In the first month of May, the Pittsburgh Pirates may be close to the ‘break in case of emergency’ point when it comes to their rotation.
After losing JT Brubaker to Tommy John surgery before the season even started, they also lost one of their top prospects, Mike Burrows, to the same injury shortly after.
Now, Vince Velasquez left Thursday’s game early with ‘elbow discomfort’, and with the long list of injuries continuing to pile up within the system, it’s hard to not immediately think the worst.
So, where do the Pirates go from here? Obviously they will have to wait for the test to be run to find out just how long without Velasquez will be, but leaving with ‘discomfort’ after just three innings, when he noticeably reached for the elbow, it may be safe to pencil him out at least the next time through the rotation.
He did say he felt ‘optimistic’ after the game.
Velasquez’s next scheduled day, on normal rest, would have been Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies. They have an off day that Thursday, so they could run some sort of bullpen type of game, with maybe Cody Bolton and others eating up an extra inning of work to get through.
If they have to dig into the system, the options — especially on the 40-man — is starting to get scarcer and scarcer. The timing of the injury won’t help either.
Luis Ortiz would be the most ideal player to fill in, as he has major league experience and is already on the 40-man roster. His wipeout slider is helping him find a lot of success in Triple-A, even if it isn’t coming in the form of strikeouts right now.
The Pirates signed Caleb Smith this offseason as a minor league free agent, and after originally looking like he’d compete for a bullpen spot, has been kept stretched out as a starter in Indianapolis. He’s coming off a seven inning complete game shutout on Wednesday in the first game of a doubleheader against the Toledo Mud Hens.
Finally, a name that isn’t talked about a lot, but he continues to pitch well in Indianapolis: Osvaldo Bido. He was one of eight pitchers in the Pirates system last year to top the century mark in innings pitched, finishing third in strikeouts as well behind Jared Jones and Ortiz.
He wasn’t much of a strikeout guy until last year, and has even seen an increase this year, striking batters out 30.9% of the time.
Control has always been his biggest setback, and it is a bit up from 2022 as well.
Where things get interesting is that Bido and Ortiz are both slated to start in Triple-A on Friday and Saturday, respectively. So if the Pirates are going to need someone to fill in on Tuesday, you would either have to skip one of them, or have them pitch a very abbreviated outing in their upcoming start. Monday would be the next time Smith could pitch on normal rest, so just based on that timeframe, he may get a shot.
Either Smith or Bido would require an additional roster move to be made to get them on the 40-man roster.
There’s a chance we actually get a good idea of what the Pirates’ plans are by the end of the weekend.
No matter what they end up doing, things are getting super tight at the top of the system and we are barely more than a month into the season.
What About Quinn Priester?
The top pitching prospect in the system would make an interesting candidate to make a start, as the timeline works out perfectly, and he’s coming off perhaps his best start of the season.
It’ll add some recency bias to the situation, but Priester is still looking for some consistency at the Triple-A level, and there isn’t really a rush to get him on the 40-man roster just yet.
Daily Video Rundown
Tsung-Che Cheng with a triple down the first base line here in the third inning #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/EAZdadHNSE
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) May 4, 2023
Tsung-Che Cheng picked up his fourth triple of the season in the third inning for the Greensboro Grasshoppers.
Jacob Gonzalez with a two run home run to give Altoona a 3-1 lead #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/0q9XkjRb3j
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) May 4, 2023
With the game tied 1-1, Jacob Gonzalez hits his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to give Altoona a 3-1 lead. They would go on to win that game against Richmond.
Quinn Priester rolled out half a dozen goose eggs for the @indyindians
Priester had one of the best starts to his season on Thursday, striking out four across six shutout inning.
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
By Tim Williams
Vince Velasquez Removed From Today’s Game With Right Elbow Discomfort
Pirates Recap: Pirates Swept By Rays, Assisted By the Umpires
Prospect Watch: Quinn Priester Throws Six Shutout Innings as the Affiliates All Win
**New Draft Rankings and Mock Draft from ESPN
SONG OF THE DAY
“They say the good die young, so I added some
Bad-ass to my flavor to prolong my life over the drum
Everyone cools off from being hot
It’s about if you can handle being cold or not”Friday’s column will be written to Rock.Co Kane Flow by De La Soul and MF DOOM.
