The Pittsburgh Pirates announced a large group of rosters moves as soon as today’s Spring Training finale ended. This sets the roster for now, though there will have to be another move because they sent down (reassigned to minor league camp) all three players going for the backup catcher spot, which included Michael Perez, Taylor Davis and Jamie Ritchie. They won’t be going into the season with one catcher, and there are 27 players right now on the 28-man roster, so expect something soon.
Also reassigned to minor league camp today were Bligh Madris, Hunter Owen and Jerad Eickhoff. In addition, Max Kranick (forearm), Sam Howard (back), Anthony Alford (wrist) and Luis Oviedo (ankle) were all placed on the 10-day injured list.
There is word that Greg Allen will also be placed on the injured list before the opener, so there will be two open spots on the Opening Day roster. That could mean that someone returns from Indianapolis for a time, or another player is being added in addition to the mystery backup catcher.
The current roster (not including Allen) is:
Pitchers: Mitch Keller, Zach Thompson, Bryse Wilson, JT Brubaker, Jose Quintana, David Bednar, Anthony Banda, Wil Crowe, Aaron Fletcher, Heath Hembree, Dillon Peters, Christ Stratton, Duane Underwood, Miguel Yajure
Catcher: Roberto Perez
Infielders: Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cole Tucker, Kevin Newman, Michael Chavis, Hoy Park, Diego Castillo, Yoshi Tustsugo, Josh VanMeter, Daniel Vogelbach
Outfielders: Bryan Reynolds, Ben Gamel
