SOURCE: Pittsburgh Pirates to Promote Mark Mathias

I was informed right after the game against the Chicago White Sox that the Pittsburgh Pirates plan on promoting newly acquired infielder, Mark Mathias to Pittsburgh. This news comes at the expense of losing Oneil Cruz for the foreseeable future.

Cruz slid into home earlier in the game and looked to severely hurt his ankle. It was later determined that his ankle was indeed fractured. No other details have come about his injury, but, odds are, Cruz will miss at least 6-10 weeks of action with this injury.

Mathias was traded to the Pirates from the Texas Ranger back on March 8th. Mathias comes with some experience at the big level with Texas and Milwaukee. He was 117 major league at bats and has a career slash line of .256/.307/.769 with 6 home runs. He can play almost anywhere in the infield, as well as the corner outfield positions, so his versatility will come in hand if needed.

So far in 2023, Mathias has played well with Indianapolis. He is slashing .333/.459/.926 with 1 home run in 9 games. Hopefully he can bring that much needed offense to the big league team and perform at a high level. With the Pirates set to face a left-handed pitcher in Framber Valdez on Monday night it would not be a surprise to see Mathias in the lineup.