The Pittsburgh Pirates have promoted outfielder Tyler Gaffney to the Altoona Curve on Saturday. Mitchell Tolman, whose 50-game suspension ended yesterday, has been assigned to Bradenton. No word yet on who Gaffney will replace on the Altoona roster. They just placed Elvis Escobar on the disabled list, so there is room in the outfield, but Escobar was replaced on the roster already by Montana DuRapau.
Gaffney hit .291/.391/.470 in 38 games with Bradenton, collecting 15 extra-base hits and going 10-for-15 in steals. He was a 2012 draft pick, who played one year in the New York-Penn League before pursuing an NFL career. When that stalled, he returned to the Pirates this season and has been playing as well as could be expected from someone who has been away from the game so long.
Tolman played briefly for Altoona at the end of last year, but just like Montana DuRapau (who was also suspended), he returns a level lower than before. Tolman played in the Arizona Fall League last October/November, but he had just a .618 OPS. He saw time there both at third base and second base.
