The Pirates have placed outfielder Gregory Polanco on the 10-day DL, as Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. The move was made retroactive to May 15th, and Pittsburgh has recalled Danny Ortiz to take his place on the active roster.
Polanco is dealing with a left hamstring strain, which added to the shoulder troubles that have seemingly hampered him in the first six weeks of the season. It’s not clear at this point how long he’ll miss. It’s promising, on the one hand, that the team thought he might avoid a DL stint; on the other, the injury evidently did not respond as immediately as might’ve been hoped.
The 25-year-old has thus far struggled to a .252/.336/.370 batting line over 135 plate appearances. While he has dramatically improved his plate discipline with just 18 strikeouts against 14 walks, he has fallen well off of last year’s pace in the power department (one home run; .118 isolated slugging).
leefieux
Polanco is just another of the Pirates heralded prospects that have been mediocre or worse.
kehoet83
He had a nice year last year.
leefieux
He batted .229 from June on….he was essentially good for two months. So far, He is a career .253 hitter with a .721 OPS. He was supposed to be a great OF’er and has been mediocre at best.
For all of his hype, he has been a disappointment.
Hannibal8us
He was pretty good last year, he’s just been consistently hurt so far this year. I wouldn’t write him off so quickly.
leefieux
His “pretty good” was buoyed by a hot April/May.
That, and his good start to his career (6 weeks) appear to be the outliers.
You can blame it on injuries if you want. He just hasn’t been consistently good.
bastros88
I keep laughing at the mets, but then I turn around and see the Pirates……and I laugh harder
Phillies2017
This is a tough break. I would have to imagine this all but cements them as sellers.
For everyone saying Polanco is mediocre, I agree, but at least he is on a modest contract with the exception of 2021.
baseball10
This guy was doomed for leg injuries. His legs seem to get in his way sometimes, especially in the outfield. He reminds me of Vladi with his body type but i dont remember him having as much trouble
HarveyD82
doesn’t matter. season is shot, window is closed. but that’s ok, Jaso and his .162 AVG is in right field….
Solaris611
And if Jaso doesn’t pick up Polanco’s slack, McCutchen will……or could if…..um……yeah, you’re right – the season is shot
The Ghost of Bobby Bonilla
Pirates have to stop messing around and retool big time. Gerrit Cole to Houston nets you Kyle Tucker, Derek Fisher, Gerrett Stubbs, and a Cutch to Cleveland deal gets you a choice of Adam Plutko/Trevor Bauer plus Francisco Mejia. Not to mention what they’ll get for Watson at the deadline.
Makes no sense to try to get to 70-82 in the Central when you can become a 2019 juggernaut by making some deals now.