{"id":99264,"date":"2025-04-15T16:44:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=99264"},"modified":"2025-04-15T16:44:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:44:58","slug":"pirates-place-endy-rodriguez-injured-list-finger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/15\/pirates-place-endy-rodriguez-injured-list-finger\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates to Place Catcher\/First Baseman on Injured List"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates will place catcher\/first baseman Endy Rodr\u00edguez on the injured list with a lacerated finger. The injury occurred in the first inning of Monday\u2019s victory over the Washington Nationals at PNC Park, when a Paul Skenes pitch deflected off Washington\u2019s James Wood\u2019s foot and struck Rodr\u00edguez in the throwing hand. Rodr\u00edguez received four stitches on his finger as a result. After the game, Pirates manager Derek Shelton told the assembled media that Rodr\u00edguez would have to go on the IL. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com was the first to report that the move to the IL is official, and relief pitcher Chase Shugart, who was sent to Triple-A Indianapolis when Henry Davis was called up, was recalled to take Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s spot on the roster.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A source confirms that Endy Rodriguez will be placed on the injured list and Chase Shugart has been recalled from Triple-A. <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexJStumpf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@AlexJStumpf<\/a> had it first<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_NoahHiles\/status\/1912196912112869472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Endy Rodr\u00edguez to IL Puts Pirates in a Bind at First Base<\/h2>\n<p>Rodr\u00edguez had started eight of the Pirates\u2019 16 games at first base while sharing catching duties with Joey Bart. Like everybody else on the Pirates&#8217; active roster, Rodr\u00edguez wasn\u2019t exactly lighting it up offensively. In 50 plate appearances, he was hitting .178\/.260\/.244 with no home runs and two RBI.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, losing the switch-hitter puts the Pirates in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.direstraits.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dire straits<\/a> at first base. With Jared Triolo also <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/07\/pirates-triolo-injured-list-cheng\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">on the IL<\/a>, the Pirates don\u2019t have a right-handed-hitting first baseman on the active roster. It now seems that first base will be the exclusive territory of left-handed-hitting utility man Enmanuel Vald\u00e9z. Vald\u00e9z is just 6-for-29 after Monday\u2019s Pirates offensive outburst when he went 2-for-2.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Frazier, another left-handed hitter, can also play first base. However, he\u2019s been the primary second baseman with Nick Gonzales <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/28\/pirates-nick-gonzales-injured-list-ankle\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">on the IL<\/a>, and his presence at first base would necessitate inserting another left-handed hitter, rookie Tsung-Che Chung, at second.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/12\/11\/pirates-guardians-ortiz-horwitz-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Offseason acquisition<\/a> Spencer Horwitz, also a left-handed hitter, was ticketed to be the Pirates\u2019 regular first baseman, but he\u2019s just now beginning to take batting practice after being out after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/12\/pirates-horwitz-wrist-surgery\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">wrist surgery<\/a>. He\u2019ll likely need a long rehab assignment before he can be activated. Meanwhile, there\u2019s a right-handed-hitting option in Indianapolis in Malcom Nu\u00f1ez, who\u2019s 10-for-36 with two home runs. But the Pirates have been strangely reluctant to recall him whenever he\u2019s been hitting, and in any event, he\u2019s not on the 40-man roster, and they would need to move somebody to make room for him. Thus, it seems the Pirates, who have yet to have a first baseman hit a home run this season, will simply plow ahead with Vald\u00e9z while Rodr\u00edguez is out.<\/p>\n<h3>Bart\u2019s Back and Shugart is Back<\/h3>\n<p>Fortunately, Bart, who has been day-to-day with a lower back issue, is ready to resume catching again. Having both Bart and Rodr\u00edguez out would have put the Pirates in a tough spot with no other catcher on the 40-man roster. Bart is 11-for-40 so far in 2025 and has been a rare bright spot for Pittsburgh\u2019s offense. If his balky back allows him to resume catching duties, that will provide a boost. Davis is 1-for-10 in three games since being recalled. It\u2019s said that Davis returned to Pittsburgh with a new, positive attitude. Still, the Pirates will take Bart\u2019s bat over Davis\u2019s optimism.<\/p>\n<p>The right-handed Shugart, 28, returns after being optioned to Triple-A on Saturday. Having honed his skills at unpacking luggage, he can turn his attention back to pitching. The former Boston Red Sox has been impressive in limited action with Pittsburgh, tossing 3 2\/3 innings in three games without giving up a run. In a bullpen heavy with left-handers, Shugart should see some action if he continues to pitch effectively.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Katie Stratman-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates will place catcher\/first baseman Endy Rodr\u00edguez on the injured list with a lacerated finger. The injury occurred in the first inning of Monday\u2019s victory over the Washington Nationals at PNC Park, when a Paul Skenes pitch deflected off Washington\u2019s James Wood\u2019s foot and struck Rodr\u00edguez in the throwing hand. Rodr\u00edguez received four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":99269,"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":[1103,3160,6225,6314,4875,5766,6371,28345],"class_list":["post-99264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","tag-adam-frazier","tag-derek-shelton","tag-endy-rodriguez","tag-enmanuel-valdez","tag-henry-davis","tag-joey-bart","tag-paul-skenes","tag-spencer-horwitz"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99264","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=99264"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99270,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99264\/revisions\/99270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}