Veteran first baseman Rowdy Tellez, who is hitting .178 with a .486 OPS, was not in the starting lineup Tuesday night in Milwaukee, but Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton said he wants to continue to give him an opportunity to end his season-long slump.
“We need a full lineup to go,” Shelton said Tuesday on his radio show on 93.7 FM. “Rowdy’s working hard, and we’ve got to get him the reps to put him in a position where he gets going.
“This is a guy who’s hit 30-plus homers in the big leagues (35 in 2022) that we felt was going to be a big part of our offense. We have to figure out a way to get him started.”
He said there’s no timeline for Tellez to rediscover his batting stroke.
Tellez, 29, joined the Pirates on a one-year, $3.2 million contract in the offseason. While slugging 35 home runs and driving in 89 runs for the Brewers in 2022, he hit .219. Last season, his average remained low (.215), with 13 homers and 47 RBIs.
Tellez hasn’t had a hit since May 5 — 19 consecutive plate appearances — when he had a double against the Colorado Rockies.
Ryan returns from Indy
The Pirates recalled right-handed relief pitcher Ryder Ryan from Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday and designated lefty Josh Fleming for assignment.
Ryan will serve his third stint with the Pirates. He was on the Opening Day roster, optioned to Triple-A on April 9 and brought back five days later until he was returned to Indianapolis on April 26.
In nine appearances with the Pirates, Ryan was 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA, with 13 strikeouts and five walks in 12 innings. With Indianapolis, he had a 3.86 ERA in five relief outings.
Fleming had a 5.68 ERA with the Pirates this season after allowing five hits, one walk and six runs (five earned) in one inning Monday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
It’s all about 1-2-3
Meanwhile, Shelton said Andrew McCutchen will continue to bat leadoff “at least in the near-term.”
“No plans of changing that.”
Shelton said McCutchen’s bat speed and the baseball’s velocity off his bat remain strong. He hit a 105-mph single and a 102.8-mph groundout Monday night.
“He’s having consistent at-bats. He can’t control if he hits the ball hard or he hits it right at people,” Shelton said.
Shelton said he also likes the 2-3 combination of Bryan Reynolds and Cruz after McCutchen in the batting order. He was especially pleased with the mindset Cruz displayed Monday after committing an error at shortstop.
“The thing that I love the most about Cruz-y and the way Cruz-y is starting to develop as a baseball player is that’s the conversation (about his error) he wanted to have (with his coaches),” Shelton said.
Cruz took a .272 batting average and .778 OPS into Tuesday’s game after making hard contact (107.8, 116.3 and 118.5 mph) on three occasions Monday.
“He’s doing things that people don’t do. This kid’s a freak,” Shelton said.
“We still have work to do, and there’s a lot of work going into (the entire batting order) daily. It starts with those three guys at the top.”
What about 6-man rotation?
Shelton also had no timetable for how long he’ll continue to use a six-man starting rotation, but he admitted it can leave the bullpen short.
“It’s one of the disadvantages to the six-man. If we can get more starter length, we’re OK,” he said.
Hayes’ back trouble
Shelton said he doesn’t believe Ke’Bryan Hayes’ stay on the injured list with back inflammation will be long-term.
“I think we’re going to get more information over the next couple days,” he said. “As of right now, not concerned that it’s something that is going to be long-term. We just have to get him right.
“When (Hayes’) back is right, he’s a really, really good offensive player. He got some inflammation in there and wasn’t able to rotate right. We have to make sure we get that cleaned up.”
Hayes hasn’t played since May 7.
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