P2Daily: Healthy, Miguel Yajure Becoming Starting Option Again For Pirates

When the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Miguel Yajure in the Jameson Taillon trade, he looked like he was on his way to becoming at the very least a back of the rotation option going forward.

Inconsistencies, along with injuries, have really set Yajure back, and for some time it seemed his role in Indianapolis was up in question.

August has seen Yajure build his arm back up, and pitching deeper into games for the Indians, potentially opening the door as an option should the Pirates need another starter.

Things in Pittsburgh are getting a little rough when it comes to the rotation. Bryse Wilson only last an inning and another one of their starters, Zach Thompson, piggy backed behind him throwing four innings of his own. That’s not even factoring in the Pirates have had a little bit of a bullpen day built in with Tyler Beede taking a regular turn in the rotation.

He has starting experience, and the Pirates seemed content with letting him stretch out in the majors on the go.

That’s where Yajure could come in, as the righty has completed at least five innings in three of his last four outings. During the month of August, Yajure has pitched 24 innings five appearances (four starts), striking out 25 batters, walking nine and posting a 4.50 ERA in that span.

After Friday night’s outing, Yajure has back-to-back five inning, seven strike out appearances.

For some time it looked like injuries might force him to a full-time reliever role, but now Yajure is playing his way into potentially getting a couple more starts in the majors this season.

Tres Gonzalez Adjusting In Bradenton

With the kind of success that Gonzalez had at Georgia Tech, I thought he’d eventually get things going playing for Bradenton. The Pirates fifth round pick in this year’s draft extended his hitting streak to seven games on Friday against Dunedin. In those seven games, Gonzalez has picked up multiple hits in four of those games. He also has hits in 11 of his last 12 games played at the Single-A level.

It wasn’t really expected that he’d hit for a lot of power at the pro level, and of the 16 hits he has at Bradenton, only one went for extra-bases.