The Pittsburgh Pirates have placed infielder John McDonald on the 15-day disabled list, and have recalled Jordy Mercer from Indianapolis.
There were a lot of words written last week about Jordy Mercer being sent down. A lot of those words came on this site, and from me. It’s great to see Mercer back and McDonald out. However, it’s kind of a strange situation. This obviously shows that the Pirates were more concerned with keeping McDonald in the system, rather than getting Mercer regular playing time. If the concern was regular playing time for Mercer, we’d see Josh Harrison or Ivan De Jesus called up for this important backup role. I’m not sure why there’s such a need to keep McDonald around, to the point where you’d send down a hot hitter like Mercer.
It will be interesting to see how much playing time Mercer gets. I wrote all last week that Mercer should get Inge’s role, taking occasional starts at second, shortstop, and third base. He could bat for Neil Walker or Pedro Alvarez when a lefty is on the mound, and start for Clint Barmes once a week.
UPDATE 2:33 PM: Mercer is starting at shortstop tonight, and batting 8th.
