TODAY: The Pirates officially called up Contreras prior to today’s game, while Underwood was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain.
APRIL 8: The Pirates are planning to recall pitching prospect Roansy Contreras, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Reliever Duane Underwood Jr. left yesterday’s game against the Cardinals with right hamstring discomfort, and the Bucs are opting to add another arm to the staff. Contreras is already on the Pittsburgh 40-man roster.
Contreras is among the most promising pitchers in the Pittsburgh farm system. Acquired from the Yankees in the Jameson Taillon deal last winter, the righty broke out with an excellent first season with the Bucs. While he missed some time with a forearm issue, Contreras made 12 Double-A starts and pitched to a 2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings. The Dominican Republic native punched out a stellar 34.9% of batters faced against a 5.5% walk rate, earning a bump to Triple-A and then the majors late in the year.
Along the way, the 22-year-old impressed evaluators. Each of Baseball America, FanGraphs, The Athletic and ESPN slotted Contreras among the game’s top 100 prospects this winter, with FanGraphs placing him inside their top 50. He draws praise for a fastball that averaged north of 96 MPH in his big league debut, as well as a pair of breaking balls with decent control. FanGraphs suggests he could soon develop into a mid-rotation starter.
It’s not clear how the Bucs will use Contreras, or if this latest promotion is for good. He’s in his second of three minor league option years, and Pittsburgh could send him back to Triple-A Indianapolis in short order. The Pirates drew some criticism for optioning top shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz to start the season. Like Cruz, Contreras picked up two days of big league service time last year but has extremely little experience at the minors’ top level.
Hope he gets some innings in!!
When I recall the Bucs, it was many years ago, this is pathetic. & sad. Bill Mazeroski RIP
“The rumor of my death is greatly exaggerated”–Bill Mazeroski
He ain’t dead yet so no RIP needed
It’s his aroma that’s dead. Pittsburgh stinks when he’s not around
Moe was the classy Stooge too.
How about the smell of your stupid comments is what stinks. Do us all a favor: take a break from commenting for a few months.
@downvoter, your tag says it all, You’re a downer & should be shuttin’n it down
His aroma? Nice save lol. You could have just said you didnt know he wasn’t dead, but you stuck to your guns. Bold, but stupid.
Curly was the funny Stooge.
Just like you -hole.
I like your comments Curly, a sense of humor is nice every once in a while around here!
Saying RIP after a Pirate icon’s name displays no sense of humor.
And the three stooges were better with shemp..were you ever in Pittsburgh??? Only thing stinks is your aroma
He is still alive, you idiot.
I thought he’d passed as well… I’m not sure why.
Considering how “deep” the Bucs starting rotation is……. Only the Orioles is deeper.
The Taillon trade was made the winter before last.
Well depends on perspective Jan of 2021 🙂
Massive W. I’m afraid they’ll option him after a few starts for service time stuff, and as much as that sucks, I’m just gonna enjoy watching him pitch.
He may be in a relief role or piggy back. He was not in Indy yet as of yesterday. He was still in Florida. I think they were going to have him throw some in extended ST as he did miss time last season due to arm issues. I don’t think that they will push him hard no matter where he is going to pitch for the next month or so.
Yeah, I doubt he even makes 4 innings. He needs to ramp up and he hasn’t played at Indy yet, like you said. I’m still excited to see him even throw one inning, nonetheless. Maybe he comes out of the pen for 2-3 innings on OD. Would love to see that since this is my first opportunity to go to PNC’s OD.
@mlb1225 Contreras was the piece I was most excited about in the taillon trade. The fact that after the trade he kept his bb/9 and hr/9 the same while upping his strikeouts, is even more impressive.
It should be fun to see how this trade pans out in the coming years.
Neither Cruz or Contreras have had barely any AAA service time and i think for both.
Expecting either of them to start on the opening day roster is just crazy talk. they’ll be here extended time this year but maybe not enough to break out of rookie status. Had they added some higher expectation free agents to go around them for a soft push this year then maybe.
All depends on how the MLB roster looks on when that is… and it looks pretty shaky over all.
