The Pittsburgh Pirates are expected to recall Jose Tabata to replace Gregory Polanco, according to Ken Rosenthal.
#Pirates expected to recall Tabata to replace Polanco. Tabata 13-for-30 last 8 games. Would be choice over Lambo, who has 4 HRs last 4.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 25, 2014
I saw a few comments on Twitter today, saying that Tabata was going up to the majors, although they were unconfirmed. It seems that this will actually be the case.
Tabata has been struggling in Triple-A, hitting for a .687 OPS. He has been hitting well lately, with a .355/.397/.452 line in his last 62 at-bats. That said, it’s interesting that Andrew Lambo isn’t getting the call here. Lambo has better numbers on the season compared to Tabata (.946 OPS), and has also been hot lately (.325/.372/.575 line in his last 80 at-bats). He’s also coming off a four game stretch where he has four home runs. Furthermore, the Pirates will have to DFA someone to add Tabata to the roster, while Lambo is already on the 40-man roster. That said, it’s not like they’ll have a hard time finding someone to DFA.