The Pittsburgh Pirates activated right-handed pitcher Joe Musgrove from the disabled list on Friday afternoon. To make room on the 25-man roster, reliever George Kontos was designated for assignment.

Musgrove had made four minor league starts between Bradenton, Altoona and Indianapolis. He needed to do that to build up his pitch count, which was just under 100 pitches in his final start. Musgrove also threw a simulated game at PNC Park before his first rehab appearance. He missed time this spring with shoulder discomfort, then strained the same shoulder right before the season started. He was activated today to make his season debut at PNC Park against the St Louis Cardinals.

Kontos has been struggling this season. He has a 5.03 ERA and a 6.06 FIP in 19.2 innings over 21 appearances,...

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John Dreker
John Dreker
John was born in Kearny, NJ, hometown of the 2B for the Pirates 1909 World Championship team, Dots Miller. In fact they have some of the same relatives in common, so it was only natural for him to become a lifelong Pirates fan. Before joining Pirates Prospects in July 2010, John had written numerous articles on the history of baseball while also releasing his own book and co-authoring another on the history of the game. He writes a weekly article on Pirates history for the site, has already interviewed many of the current minor leaguers with many more on the way and follows the foreign minor league teams very closely for the site. John also provides in person game reports of the West Virginia Power and Altoona Curve.