The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that catcher Austin Hedges has been placed on the 7-day concussion Injured List. The Pirates selected the contract of catcher Tyler Heineman to take the place of Hedges. To make room on the 40-man roster, pitcher Edwin Uceta has been designated for assignment.
The Pirates will be back to the Tyler Heineman/Jason Delay combo that they had for most of last year behind the plate. They started 93 games combined last year for the Pirates. This could just be a short-term replacement if Hedges misses the minimum time.
Uceta was just claimed off of waivers by the Pirates two days ago, so he hasn’t even made an appearance with Indianapolis yet. JT Brubaker went on the 60-day IL to make room for Uceta, who has a 6.27 ERA, a 4.46 FIP, a 1.39 WHIP and a 19:38 BB/SO ratio over 37.1 big league innings during the 2021-22 seasons.
The Pirates also announced that outfielder Ryan Vilade has cleared waivers, and he has been sent outright to Indianapolis, which is where he was scheduled to open up the season. He was designated for assignment last week when the Pirates set their Opening Day roster.
