After injuries sustained to both starting pitcher Martin Perez and catcher Joey Bart in the team’s series finale against Atlanta, the Pirates today released updates on both players.

Perez is set to go on the 15-day Injured List with a groin injury, while Bart is being placed on the 10-day Injured List with his thumb injury.

The Pirates are expected to recall starter Quinn Preister from Triple-A Indianapolis, who is actually on the same pitching schedule as Perez, which allows him to rest up before his major league return and also allows the Piraes to potentially keep an extra reliever with them in the meantime.

In addition to that, the Pirates have activated third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes off the 10-day Injured List, and have added the contract of catcher Grant Koch to the major league roster.

There has been a lot of coverage on the Indianapolis Indians this year, especially as several members of Pittsburgh’s top farm club have forced their way back into the majors with superb minor league play.

However, one name that really has not gotten any attention is Grant Koch, who we will probably see in rather short order when he joins the team in Detroit tonight.

He was essentially Paul Skenes’ personal catcher when Skenes was still in Indianapolis. Of the seven games Skenes pitched in Triple-A, Koch was the catcher for all but one of them.

He has 17 games with Indianapolis this year, where he is slashing .167/.211/.259 with 1 home run and 5 RBI.

With Skenes slated to pitch in Pittsburgh’s second game against the Detroit Tigers, it’s more than likely we see the MLB debut of Grant Koch to work with him behind the plate.

Koch has been on the taxi squad for the last few days as Yasmani Grandal experienced some discomfort. He has not played a game since May 19th, essentially being on call if a Pirate catcher did end up going on the IL.

Koch was a fifth round pick by the Pirates back in 2018, and has worked through the minor leagues slowly but surely. He joined the team’s Low-A affiliate down the stretch and played 40 games for them.

In 2019, he was bumped up to High-A Greensboro, where he spent the whole season and batted .202 with an OPS just below .600.

After no play in 2020, he arrived in 2021 and returned to Greensboro for 54 games, but he did earn a 16-game stint with Double-A Altoona.

The 2022 saw him spend most of his time healthy down in Low-A Bradenton, with a much shorter 4-game stop in Altoona with the Curve.

Last season, however, he was brought to Indianapolis to fill in a catcher’s role, and played in 60 games for the Indians. His .255 batting average and .708 OPS in Triple-A were both the highest figures he put up in any level of minor league baseball.

This season, that success has not necessarily kept up, but it is also a smaller sample size.

Some may wonder why Koch was getting the call and not Henry Davis, the team’s first overall pick from 2021. Davis, who was called up last season and started this year with the Pirates, was optioned by the Pirates about three weeks ago after batting .162 with an OPS of .486 in 23 games.

Davis had a lot to work on when he was sent back down to the minor leagues, and while he looks like he is starting to get his groove back, is three weeks really long enough to fix everything?

I think some people forget just how broken he looked at the plate this season with Pittsburgh. That’s not to say that a viable major league career isn’t possible for Davis, it absolutely still is, but it was clear he needed a long reset.

Ideally, Joey Bart isn’t out for all that long, meaning that his replacement won’t be counted on for that many games with Yasmani Grandal taking the bulk of the workload.

Davis, meanwhile, can continue to get everyday reps in Indianapolis, and keep that hot streak up. He will be back in the major leagues, but I would like to see some more consistent production from him before he gets a return to Pittsburgh.

As for now, welcome to Pittsburgh, Grant!

(Featured photo by Adam Pintar/Indianapolis Indians)