Another day, another prospect is being called up by the Pirates.
Per source, outfielder Cal Mitchell has been promoted to the majors. He will be the third Pirate promoted from Class AAA Indianapoilis over the last two days, the others being right-handers Yerry De Los Santos and Roansy Contreras.
Mitchell, 23, has been tearing up minor-league pitching this year, slashing .306/.362/.500 with five home runs, 26 RBIs and going a perfect 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts. He's also continued to cut down on his strikeout totals, fanning just 14.5% of the time compared to 28.8% in 2019.
This is Mitchell's first big offensive season in pro ball. In Class AA Altoona last year, he finished with a slightly above-average .759 OPS with 12 home runs in 419 plate appearances.
A second-round draft pick in 2017, Mitchell's future with the organization looked hazy when the club opted to add three other outfielders to the 40 man roster -- Travis Swaggerty, Canaan Smith-Njigba and Jack Suwinski -- instead of him.
The lockout cancelled the Rule 5 draft this year, which most likely helped the Pirates because Mitchell would have most likely been a candidate.
The Pirates certainly could use some outfield depth at the moment. While they do have a few infielders who can fill-in if necessary, the only true outfielders on the roster are Bryan Reynolds, Ben Gamel and Suwinski. Going into spring training, it appeared Greg Allen and Anthony Alford would also be in that mix, but Allen hurt his hamstring and started on the 60 day injured list, and Alford was let go briefly after return from the injured list himself.
Mitchell has played almost exclusively right field in pro ball, but roster construction could potentially have him move to other outfield spots.
The Pirates designated lefty Cam Alldred for assignment to open up a roster spot for Mitchell.
Daniel Vogelbach (hamstring) and Heath Hembree (calf) were placed on the injured list to open up spots on the major-league roster for Mitchell and Contreras.
