PITTSBURGH — The Pirates have spent the past month searching for an adequate replacement for shortstop Oneil Cruz, who will be out until at least midseason with a broken ankle. “That’s sort of big shoes to fill,” general manager Ben Cherington said.
Yup, it is — just ask Rodolfo Castro, Tucupita Marcano and Ji Hwan Bae. Monday, Chris Owings was called up from the minors to take his turn.
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“I’m just excited to get an opportunity (in the majors) again,” said Owings, a 10-year veteran who was a non-roster invitee to spring training and began this season with Triple-A Indianapolis.
According to Sports Info Solutions, the Pirates have gotten minus-5 Defensive Runs Saved from the shortstop position. That’s the fifth-worst production in the majors, ahead of only the Giants (minus-9), Braves (minus-8), Nationals (minus-7) and Reds (minus-7).
Player | Games | Chances | Errors | Fielding % | DRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 | 67 | 6 | 0.91 | Minus-2 | |
9 | 31 | 1 | 0.968 | 0 | |
6 | 16 | 0 | 1 | Minus-1 | |
3 | 7 | 1 | 0.857 | Minus-2 |
In the first game after Cruz’s injury, Castro started at short and made an error on the first ball hit his way. Castro made another error the following day.
Castro, 23, played third base coming up through the minors, but last season he played mostly at second. This spring, he won the starting second-base job. Castro has some experience at short, but his flaws are exposed when he’s forced to play there every day.
“His role changed in the middle of the season, and as a young player, that’s not easy to do,” Cherington said. “He’s made outstanding plays, and you know, every once in a while mistakes are gonna happen. It’s part of the game. He’ll recover from that, we’ll recover from it, keep pushing it forward.”
Saturday against the Blue Jays, Castro started at second and made an errant throw. Sunday, he was back at short and booted Kevin Kiermaier’s grounder. Manager Derek Shelton believes Castro gets out of sorts when he hurries plays.
“Sometimes he gets a little fast at times,” Shelton said. “That’s natural for a young player when things aren’t going well — you start to rush and start to press. We’ve just got to get him to relax a little bit.”
Shelton insisted that Owings’ call-up was merely a way to add versatility to the active roster — Owings can play short, second and outfield — and not a reaction to how Castro, Marcano and Bae have played.
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Cherington said the younger guys will still get some time at shortstop but indicated Owings could get the bulk of the work.
“We saw an opportunity to add a defensive stability in the middle infield,” Cherington said. “Chris has been doing this for a long time. He’s a really reliable defender. We thought the timing was right to make that switch. We’ll continue to look at how our position player group lines up.”
Why wasn’t Owings brought up sooner? He sustained a groin injury on April 18 — about a week after Cruz fractured his left ankle — and only recently came off Indy’s injured list.
“It was like, ‘Man, I’m feeling good. Why does this stuff happen?’” Owings, 31, said. “Luckily, it wasn’t anything major. It took about two weeks and just kind of started easing back into it.”
Owings’ career has been a bumpy ride. A first-round pick in 2009, he played in 147 games with the Diamondbacks in 2015. He’s been on an Opening Day roster, designated for assignment and released, and he was a free agent seven times in five years.
“It’s nothing new, right?” Owings said. “You have to tell yourself to regroup. That’s what I did when I went to Indy.”
Over 253 games at shortstop in the majors, Owings has posted a .963 fielding percentage. Monday against the Rockies, he converted all three chances in the field and singled in his first at-bat.
Castro started at his familiar spot — second base — and maybe that helped him chill out, like Shelton said he needed. He was flawless in the field and launched a two-run homer that lifted the Pirates to a 2-0 victory and snapped their seven-game losing streak. Castro got the final out by snagging Ryan McMahon’s grounder on the run and firing a strike to first base.
So far, so good.
If Owings doesn’t work out well at shortstop until Cruz returns, the Pirates could be in trouble. A couple of years ago, it seemed shortstop Liover Peguero might be on a fast track to the majors, but his progress has slowed.
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Last season with Double-A Altoona, Peguero hit .259/.305/.387 and made 23 errors in 94 games at short. He was sent back to Altoona this year and is hitting .244/.337/.337 with six errors in 15 games.
“Last year, I learned a lot about how to be myself in the field,” Peguero said. “We get excited — ‘Oh, I’m gonna make this play, I’m gonna do this or that.’ Thinking like that was one of my biggest mistakes, instead of (thinking), ‘I’m gonna make my routine play. It’s gonna come. I don’t have to search for it. I don’t have to reach for it.’ Just being patient and playing as hard as I can.”
It’s too soon for the Pirates to give up on Peguero — he’s still only 22, two years younger than the average Eastern League player. He gets daily tutoring from Altoona bench coach Gary Green, who played shortstop over parts of five seasons in the majors with the Padres, Rangers and Reds.
Injuries and ineffectiveness in the majors and minors are stress-testing Pittsburgh’s depth at every position, and Cherington said it’s too early in the season to start talking about trading for help.
Cherington’s quick take on the organization’s overall depth: “Better. Not satisfied.”
Johan Oviedo made the Opening Day starting rotation when JT Brubaker blew out his elbow. Right-hander Luis Ortiz was called up from Indy to start Tuesday’s game against the Rockies in place of Vince Velasquez, who’s out with a sore elbow.
“We believe our depth is better, but never good enough,” Cherington said. “We got to keep focused on that because most of the focus this time of year is going to be internal. It’s not going to be the same names.”
Last year, Ortiz wasn’t on management’s radar until he went on a midseason tear with Double-A Altoona. He wound up making four starts with the Pirates.
“Nobody anticipated him being real depth last year, and he ended up being that,” Cherington said. “How can we find more of those stories on either side of the ball, pitching or position player? We think we have guys in the minor leagues (to be) that kind of option for us.”
(Photo of Chris Owings turning a double play: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)