The Pirates announced they’ve designated reliever Cam Alldred for assignment. Pittsburgh also placed first baseman Daniel Vogelbach on the 10-day injured list and put reliever Heath Hembree on the 15-day IL. The moves clear roster space for the previously-reported promotions of right-hander Roansy Contreras and outfielder Calvin Mitchell.
Alldred just earned his first major league call a couple weeks ago. The 25-year-old made one appearance, tossing a scoreless inning against the Reds before being optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis. He’s spent the rest of the season there, working 20 1/3 innings across ten appearances. Alldred has a sterling 1.33 ERA, inducing grounders on three-fifths of the batted balls he’s allowed.
The University of Cincinnati product hasn’t missed many bats in the minors. He has a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate in Triple-A, unsurprising for a pitcher who averaged 86.7 MPH on his sinker during his lone big league outing. Alldred has performed throughout his time in the minors, however, and he’s seen marked improvements in both his walk and ground-ball numbers thus far in 2022.
Vogelbach hits the IL due to a left hamstring strain. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for a return for the 29-year-old, who has been the club’s primary designated hitter this season. The lefty-swinging Vogelbach signed a $1MM deal over the offseason and had been off to a nice start to his Pittsburgh tenure. He’s hitting .241/.321/.457 while popping six home runs through his first 131 plate appearances.
Hembree also signed a one-year deal with the Bucs as a free agent, though he’s gotten off to a more inauspicious start. The right-hander has an 8.10 ERA through 17 appearances, walking 14.5% of batters faced. Hembree profiled as an interesting buy-low flier after striking out 34.2% of opponents between the Reds and Mets last season. He hasn’t come close to replicating that thus far, owning just a 16.1% strikeout rate in the early going.
In other Bucs’ injury news, the club transferred shortstop Kevin Newman to the 60-day IL yesterday. (The move was necessary to accommodate the promotion of Yerry de los Santos). General manager Ben Cherington announced over the weekend that Newman had suffered a hamstring injury while on a minor league rehab assignment (link via Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). That’s a separate issue than the left groin strain that originally landed him on the IL last month.
Cherington indicated Newman’s new injury isn’t likely to be serious, though it has halted his rehab stint. He won’t be eligible to return to the majors for sixty days from the time of his initial IL placement on April 27. A late-June return is now the best possible outcome for the 28-year-old, who hit .250/.308/.375 in 14 games before suffering the groin injury.
Poor vogey. There goes the offense
Well, Santos and Mitchell will get their chance to show what they can do. When is Mason Martin coming up? It’s time to make the decision on Cole Tucker or VanMeter and bring Mason Martin to the majors. Enough stalling Bucs
Bad dog. No grundle.
Mason Martin should’ve been on the team out of spring. His defense is passible and has 95 HR’s in his pro 5 year career.
35 in ’19
25 in ’21
and 10 already this year at AAA. His bat deserves a call up and an extended look. If he isn’t on the MLB team mid summer then something is seriously wrong with the player, management or front office.
Pirates are very lucky there was no Rule 5, other wise he’d be gone.
Strange choice of a guy to DFA. He might not have electric stuff but he’s young and has been successful at every level.
The Blue Jays should take a flyer on Cam Alldred. They need another lefty besides Mayza that can get outs. Ryan Borucki just isn’t cutting it.
Just another Pirates case of seeing someone pitch in one game and then getting rid of him.
He cannot do any worse than Hembree has.
I don’t care how fast his pitches are if he gets people out what does it matter?
There are plenty of candidates to DFA although they need Van Meter to catch and pitch.Such is the state of the Pirates.
Why is Hoy Park not off the roster.His AAA batting average matches his MLB batting average.
Just bad player management.
Agree, his ERA the last two years in the minors was less than 2.00 and he is not usable? How many other pitchers can say that?
The other reason is that this guy as a soft tossed is not going to blow out his arm as other Pirate pitchers have done.
My gripe is that him and Sulzer were not even given a chance to pitch in the major leagues.
If for nothing else keep them as depth for the inevitable arm injuries.
The Pirates are not exactly stacked with pitching
And there are plenty of guys who they can release.
And,yes,few if any of them could be traded.
The challenge isn’t cutting. The challenge is stopping.
Have to love the pirates decisions. Get rid of a young lefty with great numbers at AAA and keep VanMeter who can’t even hit 200.
They are keeping Van Meter to pitch in the next 18-0 game or to catch when they need him.
Give it time….by trade deadline you will see the young guys
Sorry but I don’t think many are even tradeable.
Typical pirate move. Hembree and Tsutsugo need to go. Only reason they’re still here is they’re both owed money. Nutting hates to lose money, so rather then bringing more of these kids up,we’ll have to watch Tsutsugo run out there most every night.
Being designated for assignment is the thing the players Alldred.
Haha!
Please send Stratton to the bus station with a one-way ticket and be done with it! Keep a pitcher with some up side and a little promise
Better yet, leave him behind on a road trip and save a couple bucks – tell him you forgot a bag in the locker room and could he run back and get it? We’ll wait here for you…
the fact that makes anything more than league minimum is hard to fathom, and even that would be a waste. Yeah, yeah, no hitter, blah blah blah – he’s brutal!
Stratton will be gone at the trade deadline and they will get something for him,but probably only a fringe AA player.