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The Pirates have placed Sean Rodriguez on the disabled list with a right quad strain. To replace him, they’ve called up right-handed reliever Tanner Anderson, he of the Bronson-Arroyo-like leg kick. To create roster space for Anderson, they’ve moved A.J. Schugel to the 60-day disabled list.
The Pirates have called up RHP Tanner Anderson, their 20th-round selection from 2015, from Indianapolis and placed Sean Rodigurez on the disabled list with a right quad strain. Anderson has a 2.34 ERA. They also moved A.J. Schugel to the 60-day DL.
— Liz Bloom (@BloomPG) June 27, 2018
The potential jokes about Rodriguez, both his performance and the interesting timing of the injury, are too obvious. Suffice to say, if you just imagine some breathtakingly awful hitting stats, he’s probably been worse than that over the last month and a half. Maybe he hasn’t been healthy. Whatever.
Anderson pitched mainly as a starter last year with Altoona, but he’s been strictly a reliever for Indianapolis this year. He’s put up superficially good numbers — his ERA is 2.34 and he seldom walks anybody — but he’s given up 37 hits in 34.2 IP and his K/9 is just 6.2. His xFIP is 3.36, so the peripherals aren’t too bad. Anderson is an extreme groundball pitcher, so that’s something, or would be if the Pirates could field groundballs.
Of course, this leaves the Pirates without a middle infield backup. But who cares? Clint Hurdle has an eight-man bullpen!
In other injury news, Indianapolis has lost two players for the short-term:
ROSTER MOVES: INF Jung Ho Kang placed on 7-day DL (retro to 6/25) with left wrist sprain. OF Christopher Bostick placed on 7-day DL (appendicitis). INF/OF Eric Wood ends @MiLB rehab with @WVBlackBears, reinstated from 7-day DL. pic.twitter.com/1dsx7j6SvG
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) June 27, 2018