Spencer Horwitz was one of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ prime acquisitions this offseason, but right wrist surgery has sidelined the 27-year-old first baseman since the week before the start of spring training.
After spending most of the week at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla., Horwitz finally made his long-awaited debut for the organization Sunday by beginning his rehabilitation assignment at their Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve.
Filling in on the “Ben Cherington Show” on radio flagship 93.7 FM, Pirates assistant general manager Bryan Stroh said it’s “probable” that Horwitz will eventually play for Triple-A Indianapolis but the club found it best for him to start closer to Pittsburgh.
“You want to figure out who’s at home, what the weather’s going to be like, making sure they’re not going to get rained out, where they can get work in,” Stroh said. “He can also come back to Pittsburgh and check in with our medical team there when he’s in Altoona really easily. For now we’re going to start him at Altoona, but I’d imagine he’ll end up with the Indy team at some point.”
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound left-handed hitter was expected to fill the glaring need at first base before his wrist injury required surgery. Horwitz batted .265/.357/.433 with 19 doubles, 12 home runs and 40 RBIs in 97 games last season for the Toronto Blue Jays before being dealt to the Pirates in a trade that sent right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz and two minor-league pitchers to the Cleveland Guardians.
Horwitz has been doing full baseball activities for weeks but just faced live pitching for the first time this past week in extended spring training. He went 1 for 2 in the Curve’s 4-1 win at Chesapeake, with a leadoff full-count walk in his first plate appearance, a single to left field in his second at-bat and a flyout to left his third time up before being replaced by pinch-hitter Brenden Dixon in the sixth inning.
“He has been working really hard,” Stroh said. “Wrists are a really funny thing. For certain injuries and certain types of activities in baseball, they impact a lot of things. Sometimes you can play through those things, and Spence is trying to figure out where that fits for him but I know he’s working really hard. Now that he’s playing games again, we’re optimistic we’ll be able to add him in May.”
MLB rules restrict rehab assignments to 20 days, so the clock has started on Horwitz’s timeline to play for the Pirates. Stroh said the Pirates are trying to condense what would be a six-week spring training for Horwitz into a plan that can get him as many at-bats as necessary to be ready for the majors.
“In a perfect world, you’d get to get him a whole month, get his legs under him,” Stroh said. “The good news is he’s been working on his legs. He’s been able to stay in shape. It’s not like he’s coming in from not having done anything. I think he’s going to tell us that. His body will tell us that, and his at-bats will tell us that. It’s probably optimistic to think that it will be two weeks but you just let him tell you. How are you feeling? How are the results? How much have you seen? Have you seen enough stuff and are you ready? That’s something we will stay on with him daily.”
In other Pirates injury news, Stroh said right-handed reliever Justin Lawrence will seek a second opinion on the right elbow discomfort that landed him on the 15-day injured list last week. Stroh indicated Lawrence is expected to miss more than the minimum two weeks.
Stroh said second baseman Nick Gonzales had a scan that showed the non-displaced fracture in his left ankle that prompted him to leave the season opener at Miami after hitting a home run is “healing appropriately” and will engage in full baseball activities this week.
“So we’re excited about that,” Stroh said. “I think we’ll probably able to begin rehab games sometime in early May. We’re excited about continuing to progress that. It’s one of those things where the body and the freakishness of the injury, everybody’s going to be a little bit different. He’s working his tail off, champing at the bit to get back and we’re optimistic to get him sometime in May.”
Stroh said catcher/first baseman Endy Rodriguez, out with a right index finger injury that required five stitches, is scheduled to see a hand specialist this week and is expected to “need another week or 10 days” before resuming full baseball activities.