The Pittsburgh Pirates placed left-handed pitcher Rob Zastryzny on the 15-day Injured List prior to Friday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers. Right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski has been added to the 26-man roster to take his place.
Mlodzinski was also added to the 40-man roster today. The Pirates already had an open spot, so no other move needed to be made. He has pitched this season with Indianapolis, where he had a 3.16 ERA in 25.2 innings, with a 1.36 WHIP, a .235 BAA and 31 strikeouts.
He was drafted by the Pirates in 2020, taken with the 31st overall pick. He was a starter earlier in his career, but his stuff worked better in a shorter role due to a high effort delivery that led to some outings with wildness/lack of command, as well as a drop in his velocity as he got deeper into games.
Mlodzinski has allowed just one run in the last five weeks, covering a total of 10.2 innings.
Zastryzny is out with left forearm inflammation. This is his second trip to the Injured List this season. He missed the start of the year with left elbow discomfort. He has a 5.29 ERA in 18 appearances, with a .294 BAA, a 1.94 WHIP and 13 strikeouts in 17 innings.
Minor Moves for Altoona Pitchers
The Altoona Curve sent two pitchers to Indianapolis and got one back from a minor injury.
We heard about right-handed starter Kyle Nicolas getting promoted earlier this week. With three pitchers joining the Pirates in the last three days, right-handed pitcher Travis MacGregor has also been promoted to Indianapolis.
Nicolas put up a 3-5, 4.36 record in 53.2 innings for Altoona, with 63 strikeouts and a 1.47 WHIP. He spent last year with Altoona as well, posting a 3.97 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP over 90.2 innings.
MacGregor split last year between Altoona and Indianapolis, with much better results at the lower level. After re-signing with the Pirates as a minor league free agent over the 2022-23 off-season, he has put up a 1.83 ERA over 34.1 innings, with 45 strikeouts, a .228 BAA and a 1.22 WHIP.
Sean Sullivan returned from a brief trip to the Injured List. While I didn’t get details on the reason he was out, I was told that he wouldn’t miss much time. He made his last start on June 3rd, so he only missed one start, despite being out for 12 full days.
Sullivan has a 2-0, 2.89 record in nine starts for Altoona, with a .224 BAA, a 1.12 WHIP and a 38:13 SO/BB ratio in 43.2 innings.
Indianapolis Has Their Own Set of Moves
Indianapolis made some moves prior to Friday’s game separate from the moves mentioned above.
Colin Selby has returned from the Injured List. He has missed nearly a full month, which was bad timing on his part because he could have been added over the last two days if he was healthy. Now he’s returning in what we be similar to a rehab type outing due to the missed time.
Selby had a 4.11 ERA over 15.1 innings, though that went up in his last game in which he was injured. He has 20 strikeouts and a .164 BAA.
Travis Swaggerty was placed on the 7-day Injured List. He played three times since returning from an illness in late May, but he hasn’t played in 12 days. He’s been dealing with personal issues, so his return is probably open-ended at this point.
Josh Bissonette has been placed on the Development List. Grant Koch was activated from the Development List. This is an interesting swap because the Indianapolis bench is a bit short-handed, but they are sitting a utility player for a third-string catcher, who doesn’t play any other positions. There could be more behind the move. We will see.
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