Bucs' No. 2 prospect Rodríguez placed on IL
No. 1 prospect Johnson makes season debut for Single-A Bradenton
PITTSBURGH -- Catcher Endy Rodríguez, the Pirates’ No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has been placed on the seven-day injured list due to a right forearm injury, per Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton.
Rodríguez, the organization’s reigning Minor League Player of the Year, was removed in the eighth inning of Triple-A Indianapolis’s 6-1 loss to Memphis on Thursday evening. Shelton said on Friday that the team is still evaluating and there is no additional information at this time.
In 14 games with Indianapolis, Rodríguez is hitting .263/.333/.456 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. Rodríguez, who posted a 1.000 OPS in 10 games during Spring Training, is on track to make his Major League debut sometime this season, likely during the summer.
Along with Rodríguez, Indianapolis placed outfielder Travis Swaggerty, the Pirates' No. 22 prospect, on the seven-day injured list (retroactive to April 20) due to an illness. In 14 games with Indianapolis, Swaggerty has a .231/.310/.442 slash line with one home run and three stolen bases.
Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk will provide additional updates on both Rodríguez and Swaggerty on Wednesday.
In a bit of good news, infielder Termarr Johnson, the Bucs’ No. 1 prospect, has been activated off the injured list and will make his season debut for Single-A Bradenton on Friday.
Johnson, the fourth overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, sustained a right hamstring injury at the beginning of Spring Training in late February. He has been rehabbing the injury for the last month-and-a-half. Last season, Johnson hit .275/.396/.450 with one home run and four steals in 14 games with Bradenton.