Why does a talented pitcher need to rot away in AAA with a bunch of washed up AAAA players? Cruz need OF reps, totally different story there.
i dont get this perspective at all. PIT is gonna suck this year. why not let Cruz play OF in the Majors? pitchers seem to be the ones who need to more deliberately climb the latter
*ladder
DarkSide83021 hours ago
i dont get this perspective at all. PIT is gonna suck this year. why not let Cruz play OF in the Majors?
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So you want to burn thry service time teaching a guy how to play? That’s what the minor leagues are for. Why not just promote Henry Davis and let him learn how to play in the big leagues?
Because if he comes up before he is ready and gets bombed it can put a real damper on his confidence.
A lot of the best players in baseball make the jump from AA right to the majors. They might get assigned to AAA for 1-2 weeks before the call up but they are truly AA players making the jump with a very short pit stop in between. Mookie Betts is a great example. He jumped from A+ ball in 2020 to AA in 2021. He killed it in AA and was promoted to AAA for less than 15 days before being called up to the majors at age 21. The rest speaks for itself. Contreras has already proven he can get good batters out as most teams’ best young prospects are in AA. Bring the kid up and let him pitch at the highest level; he deserves it. It’s time for Pitt to start playing their best prospects and get them the experience they need in the majors. There’s no reason for another ‘throw away’ season. Do what Houston did and bring your star prospects up to develop in the majors. I’d much rather see Pitt lose 100 games with their rookies than lose 100 games with retreads / aging veterans who are willing to play for less than $2M per year. Altuve certainly wasn’t hurt by learning in the majors while his team lost over 100 games two years in a row. It helped turn him into an All-Star much faster than he would have been by playing an extra year + in AAA.
How dare you spout common sense here and not emotional and irrational banter? It’s all Nuttings fault….usually.
Don’t know why they went 14-14 anyways. With a DH you don’t need more then 12 position players
They may have done it to see whether these guys can play.
@Anthony Franco It was reported around the same time you published this article that Contreras was called up because “he’s the only remaining healthy arm on the active roster.” They move was a preventative to a corresponding move by waiving or releasing a player on the 40 man roster. This is NOT similar to Cruz situation and to have anything near comparison, is poor writing and research. Cruz needs to learn a new position before coming back to Pittsburgh. Contreras is the ONLY available arm on the 40 man roster with the Pirates losing another arm last night. That’s 5 arms heading or on the IR. I am not sure if Contreras will see the rotation or bullpen. Pirates have a break tonight and it will be about 7 days before they even have to consider if Contreras starts or needed to fill in for a start. I suspect they have him in the pen and coming out maybe Sunday for a few innings. I’d say tomorrow, but praying Keller does well and 7-9 innings are the “shutdown” arms to secure a win.
And did anyone realize Shelton couldn’t put the lineup together correctly? It was every 4th hitter could potentially do something with quick outs in front of them. It was heartbreaking to see that lineup on Opening Day. 3-5 hitters should be your “meat” of the lineup. Then put a slap hitter in if you must. But a slap hitter in a 5th hole with another to follow, had me shaking my head. They had Hayes in number 3 spot and I see him as a 7th hitter. Vogelbach as leadoff? Reynolds at 2 second spot in the lineup? 5th and 6th had Newman and Tucker? Followed by Gamel, Perez, and Park. I was still stunned to see Vogelbach at DH and leadoff, .208 career hitter. Tucker or Newman were at least better options. Heck, Park was a better option at leadoff. If the lineup is going to be a Sunday’s slow pitch softball lineup, I won’t even bother tuning in. What was Shelton thinking? Yikes
I think that this lineup comment is very accurate.
He got Reynolds right at 2… whats the difference about the rest of the lineup — its beyond putrid.
@bucsfan0004 I’d be ok with This lineup
Park
Tucker
Reynolds
Tsutsuga
Gamel
Vogelbach
Hayes
Perez
Newman
It’s not spot on and a few can be moved around. I’d rather have Castillo in DH while flipping Castillo to Gamel spot sliding Perez to Vogelbach spot and Gamel to Perez spot. But they need Castillo in case of injury to the infield.
