The Pittsburgh Pirates still had 29 players on the active Spring Training roster ahead of today’s noon deadline to set the Opening Day rosters. We already knew where three rosters cuts would be made, but there were still questions to be answered about the final bullpen spot and the 40-man roster moves.
The Pirates announced today that pitcher Jarlin Garcia was placed on the 60-day Injured List. Pitchers JT Brubaker and Robert Stephenson were placed on the 15-day IL. Outfielder Ryan Vilade was designated for assignment. Catcher Jason Delay and pitcher Rob Zastryzny were added to the roster, taking the spots left vacated by the Garcia and Vilade moves.
Brubaker has right elbow discomfort, but the Pirates are still in the process of figuring out the severity. Garcia has a nerve issue in his upper arm and will miss at least two full months. Stephenson is already throwing in games, but he was behind due to elbow inflammation. The 24-year-old Vilade was an early cut from the Spring Training roster. He appeared very briefly in the majors in 2021, but spent the entire 2022 season in the minors for the Colorado Rockies, where he had a .697 OPS over 99 games with the very hitter-friendly Albuquerque of the Pacific Coast League.
Here’s the Opening Day roster for today’s game at 4:10 PM against the Cincinnati Reds:
Starting Pitchers
Mitch Keller, Roansy Contreras, Rich Hill, Vince Velasquez, Johan Oviedo
Bullpen
David Bednar, Wil Crowe, Jose Hernandez, Chase De Jong, Duane Underwood Jr, Rob Zastryzny, Colin Holderman, Dauri Moreta
Catchers
Austin Hedges, Jason Delay
Infielders
Carlos Santana, Ji-Man Choi, Ji-hwan Bae, Rodolfo Castro, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz
Outfielders
Canaan Smith-Njigba, Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen, Connor Joe, Jack Suwinski
