Meet Your Bucs: Michael McKenry

by Zane Heiple

Photo by mlb.com

With injuries to catchers Chris Snyder, Ryan Doumit and Jason Jaramillo, it is easy to say the Pittsburgh Pirates are in dire need of help behind the plate.  Late Sunday night they went out and made a trade with the Boston Red Sox to acquire minor league catcher Michael McKenry for cash considerations or a player to be named later.  In order to make room for McKenry, Wyatt Toregas was sent back to AAA Indianapolis.

McKenry is a former 2006 seventh round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, whom he would make his Major League debut with on September 8^th, 2010.  He was then traded to the Red Sox in March of 2011 and has spent all of this season with the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox.

This season in Pawtucket, he has hit .274 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI.  Defensively he has thrown out 5 of 19 base runners.  A big reason why he was acquired is that Pirates manager Clint Hurdle and coach Mark Strittmatter spent time working with Michael during their time with the Rockies.

Catcher is a very important position on the diamond and while it is very tough to replace players with the experience of Snyder and Doumit, it is good to see the organization make a move to help sure up the need of a player behind the plate.  Be sure to check back often to Fans From The Stands for the latest roster moves.

Meet Your Bucs: Wyatt Toregas

by Zane Heiple

Photo by zimbio.com

The Pittsburgh Pirates placed catcher Chris Snyder on the 15 day disabled list on Thursday for a herniated disk injury in his lower back.  Wyatt Toregas was called up from AAA Indianapolis to give the Buccos another catcher on the 25 man roster.

Toregas is a former 2004 draft pick of the Cleveland Indians in the 24^th round out of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  He has spent the majority of his career in the Minor Leagues and did not make his Major League debut until August of 2009.  During that stretch he played in 19 games where he batted .176 with 6 RBI.  Behind the plate he threw out 2 of 10 batters that attempted to steal on him.  After spending the 2010 season with the Columbus Clippers, he was released by the Indians and then signed a contract with the Pirates in 2011.

So far he has spent all of 2011 with the Indianapolis Indians where he has hit .034 and thrown out 25% of runners who have attempted stealing.  While this is by no means an answer to the injuries of Ryan Doumit and Snyder, Toregas is an insurance policy incase Dusty Brown needs time off.  Pittsburgh has stated that they have started looking outside the organization for catching help, so there could be more updates from behind the plate coming soon.