The Pittsburgh Pirates have recalled right-handed reliever Dovydas Neverauskas from Indianapolis. To make room on the 25-man roster, Johnny Barbato has been optioned to Indianapolis.
Neverauskas became the first Lithuanian-born pitcher to make it to the majors back on April 24th when he allowed one run over two innings for the Pirates in his only game. He was sent down shortly after that debut and has had a few rough performances in Indianapolis since then. He has a 3.58 ERA in 21 appearances, with 25 strikeouts and a 1.45 WHIP in 27.2 innings.
The 24-year-old right-hander has thrown one shutout inning in each of his last three appearances, although he’s allowed a total of five hits and two walks in those three frames. He has tremendous potential due to a fastball that can hit 99 MPH and two versions of a slider that can look like plus pitches at times.
Barbato has a 4.84 ERA in 15 appearances, with 17 strikeouts and a 1.57 WHIP in 22.1 innings. Those numbers took a bit of a hit yesterday with three runs in one inning.
