With one final homestand before the All-Star break, the Pirates still do not have a clear picture of when to expect Steven Brault will be ready to pitch in big-league games.
"Those are discussions that are on-going," director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk told reporters in his weekly Zoom call before Wednesday's game against the Rockies. "To say here, right now we have a projected date for when Steven Brault returns to major-league activity, no we don't. But, we're very encouraged by this progress in his rehab and those conversations are on-going."
Since he suffered what was first called a "roughly moderate" lat strain at the end of March, the Pirates were expected to be without Brault for at least two months. But at this point they'd be fortunate to get him back in a four-month window, and that's without any setbacks.
The club is continuously easing him back, and he is scheduled to throw a two-inning simulated game Wednesday as a hopeful final step in the Bradenton stage of his rehab.
If all goes well there, he will re-join the major-league club for the remainder of his rehab in Pittsburgh, as was announced last week.
"Very exciting for us. We'll see how he comes out of that two-inning sim game," Tomczyk said. "We're excited for our team to get our hands on him. We haven't seen him since spring training. And map out the next steps once we get some real, live reps with him."
While there is still some uncertainty surrounding Brault's next availability, each week has been a step in the right direction for his return. The Pirates have used 10 different starters through the first 78 games of the season, and may be without one or more of their more reliable rotation options, like Tyler Anderson, ends up on another team after the trade deadline.
Tomczyk said last week that Brault will need to make at least one rehab start before pitching again in the majors. But this move up to Pittsburgh will allow him to once again work with Oscar Marin and Derek Shelton to map out the best possible course of action for a return.
MORE INJURY NEWS
• Colin Moran is out of the lineup Wednesday for the second consecutive game since taking a pitch off his right hand in Monday's series opener at Coors Field. The Pirates received good news in his x-rays from Monday, but Tomczyk still describes the first baseman as day-to-day.
This is the fourth stretch of the season in which Moran has missed multiple games. He first was out a month after suffering a groin strain in early May. Then, within days of his return, he was hit by a pitch on the left hand that limited him to just two at-bats over a three-game span. He was again limited to just two bats over the course of a couple games after tweaking his back in Milwaukee.
The Pirates were unsure of Moran's availability off the bench for Wednesday afternoon's finale in Colorado.
• Luis Oviedo had his one-inning sim game interrupted by some bad weather at Coors Field on Tuesday afternoon. The 21-year-old Rule 5 pick was placed on the injured list with a left quad strain on June 10, four days after his latest major-league appearance. Tomczyk said that Oviedo responded well to the sim game, and the team should have a better sense of his progress upon their return to Pittsburgh.
• Tomczyk provided some brief updates on a couple of major-league rotation options that -- like it or not -- might see consistent time in the later months of the season. Trevor Cahill has resumed some baserunning activities while on the shelf for the second time with a left calf strain. And Tomczyk said that he expects Miguel Yajure (elbow) to expand his flat ground work to around 110-120 feet by week's end.
• After an unfortunate collision at a truly inopportune time, Anthony Alford appears close to returning for Class AAA Indianapolis.
"He was involved in that rather scary collision. I'm curious to learn of the gentleman that he collided with but all in all, Anthony is making nice strides in his recovery," Tomczyk said. "We anticipate him re-joining the starting lineup for Brian Esposito in the coming days."