The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that their alternate training site will be comprised of 31 players who will play 13 games in April, though two players on their 40-man roster are conspicuously absent.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Saturday that shortstop Cole Tucker and outfielder Jared Oliva remain in Florida for what he described as “individual skills development.”

Tucker was the Pirates’ 2014 first-round pick, and spent last season playing in the outfield. He missed more than a week in spring training with a thumb injury, losing out to Kevin Newman and Erik Gonzalez in a three-man competition for the starting job at shortstop. Oliva, ranked the Pirates’ No. 16 prospect by MLB Pipeline, joined the major league club for the final six games of the season last September.

“They were part of the discussion,” Shelton said. “We sat down and talked to them about what our thoughts were and laid out a plan and they were both 100% on board with it. We figured Bradenton was a better place to get the actual skill development stuff (done).”

Shelton said he doesn’t know the timeline but expects both Tucker and Oliva to eventually join the alternate training site group before moving to Triple-A Indianapolis for the start of the minor league season.

The roster features 15 pitchers, four catchers, seven infielders and five outfielders, and includes notable veterans in Todd Frazier, Brian Goodwin and Steven Wright, former first-round picks Will Craig and Travis Swaggerty and top prospects in Oneil Cruz and Miguel Yajure.

Shelton said the alternate site training group coaches will be Triple-A Indianapolis manager Brian Esposito and pitching coach Joel Hanrahan and Double-A Altoona bench coach Gary Green and hitting coach David Newhan.

The Pirates will use PNC Park and Pitt’s Charles L. Cost Field as their alternate training sites, with a Heinz Field locker room serving as their clubhouse. The alternate group will play six games at Columbus (April 5-7 and April 17-19), four at Toledo (April 20-23) and three at Louisville (April 24-26).

The Pirates alternate site group:

Pitchers: Tyler Bashlor, Chase De Jong, Jandel Gustave, Geoff Hartlieb, Max Kranick, James Marvel, Nick Mears, Braeden Ogle, Sean Poppen, Edgar Santana, Chasen Shreve, Shea Spitzbarth, Blake Weiman, Steven Wright and Miguel Yajure.

Catchers: Jason Delay, Joe Hudson, Christian Kelley and Andrew Susac.

Infielders: Ji-hwan Bae, Rodolfo Castro, Will Craig, Oneil Cruz, Wilmer Difo, Todd Frazier and Connor Kaiser.

Outfielders: Brian Goodwin, Hunter Owen, Chris Sharpe, Troy Stokes Jr. and Travis Swaggerty.

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