Infielder Spencer Horwitz was one of the key offseason pickups of the Pirates but they haven’t gotten anything out of him yet. He underwent wrist surgery in February, a procedure which came with a return timeline of six to eight weeks.
Tomorrow, it will be nine weeks since that timeline was provided and Horwitz is still on the injured list. He also hasn’t started a rehab assignment. There is at least some positive momentum, however, as Horwitz took batting practice at PNC Park today with his teammates. Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review relayed some video of Horwitz taking his hacks.
That’s somewhat encouraging but Horwitz is probably still not close to joining the big league club. He missed all of spring training and will surely need a few weeks of game action once he does start a rehab assignment. He has a .264/.355/.428 career batting line, which would be a tremendous boost to the Pittsburgh lineup. The team is hitting .184/.273/.290 as a whole so far this year, leading to a league-worst 61 wRC+.
Horwitz was supposed to be the club’s regular first baseman but most of the playing time at that spot has gone to catcher Endy Rodríguez, who is hitting .178/.260/.244. Whenever Horwitz can come off the IL, that should allow Rodriguez to move his focus back to catching, where his defense is considered strong.
Some more notes from around the division…
- Sticking with the Pirates, infielder Jared Triolo is going to start a rehab assignment, per Gorman. He was serving a utility role until he landed on the IL with a lower back injury last week. Once he’s healthy, he can resume bouncing around to multiple positions, though he may not help much on offense. He has hit just .236/.319/.333 in his big league career, which includes a rough .059/.111/.059 showing in six games to start the 2025 season. Tsung-Che Cheng was brought up when Triolo hit the IL but he still hasn’t reached based in his first seven plate appearances. Enmanuel Valdéz is also doing some utility work but is hitting .148/.207/.296 on the season.
- Turning to the Reds, they put left-hander Sam Moll on the 15-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement today, even though they’re not playing. The move was backdated by three days, the maximum allowed, to April 11. That perhaps suggests they don’t expect a lengthy absence, as they are making the move today so that he can return one day earlier than if they had waited until tomorrow. No corresponding move was announced but Mark Sheldon of MLB.com suggests it will likely be right-hander Alexis Díaz being reinstated from the IL. Díaz started the season on the IL with a left hamstring strain. He recently started a rehab assignment and already has five minor league appearances in the books. Díaz has served as the Reds’ closer for much of the past three years but his strikeout rate has been declining, from 32.5% in 2022 to 30.1% in 2023 and just 22.7% last year. Emilio Pagán has four saves so far this year and could be bumped into a setup role if Díaz is given the closing duties again.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images