MIAMI – Gregory Polanco was scratched from tonight’s lineup with left foot discomfort, after fouling a ball off his foot in his final at-bat last night. He is at the doctor this afternoon, and the Pirates don’t have the full extent of that discomfort.
“He checked out fine after getting hit last night,” Pirates’ Head Athletic Trainer Todd Tomczyk said. “It’s something that you wait and see. It’s a fluid situation. He came in with some increased discomfort, so we’re making sure we take the necessary steps to ensure his short- and long-term health.”
Clint Hurdle said today that they didn’t want to push Polanco, and wanted to get him checked out. Sean Rodriguez will replace him in the lineup. Here is tonight’s adjusted lineup against the Marlins, with Polanco out.
Here are the rest of the injury updates this week from Tomczyk:
**Ryan Vogelsong is scheduled to be examined by Dr. Randall Beatty at AGH this afternoon in Pittsburgh, to see the extent of his facial injuries after getting hit in the eye with a pitch two weeks ago. Vogelsong hasn’t been able to do any physical activities since the injury, waiting for his eventual surgery.
“He’s a pretty fast healer,” Tomczyk said. “When the decision is made to fix the fractures, there is a chance that swelling is going to increase, just because of any type of soft tissue in surgery. It may get a little worse before it gets better long-term.”
**Arquimedes Caminero, out with a left quad strain, is throwing off the mound. The initial reports have been encouraging, according to Tomczyk, and the Pirates could start Caminero on a rehab assignment in the near future.
**Elias Diaz has started throwing and playing catch on flat ground for the first time since elbow surgery to remove bone chips. He’s also hitting, in the early stages of all of his rehab.
“It’s only been a couple of days,” Tomczyk said of the response to the throwing. “The initial reports are positive. So we’ll take it day by day and build him up to an appropriate level where he can compete again.”
**Kevin Newman is being seen in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow for his orbital injuries after getting hit in the eye with a pitch last week.
**Steven Brault is throwing off flat ground in Indianapolis, recovering from a hamstring strain. Brault’s timeline would have him back anywhere from the middle of June until the middle of July. When I was in Indianapolis two weeks ago, he said the recovery was going well, and he’s hoping to be back closer to the early side of that timeline.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
This team has absolutely no power at the Catcher, 1st base 2nd base and shortstop positions. I think they have 4 HR between those positions. Bring up Bell now.
Mercer at leadoff really. He is right back to his hitting into DP’s with RISP….
Is the fan base still down on Rodriguez? He is hitting very well and with power and can play decent defense all over the field. Maybe management knew what it was doing by resigning him. I thought it was a mistake but I have changed my opinion.
I was in a very small minority (less than Marco Rubio supporters) who thought it was a good idea to re-sign S-Rod. He’s well above average on defense and was hitting better at the end of last year. I haven’t seen him called Sean Hurdle for a while.
Haven’t seen an update on Nick Kingham for quite a while.
I don’t have an update to give since the last one. Next update will be when he starts doing something new.
I thought the Gungie restrictions were done with.
I’m more worried about Bryan Rust than Gregory Polanco right now.
Why isn’t Kang in the lineup?
Likely because he’s played the last five games.
Didn’t he sit against Yu Darvish?
In a situation like this, would it not behoove Clint to play Cervelli at 1b and Stewart at C, leaving Jaso on the bench?
Despite his awful night on Monday, it might even be preferable to play Joyce in RF and SRod at 1b. It’s a tossup, but Joyce (.183/.562 with .304 SLG) seems to have a slight edge over Jaso (.177/.537 with .229 SLG) on hitting LHP.
Anyway, knowing there was a LHP coming, why didn’t Clint plan his Kang usage accordingly?
Hurdle said before the game that lefties do favorably against Adam Conley, which is why he started Jaso.
I guess sometimes you just have to nod and say uh huh, uh huh because it does no good to piss him off by asking, if lefties do better against Conley, why is Joyce not starting in RF instead of Srod?
Joyce started Sunday against another lefty. Part of it tonight was because Jaso was swinging well yesterday.
He’s also not saying lefties do better than right-handers against Conley. Just that lefties don’t have as many problems with Conley as other left-handed pitchers.
First time Rodriguez has played the OF this year, no?
Tim,
Nothing personal but I often find myself disagreeing with some of your baseball opinions. That being said, I want you to know that you have really taken this site to next level. Really enjoy and appreciate the wealth of information there is here.
Thanks John. Nothing personal taken. Not everyone will agree with all of my opinions. That’s a guarantee I know heading into this.
My fantasy team is starting to resemble The Walking Dead…
Reddick, Holt, Sano, Forsythe, and now Polanco.
No Glen or Daryl?