Pirates Shake Up Their Catcher Position

The Pittsburgh Pirates shifted around the catchers on their roster on Sunday, activating Joey Bart from the injured list and optioning Jason Delay to Triple-A Indianapolis. Bart went on the 10-day IL on May 28 with a thumb injury, but ended up missing a month. Delay was optioned after receiving little playing time at the major league level.

Pirates Activate Joey Bart from IL

Bart was one of Pittsburgh’s offseason acquisitions over the winter, coming over in a trade with the San Francisco Giants. With up-and-coming catcher Henry Davis already on the roster, the deal appeared questionable at first. However, nearly every Pirates catcher, including Bart and Davis, has dealt with injury this year. So, at least for this year’s Pirates team, they can never have too many catchers. With Davis in the midst of a rehab assignment, Bart’s presence on the roster will become valuable once again.

In 23 games this season, the 27-year-old backstop is slashing .250/.342/.484 with four homers, 12 RBI, and three doubles. Even with limited playing time, his OPS of .826 isn’t half bad. In fact, it would be a career-high if he could stay near that level the rest of the year.

Jason Delay Optioned to Triple-A

Delay has gotten even fewer reps behind the plate than Bart this year. After getting over 100 at-bats with Pittsburgh for each of the last two seasons, the 29-year-old has only appeared in seven games

this year. In 15 at-bats, he has three hits (all doubles) and six RBI. While offense is not his strong suit, doubles seem to be a specialty for Delay, as he also had 11 last season in limited action. Delay will now join Davis at Triple-A Indianapolis, so it appears, at least in the short term, that Bart will get most of the reps behind the plate for Pittsburgh. A platoon with Yasmani Grandal remains possible, but his .179 average doesn’t inspire much confidence.