1981- Your lineup makes too much sense.
PiratesFan1981
My thoughts exactly. You bat your slowest runner 1st to clog the base paths?
Things have really changed since Omar Moreno was our lead off hitter.
I saw that lineup and thought I think they are trying to lose on purpose.
Maybe Bob Nutting made out the lineup for him ? LOL
.Or Maybe some computer figured it out.
Do you remember years ago a manager in the middle of a losing streak had the players pull names out of a hat?
It may have been Billy Martin.
Shelton sucks but they looked at Vogelbachs .336 OBP (still not great) not the .206 average… Regardless it was still an awful lineup. This is going to be every lineup, all year… It’s an awful team.
Can you imagine Vogelbach goes first to third on a single and then coming home on a sac fly? Both balls would have to reach the warning track.
This team needs to manufacture runs unlike the Phillies would could lead off with Schwarber because of all the lumber hitting behind him.
Shelton has to go
This seems like a harsh comment on this article.
Mendoza Line 215;
….and well deserved.
The writers here sound like either players agents or rotisserie league players that think every “team owner” has the same amount of money to spend each year so why aren’t they spending it?
They have no understanding that MLB is a competitive business run professionally by franchises with short, medium and long-term business plans – which all FO’s fit within projected revenues; and where the franchises are in their planning structure when making decisions.
Understandably that’s a bit difficult to comprehend when one has no education, training, or experience in the business world.
This site has tremendous bias. Remember their sources. Absolute slant.
@Samuel – I’m willing to bet most of the writers on this site have a far better education and more business experience than you. I won’t call out his name, but one of the primary writers for this site is an attorney and he practiced corporate law for quite some time. He found his passion here and I respect the hell out of him for doing so. Also the owner of the site is very well educated himself and has significant business experience, so don’t make unfounded accusations about people’s intelligence, education or business experience. All of the writers here would school you in the business side of baseball as well.
Dorothy_Mantooth;
I wrote a few responses. They were “Awaiting moderation”.
Don’t place that bet.
“The Pirates drew some criticism for optioning top shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz to start the season.”
–
Only by the writers on this site and the readers they egged on.
This guy should have made the team out of camp. I’m disappointed in Pittsburgh that they are clearly manipulating service time on their best youngsters. The limited AAA experience is not a valid argument. He’s proven he can dominate and he even pitched very well in his one major league game last year. He is ready now. Hopefully he pitches well enough to stay on the team the entire year. It would be great if he ends up in the ROY race and comes in first or second. Pitt wouldn’t get the extra draft pick because he didn’t start the year on the roster. It would serve them right!
Dorothy- A young player should never have to learn a distinctly different position on the fly while playing in the ML.Never.It,among other things,ruined Kingery with the Phillies and it has held back Tucker with the Pirates.
Let him play it for a month or two at least so that he has a field position to play.It is hard enough to play ML baseball without having to worry about that.
The extra year is just a bonus.
1. A team has a players rights for 6 years. They want the best player they can get in those 6 years.
2. Has the fight for the freedom of one player to get on the ML roster occurred to anyone taking up the cause that it winds up costing another player a ML roster spot? Sort of like demanding upper level players get paid more and more, then finding that teams do that but then have to roster younger, cheaper players to stay within budget. The result being that middle class players only have so many openings. Legislate that and MLB franchises go out of business
I recall Roansy Contreras. He was a wee lad. Used to run and play around the streets of Ulster with his cousin Mikey and the kids up the block Seamus and Liam before his ill tempered sister Saoirse would drag him back home by the ear for being late for supper. Good times
Theo- I think that you have the wrong Roansy.
Hee Hee. You may be right. That was back in the day when everything was black and white. Someone should shoot a movie
Hard to believe both the Bucs and O’s have both started 0-2. Get dem draft lottery balls jumping!!!
at least orioles composite score isnt 15-2
so sick of hearing about how good mitch keller will be, although i think he has a lot of clay holmes in him
Bob- But the Buccos are up on your Sawx now due to Michael Chavis.
Do you know much about him,and,if so,is he any good?