3:21 p.m: The Bucs have officially announced the games. The deposition of Rodríguez IL is resumed until July 6.
2:17 p.m: The Pirates will place a player Andy Rodríguez on the 10-day injured list with a left glute strain, manager Don Kelly he tells reporters, including Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rafael Flores you will be reminded to replace the out-of-date list.
At this point, it is unclear whether Rodríguez’s injury is significant. It may be small but the Bucs are using the upcoming All-Star break to get an extended break while missing a few games.
Still, it’s a significant setback for the Bucs, as they’ve been bleeding a lot lately. Oneil Cruz again Spencer Horwitz hit IL last month. Connor Griffin it was shelved yesterday and he will likely miss eight to 10 weeks with a torn tendon in his left hand.
Combined with today’s news on Rodríguez, the Pirates have lost their first shortstop, catcher, first baseman and center fielder in just over a month. That is obviously not good if the club is fighting to stay in the race, currently three games back from the play-off spot in the National League.
For Rodríguez personally, this injury interrupts the rest of the season. He made his debut for the Bucs in 2023 and appeared ready to make a regular appearance in 2024. Unfortunately, he just got injured. He required surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament and flexor tendon in his pitching arm in December 2023. That process ended his 2024. Last year, Rodríguez returned to work but made a lot of trips to IL and needed another operation in August, this one for ulnar nerve transposition.
Here in 2026, things have been clicking for Rodríguez. He was optioned to the minors to start the year but was sent back in May and has hit .260/.388/.470 in 122 plate appearances. He has five home runs and a whopping 17.2% walk rate. His wRC+ of 138 shows he was 38% better than the league average on the year. Ideally, this will be a short break and he can continue to build on those numbers later, but time will tell how that plays out.
The club will have to go through with Flores again Henry Davis at the moment. Davis had a great season defensively, with the odd offense. His 9% walk rate and 20.9% strikeout rate are both respectable numbers. He has seven home runs. But he has a .155/.250/.323 line, thanks to a minuscule .152 batting average on balls in play. That’s the lowest BABIP in the majors this year among guys with at least 120 plate appearances. It’s hard to keep a BABIP that low for long but Davis also doesn’t hit the ball much and has a career BABIP of .217. Flores has only nine league appearances but is considered one of the team’s best players.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
