Pirates notebook: GM Ben Cherington defends decision to keep starting RF Gregory Polanco

Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington defended the club’s decision to continue starting Gregory Polanco in right field despite his inconsistency at the plate as they undergo a youth movement.

Polanco, who turns 30 on Sept. 14, was batting .199 with a .630 OPS entering Friday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers that marked his 81st start of the season, including 16 of the past 17 games, after coming off the 10-day injured list with a core muscle injury.

Cherington said the Pirates plan to continue playing Polanco, the organization’s longest-tenured player, though he deferred lineup decisions to manager Derek Shelton. Polanco is one of their few hitters with power, ranking second on the Pirates with 11 home runs.

“I think we have felt — and still feel to this point — that he’s a really talented player that’s still not that old, and we think finally healthy,” Cherington said Friday afternoon on a video conference call. “We think (he’s) still capable of being a good major league player. We’re not blind to the performance. He is, if you think about the last couple years for Gregory, whether it was injuries or the short season, up until this year, he just simply didn’t play a lot of baseball for a while.

“So I think we’ve had some desire to give him every chance to play a lot of baseball and find himself again. Now that we’re past the deadline, I think Shelty will continue to make out the lineups. We talk about playing time, and, again, we want to use playing time as effectively as we can, but it’s gotta be earned. We want it to be earned. We’ll see where that lines out, and Gregory’s part of that. He’ll have to continue to earn it.”

Reynolds rumors

Cherington confirmed that teams inquired before the trade deadline about the availability of All-Star center fielder Bryan Reynolds, who leads the Pirates in most major offensive categories.

“Yeah, I mean I would suspect none of us would be surprised that teams are going to be interested in a guy like that,” Cherington said. “He’s really having a terrific season, impacting the game in every facet — offense, defense, baserunning — super reliable, so of course he’s a player other teams would have interest in, too. Sure enough, they did.”

Cherington said he wanted to keep open lines of communication with Reynolds, who leads the Pirates with a .306 batting average, 20 home runs, 67 RBIs and a .920 OPS and has cemented his place in center with regular spectacular catches since switching from left field.

“I wouldn’t have a conversation with Bryan every time we get a phone call, but I definitely want the door open,” Cherington said. “I think that Bryan is a smart guy who understands that because of what he’s doing as a player and who he is as a player and where we are that, of course, we’re going to get phone calls. He’s aware of that. He’s a pretty mature guy, so I don’t expect it bothered him. We tried to keep the door and lines of communication open so that if he does have questions or is frustrated by something or is just wondering, it’s as easy as a text or picking up the phone.”

High-A on Henry Davis

The Pirates assigned catcher Henry Davis to the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers, and the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft made a memorable debut.

In his first professional at-bat, Davis hit a triple but was thrown out at home plate while trying to stretch it into an inside-the-park home run. Davis went 1 for 3, grounding into a forceout and striking out swinging before drawing a walk and scoring in the eighth inning of a 5-4 win over the Winston-Salem Dash on Thursday.

Cherington said Pirates farm director John Baker and the player development and performance staffs determined Davis arrived at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla., “ready to go from a playing standpoint.”

“We weren’t surprised by that. He was pretty much in game shape and ready to compete from Day 1,” Cherington said. “That allowed him to get into games pretty quickly there. I think we had hoped that he would be in a position to get out and play games in a full-season (league), and he proved pretty quickly that he was.”

Cherington said the challenge was deciding where to send Davis, who skipped Low-A Bradenton to play at Greensboro. Seven of the Pirates’ top 11 prospects, according to Baseball America, are playing for the Grasshoppers. That includes former first-round picks: right-handed pitcher Quinn Priester and second baseman Nick Gonzales.

“He expressed a desire to do that when he signed,” Cherington said. “That’s not the reason he’s there, but it’s good to hear that. That he wants to be part of those relationships and recognize that, ‘Hey, these are guys that I aspire to play with and would love to get a head start on getting to know them.’ We wouldn’t want a decision only for that reason, but it’s a good thing to hear. Can’t hurt.

“It’s not just the pitchers there. There are position players there, too, that we hope he plays with in the future. It’s not the only place we have players that we believe in and care about a lot. We have those guys at every one of the levels. It just happened to fit where there’s some playing time behind the dish. We think it’s a level he can go to and compete. It’s a big jump. College baseball, a little bit of a break, and now into High-A. Not easy. It’ll be challenging. He’s certainly up for a challenge. We think it will be productive for him and us as we plan for offseason and next year.”