{"id":72235,"date":"2024-05-03T16:05:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T20:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=72235"},"modified":"2024-05-03T16:06:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T20:06:57","slug":"pirates-activated-catcher-grandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/03\/pirates-activated-catcher-grandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Activate Veteran Catcher, Send Former No. 1 Draft Pick to Minors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At long last, the Pittsburgh Pirates have activated veteran catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grandya01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-03_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yasmani Grandal<\/a> from the injured list. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davishe01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Henry Davis<\/a>\u00a0was sent to triple-A Indianapolis to make room for him in a corresponding move that surprised nobody.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Pirates ended the rehab assignment for C Yasmani Grandal and activated him from the 10 Day Injured List.<\/p>\n<p>Henry Davis has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.<\/p>\n<p>Grandal will be active tonight vs. COL.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hannah Mears (@mearshannah_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mearshannah_\/status\/1786478529804124517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Exit Davis<\/h3>\n<p>Davis, 24, was the Pirates\u2019 No. 1 pick (and first overall) in the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Louisville. Drafted as a catcher, he was quickly surpassed on the Pirates\u2019 depth chart by fellow minor leaguer Endy Rodr\u00ecguez. Davis was hastily converted to an outfielder in the minors last year in anticipation of a promotion. When both were called up in 2023 to boost the Pirates\u2019 offense, it was Rodriguez who was the primary catcher. Davis played right field and caught two innings in the majors in 2023. Davis failed offensively and defensively, hitting just .213\/.302\/.351. However, his seven home runs gave the Pirates hope for the future.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re still waiting for that future to arrive. After crushing four homers in the spring exhibition games, so far in the 2024 regular season, Davis has hit .162\/.280\/.206 with no home runs. Assuming the regular catching chores with Rodriguez out for the season, Davis has also been subpar defensively. Recently acquired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bartjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-03_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joey Bart<\/a> has been <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/26\/joey-bart-pirates-hot-start\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">seeing most of the action<\/a> behind the dish since his arrival. When Davis played, he often batted ninth and recently was removed in favor of a pinch hitter late in games. He\u2019s needed a return to triple-A to get more work and regain his confidence. Now that the Pirates have activated Grandal, he\u2019ll have that chance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This also stood out when looking over Davis&#8217; struggles. The scouting report against him seems pretty clear right now. Opposing pitchers are generating a ton of swing-and-miss at the top of the zone. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/l0DNTWbyXx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/l0DNTWbyXx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_NoahHiles\/status\/1786383326095229009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Enter Grandal<\/h3>\n<p>The decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/02\/12\/pirates-catcher-grandal\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">sign Grandal<\/a> to mentor Davis or serve as an insurance policy now looks wise. However, it\u2019s not as though Grandal has played all-star-caliber baseball lately. Over 2022-23 with the Chicago White Sox, he\u2019s hit .219\/.305.306, 13 HR, and 60 RBI. He\u2019s reached double digits in home runs seven times in his 12-year career, but not since 2021. Defensively, he was \u201cworth\u201d -8 Fielding Runs Above Average and -11 Defensive Runs Saved in 2023. Even so, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/01\/pirates-offense-indianapolis-help\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">he should help the Pirates<\/a>. In the spring, his teammates were impressed with his knowledge and game-planning ability even when he was injured.<\/p>\n<p>In triple-A, Grandal was 8-for-32 with one home run and 11 RBI. Apart from his offense, it was important to verify that his recovery from plantar fasciitis was complete. Once Grandal was able to participate in consecutive games, that was the green light for him to be activated by the Pirates. The Pirates haven\u2019t discussed their plans for Grandal. Perhaps the switch-hitter will be platooned with the right-handed hitting Bart.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/m\/yasmani-grandal-homers-in-his-rehab-assignment?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>The guess here is that, barring an injury, we won\u2019t see Davis in a Pirates uniform before August. If Davis\u2019s offense and defense pick up in triple-A, Grandal will likely be traded at the deadline. Otherwise, and with all the other major league-ready catchers in the Pirates system on the IL, the Pirates may not have a choice other than to keep Grandal around.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At long last, the Pittsburgh Pirates have activated veteran catcher Yasmani Grandal from the injured list. Henry Davis\u00a0was sent to triple-A Indianapolis to make room for him in a corresponding move that surprised nobody. &nbsp; The Pirates ended the rehab assignment for C Yasmani Grandal and activated him from the 10 Day Injured List. Henry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":72243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071],"tags":[6225,4875,5766,2255],"class_list":["post-72235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","tag-endy-rodriguez","tag-henry-davis","tag-joey-bart","tag-yasmani-grandal"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}