3:45pm: The Pirates have now made these moves official. Triolo’s injury was described as a lumbar spine strain.
1:25pm: The Pirates are going to promote infielder Tsung-Che Cheng to the majors, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. He is already on the 40-man roster but will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Fellow infielder Jared Triolo will head to the 10-day injured list due to a lower back injury.
Cheng, 23, was an international signing out of Taiwan in 2019. His profile has a solid foundation from his speed and defense. Offensively, his approach has been leaned more to the contact-oriented side without too much power. Baseball America currently ranks him as the #19 prospect in the Pirates’ system.
He has appeared in 402 minor league games across various levels thus far in his career, with 1,684 trips to the plate. His 12.5% walk rate and 19.8% strikeout rate are both better than average, with 34 home runs in that time. Overall, he has hit .260/.359/.411 for a 117 wRC+. He has racked up double-digits steals in each year of his career. Lately, Cheng hit .353/.400/.647 in spring training but then .071/.133/.071 in five games for Triple-A Indianapolis.
Defensively, Cheng has primarily played shortstop but has also taken notable playing time at second base and occasional stints at third. He seems likely to take over Triolo’s utility role. The Bucs have had Isiah Kiner-Falefa at short, Ke’Bryan Hayes at third and Adam Frazier at second on most days but with players like Triolo, Enmanuel Valdéz and Endy Rodríguez also factoring into the infield mix. Triolo was a late scratch from yesterday’s contest due to back soreness and will now get a chance to heal up while Cheng helps fill in the gap.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Is this a rumor?
Are you a non-roster invitee?
First day on the site? I recommend the “About” section
Let’s hope he didn’t flash his junk at anyone like that pervert Menzen.
Guess the guy wasn’t self-aware he was just a FO dweeb.
No but I am not sure he is any better than Sum-Yung Guy
I like this move – Cheng looked really good in the spring
he will fit right in with the other players since he strikes out a lot
so did Suwinski and Bae
Neither deserve to be playing in Pittsburgh but because the player development is so bad, they have to choose someone to be on the roster
Is this a pigeon?
Have to give him credit for really forcing the issue with a blistering 1-14 with 6 Ks start in Indianapolis.
If this was April 1st I would have thought it was a joke. He is batting .071 at Indy , hasn’t found his stroke yet and they are bringing him up to face ML pitching?
He will fit right in with this lineup.
Interesting prospect, hope he can at least be a better base runner and defender than Bae.
He will K with dignity.
He should send a nice bottle of champagne to Yorke because without him getting injured he would not be playing in MLB.
His minor league stats don’t look even AAA worthy at the moment
Dang a week is long enough for the shark to unlock the data?
If the Pirates had split Cheng’s Triple-A time into a platoon—leveraging his .359 OBP against right-handers (assuming typical lefty splits)—they could’ve called him up earlier, pairing him with Kiner-Falefa or Frazier against righty-heavy lineups, boosting runs by ~0.3 per game over Triolo’s output (based on wRC+ gaps).
Do you have any homework to back these stats up?
Since Frazier is a LHH, my guess is no.
He’s pretty tough to beat in Mortal Kombat…
Hopefully he can provide solid defense at short when needed. IKF is playing decent but doesn’t have much range
Idk how he performs. I just like his name
I hope Liover Peguero figures it out.
I hope that the entire roster figures it out
After 9 games they are last in the league in runs scored and second to the Cubs in strikeouts
Please….Shelton, if you’re reading this, get IKF away from short. 2nd, 3rd, sure, but not SS. Cannot make any play in the hole. Cheng at SS give him the chance.
tonight’s lineup shouldn’t be too disappointing for the fans looking for another double digit strikeout performance by our offense
Canario, Pham and Endy are playing
Speaking’ of disappointing, Endy hasn’t shown that he can hit major league pitching and still doesn’t know the strike zone
Endy is the ultimate switch-hitter; he’s equally inept at both sides of the plate.
Everybody Tsung Cheng tonight!
It’s amazing how virtually every position player who comes through the Pirates farm carries such uninspiring stats. Almost makes you wonder what scouts see in these guys
I figure Chang will be yet another middle infielder who does very little here
A Williams clone no doubt
all fielding and no hitting
Or what the Pirates are doing with these guys. Scouts were generally high on Henry Davis.
Oh yes, player development has been abysmal.