The Pittsburgh Pirates have called up their fourth pitcher in the last five days, adding lefty Ryan Borucki to the bullpen. He replaces left-handed pitcher Jose Hernandez, who has been placed on the 15-day Injured List with a calf strain. There was already an open spot on the 40-man roster, so no other move needed to be made.
The Pirates signed Borucki as a free agent five weeks ago after he was designated for assignment by the Chicago Cubs. He had the right to refuse his minor league assignment, which led to him choosing free agency.
Borucki has five years of big league experience, playing for the 2018-22 Toronto Blue Jays, before finishing the 2022 season with the Seattle Mariners. He signed a free agent deal with the Cubs this year, though he only played for Triple-A Iowa.
He has made eight appearances since joining Triple-A Indianapolis, throwing 8.1 shutout innings on three hits, six walks and four strikeouts. He allowed 13 runs over eight innings with Iowa before being let go.
He’s had some mild success in the majors, posting a 4.45 ERA, a 4.54 FIP, a 1.40 WHIP and 136 strikeouts in 170 innings. He had a 5.68 ERA over 25.1 innings last year.
Borucki was a starter during the 2018-19 seasons, then moved to relief during the shortened 2020 season and hasn’t started since. He has seen limited work in that role, throwing 65.1 innings over 77 outings.
Hernandez has been a strong Rule 5 selection up to this point. In 26 appearances for the Pirates, he has a 2.63 ERA over 27.1 innings, with a 3.41 FIP, a 1.02 WHIP and 28 strikeouts.
Minor League Moves
The Pirates made a few minor league moves yesterday that weren’t enough for an article, but the deserve some mention. If anything else comes up today, we will add it below.
Drew Maggi was placed on a 7-day IL for Altoona after injuring himself running out a grounder. He was replaced on the active roster by infielder Norkis Marcos, who has been used as a possible fill-in at any level. That’s not the ideal role for a young player, but he will get some experience against much older players.
Outfielder Luke Brown rejoined the Greensboro roster. He was placed on the Development List earlier this week. He’s hitting .152/.329/.273 in 25 games.
