The Pittsburgh Pirates have placed left-handed reliever Antonio Bastardo on the 10-day disabled list with a left quad strain and they have recalled recently acquired right-handed reliever Johnny Barbato from Indianapolis.
The 24-year-old Barbato was acquired for cash considerations from the New York Yankees last Monday and optioned to Indianapolis, where he made two appearances in the last week. He threw three innings of shutout ball in those games, last pitching on Sunday in a one inning appearance. He made 13 appearances for the Yankees last season, his first big league experience. Barbato had 7.62 ERA in 13 innings with the Yankees, picking up 15 strikeouts. He was hurt by allowing two homers, though the strikeout rate,WHIP and BAA were all respectable numbers. He’s a hard-thrower, who was hitting 94 consistently in his last Indianapolis outing and he tops out at 96 MPH.
Bastardo has struggled in each of his six appearances this season, giving up 12 runs on 15 hits and seven walks over 6.2 innings.
It wouldn’t be surprising if this was a phantom injury to give him time to work with Ray Searage to try to get back on track. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Barbato back in Indianapolis after the Cubs series. With a day off on Thursday, that will give the bullpen some rest and the Pirates are currently short-handed on the bench due to the Adam Frazier – Dovydas Neverauskas roster switch yesterday.
More on Barbato from Brian Peloza shortly.
