The Bucs recalled Pedro from Indy today, and cleared space on the 25-man roster by DL'ing Alex Presley.
Pedro hit .365/3/13 in 18 games for Indy this season. He left the big team with a quad problem on May 20th, injured it again at Bradenton, and finally came off the DL July 9th, when he was optioned to the minors. The Pirates felt he was pulling the ball way too much, an occupational hazard of PNC Park, and wanted him to work on using the whole field.
Apparently, they believe that he's ready to go with the pitch, and if he plays like the September 2010 Pedro, he could be the big bat they need. Before the injury he wasn't, hitting just .208/2/10 in 138 PAs. In his rookie season of 2010, El Toro hit .264/16/64.
It'll be interesting to see if they platoon Alvarez in Pittsburgh this season. His splits were .417 v RHP but just .235 v LHP at Indy.
Presley was coming into his own at the leadoff spot, hitting .333 with a .402 OBP and fielding the ball well. He jammed his hand on Friday against the Cards. The Pirates feared it was going to be a week to ten days before he would be back from what's officially being called a left hand contusion, but it's probably a pinched nerve. The DL date will be retroactive to Saturday, July 23rd, meaning he'll be out until August 7th.
Presley hit .262 during his 2010 September call-up, and was the organization's "Player of the Year" for 2010.
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