, being able to give Jake [Marisnick] a chance to get a little bit of a break because we ran him pretty hard before the All-Star break.”
Any months-long rehabilitation process, and even more so one that included a major setback, is undoubtedly frustrating. Allen tried to use the time to focus on any positives he could find in the situation, learning more about himself from both a mental and physical standpoint.
“Sometimes it's kind of finding that recipe that works,” Allen said. “And again, those are things that take time, and sometimes, you don't have a chance to fully realize that until you go through an experience like this. So I'd like to say I'm better for it. Hopefully that proves to be the case.”
A career .241 hitter who’s found himself on four different clubs since the start of the 2020 season, Allen can easily be described as a journeyman, and he’s far from the only one the Pirates have brought in over the years.
The Pittsburgh organization has shown plenty of patience with Allen throughout the journey to his 2022 debut, which is certainly a comforting feeling for a veteran trying to latch on with his new team.
“Throughout this process, there's been an open line of communication with staff up and down the board. It's been a nice feeling for me, I think as a player, especially coming to a new organization, just the show of confidence,” Allen said. “Even with the setbacks, some of the hurdles and the hiccups, I think it's been a journey for all parties involved.
“Without a doubt, definitely grateful for the communication that's been there and the sentiment that's been echoed from them up and down the board.”
Perez traded to Mets
The Pirates on Saturday traded catcher Michael Perez to the Mets for cash considerations, an indication that Jason Delay and Tyler Heineman will likely be their catching tandem moving forward.
As part of the Daniel Vogelbach trade on Friday, the Pirates designated Perez for assignment.
“I commend him. I thought he did a much better job defensively this year. I thought his energy was better. I thought he was more consistent,” Shelton said. “One of the things when we optioned him a week ago when Tyler came back was the consistency of at-bats. We needed more consistency of contact and at-bats. That was the challenge. Then we got into a spot where we needed the roster spot and had to take him off, but I thought this year Michael did a much better job in terms of the energy he brought and the gameplanning component.”
In 39 games for the Pirates this season, Perez hit just .150 with a .527 OPS. It was about the same as last year, his first with the Pirates, when Perez hit .143 with a .511 OPS.
Also on Saturday, the Pirates optioned Colin Holderman to Class AAA Indianapolis. Holderman is the right-handed reliever they acquired from New York in exchange for Daniel Vogelbach.
“This came about really fast yesterday,” Shelton said. “Because we can only have 13 pitchers right now, we're going to get him down there to get our eyes on him a little bit in person with our pitching group, but expect him to be up here and help our club out once we get past the amount of time he has to be down.”
Holderman will have to stay in Indianapolis for at least 15 days before being called up, unless an injury opens up a spot on the roster.
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak.
First Published: July 23, 2022, 8:09 p.m.
Updated: July 23, 2022, 11:07 p.m.