25-year old lefty swinging LF Alex Presley has been called up by the Pirates. Presley came into this season as the Pirates’ #20 prospect according to Baseball America. Presley has played in 75 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 98 for 292 (.336 avg, .889 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 8 homers, 36 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. He has now played in 590 games in his first six years in the minors and he is 648 for 2,232 (.290 avg, .782 OPS) with 333 runs scored, 44 homers, 279 RBIs and 74 stolen bases. Presley got his first taste of the majors last year with the Pirates. In 19 games for the Pirates last year, Presley was 6 for 23 (.261 avg, .596 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 1 stolen base. Look for Presley to get a lot of P.T. in LF while Jose Tabata is on the mend.

The Pirates have placed 22-year old righty swinging starting LF Jose Tabata on the 15-day disabled list due to a left quad strain. Tabata has played in 71 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 68 for 257 (.265 avg, .705 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 3 homers, 15 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. The Pirates have called up 23-year old righty swinging 2B/3B Josh Harrison to replace Tabata on the roster. Harrison has played in 16 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 17 for 60 (.283 avg, .612 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 0 homers, 4 RBIs and 1 stolen base. 25-year old lefty swinging Alex Presley has also been called up and he will replace Tabata in LF.

25-year old switch-hitting 2B Neil Walker has found himself batting cleanup a lot lately for the Pirates. Thus, I think he’s putting too much pressure on himself to knock in runs and it’s hurting his batting average. Walker has played in 24 games so far this June and he is 19 for 86 (.221 avg, .636 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 2 homers, 17 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 76 games for the Pirates this year and he is 72 for 286 (.252 avg, .711 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 8 homers, 50 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Pirates will likely have to continue using Walker in the cleanup spot until some other players get healthy. Here’s to hoping that he gets back to the hitter he was in April and May for the Bucs.

The Nationals have dealt 27-year old righty swinging catcher Miguel Perez to the Nationals for either a player to be named later or cash. Perez played in 2 games in A-ball for the Nationals this year and he was 3 for 7 (.429 avg, .857 OPS) with 1 RBI. He has now played in 592 games in 10 years in the minor leagues and he is 549 for 2,033 (.270 avg, .666 OPS) with 231 runs scored, 22 homers, 212 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. Perez has played in 2 games in his major league career back in 2005 with the Reds when he went 0 for 3 (.000 avg) with a whiff. The Pirates are so desperate for catching that this looks like a good move for them.

Switch-hitting 2B Johnny Ray was a solid player for the Pirates. His best season for the Bucs came in 1984 when he appeared in 155 games in which he was 173 for 555 (.312 avg, .789 OPS) with 75 runs scored, 6 homers, 67 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. He played in 931 games in 7 years for the Pirates and he was 1,009 for 3,525 (.286 avg, .723 OPS) with 414 runs scored, 37 homers, 391 RBIs and 68 stolen bases. Ray never made it onto an All-Star team in his time with the Pirates but he did win a Silver Slugger Award in 1983 and he was 2nd in the voting for the Rookie of the Year Award back in 1982.