Morning Rundown: Pirates give injury update on multiple players, hire new scouts
Injury updates given on multiple players for the Pirates
We got our first injury update from Todd Tomczyk, the Pirates’ senior director of sports medicine.
Spencer Horwitz had his sutures removed and has begun left-handed hitting (with just one hand). He’s also fielding groundballs and is still on track for his 6-8 week timeline.
Johan Oviedo is still in the ‘live batting practice’ phase of his rehab, but there aren’t any restrictions on which pitches he throws.
Dauri Moreta is in the ‘side portion’ part of his return and is making ‘good progress.’ He isn’t likely to see any game action this spring.
Hunter Stratton has seen significant progress, but the final steps of his rehab are weeks away, which is fielding his position.
Sean Sullivan and Yerry Rodriguez are experiencing right elbow discomfort. Sullivan is throwing catch but won’t see any game action this spring. Rodriguez is getting a second opinion.
John Dreker sent this in as the Pirates hired a couple of new scouts, one with significant experience.
By John Dreker
The Pittsburgh Pirates recently added one of the most experienced scouts in the game. Jim Howard has been hired as a pro scout. After being drafted twice out of Siena College, then going on to play four seasons of minor league ball for the Toronto Blue Jays (1984-86) and New York Yankees (1987), Howard became a scout for the California Angels. He moved on to the Baltimore Orioles after one season. He was hired by Baltimore in November of 1988 and then remained with the team until 2019. He has been with the Miami Marlins during the last five seasons.
Howard has held numerous jobs on the scouting side. He put in work as an amateur scout, signing nine players who made it to the majors. He served in a crosschecking role, as well as a special assignment scout and an advanced scout. Howard has been used to scout players for trades, scout teams for upcoming series, and scout players in worldwide tournaments, such as the World Baseball Classic. He has also scouted the Arizona Fall League. He brings 37 years of scouting experience to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Howard has been in the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame since 2011.
The Pirates also added Miguel Torron as a Pro Scout. He has spent the last four years moving up the scouting ranks for the Chicago Cubs. He started as a video analyst in 2021. He then moved on to work as an area scout in 2022. That was followed by moving up to a Pro Scout for the last two years. Torron has scouted in the Dominican Summer League, as well as stateside assignments. He has also scouted the Dominican Winter League and the World Baseball Classic.
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Pirates are signing LHP Andrew Heaney for $5M.
I assume that sets the rotation. Kinda weird, but Heaney's pretty solid. Not a BDLC sort of thing.
Pirates released a bunch of int’l guys. Most recognizable names were probably Sergio Campana and Kevison Hernandez.