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Neal Huntington provides updates on Tyler Glasnow and Nick Kingham

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Kingham/Glasnow Updates

Neal Huntington described Tyler Glasnow's recovery from a sprained ankle as "day to day."

"We want to be extremely careful, but he's feeling good and no significant concerns at this point," Huntington said.

Here are Huntington's full comments on Nick Kingham:

"As we've learned over the years, we're going to wait until we get a second opinion to talk about what might be going on. We're working through getting a second opinion, probably not going to happen until late this coming week, even early into next week, because the doctor he wants to go to is tied up. We're working through to see if we can get him in as quickly as possible, until then we'll just leave it at he's going to get a second opinion."

The doctor Kingham selected for a second opinion is not Dr. James Andrews.

Starting pitching depth

As Charlie wrote, with Kingham and Brandon Cumpton injured and Jameson Taillon continuing his rehabilitation, the Pirates now find themselves short on pitching depth.

Huntington described the team's depth as "chipped away." He emphasized players continuing to develop as a way to meet the team's depth needs, as well as potentially adding players.

"Well, Charlie Morton is not a bad guy to add back to a rotation, hopefully here sooner rather than later," Huntington said. "Adrian Sampson could potentially be an option, Clayton Richard's another guy that's throwing the ball well. ... We may need to add depending on where we go. It's going to factor into our roster decisions as we move forward."

Tabata's route back to majors

Jose Tabata is batting .353/.429/.412 in 77 plate appearances for Triple-A, Indianapolis. Huntington said he was very pleased with Tabata's overall effort and, while he wouldn't rule out his eventual return to the majors with the Pirates, he said that another route back may be with another team.

"We've been very open with Jose that while we hope his return to the big leagues is with us, he's a guy that may need to get somebody else's attention and have somebody come get him to get back to the big leagues," Huntington said. "If that happens, we'll be happy for him. If it happens here, that's a great thing for us as well."

Getting Harrison on track

Huntington said that he believed that one reason for Josh Harrison's struggles is that he is trying to prove he deserved the contract extension.

"I think Josh is the main guy that is trying to do too much," Huntington said. "You see guys typically go in one of three directions when they get a contract. One, they relax and you see the true player because they have nothing to worry about financially, they're set for life. Two, you see a player that relaxes and doesn't care as much because he is set for life financially. He takes a deep breath and doesn't give you the same effort. That is certainly not the case with Josh. The third case, which is what we believe with Josh, he's trying to justify the contract. He's trying to show that those that doubted him, he trying to show us for showing faith in him that it is deserving."

Huntington added that there are no plans to turn Harrison back into a utility player. In fact, he took exception with the term "utility" to describe Harrison's role last season.

"Even last year when folks were calling him an utility player, he was  a regular," Huntington said. "He was just a regular at second, third, left and right, even short. Whereever we needed him, he was in the lineup on regular basis. And to us that is a definition of a regular."