DENVER -- The Pirates have placed Henry Davis on the 7-day injured list with a concussion and recalled Jason Delay from Class AAA Indianapolis. Davis exited in the latter stages of Friday night's win over the Rockies with concussion-like symptoms after taking a shot on a foul ball an inning prior to his departure.
"He took a pretty good shot last night and an inning later he came over and wasn't in a good spot," Derek Shelton reiterated to reporters Saturday in Colorado. "We got him out, ran him through the protocol and recalled Jason Delay. We have to make sure, I mean these are serious things when you're dealing with foul balls. I appreciate that Major League Baseball really has a really good protocol in this case."
Delay played in one game during the Pirates' season-opening series in Miami before landing on the injured list with right knee inflammation on April 3. A few weeks later, he underwent surgery to repair the meniscus in that knee, a procedure that kept him out of in-game action up until he began a rehab assignment with Class A Bradenton on May 25. Delay had been at Class AAA Indianapolis since he began his rehab assignment there on May 27.
"I had my other meniscus done in 2021, so I was pretty familiar with the process and knew it would be relatively quick," Delay said Saturday. "Got the surgery done, was moving around probably within the next week and just kind of building it up and ultimately trying to get more innings. The last step was getting in back-to-back games down in Indy, but it's feeling good and I'm ready to go."
For Delay, getting back into in-game competition was key. He played in 11 games down in the minor leagues, including 10 at Indianapolis where he was behind the plate for a total of 77 innings.
"It's one thing to catch off a machine, but it's another thing facing another team," Delay said. "It's a little less of a controllable environment. But it was good to test it out and like I said, it's feeling good, so I'm happy with where I'm at."
Delay has appeared in 127 games for the Pirates over the last two seasons. He's a career .231 hitter and a defensive contributor who has earned the trust of those within the pitching staff.
"He's just a calming presence," Shelton said. "So it's nice to have him back."
