MVN - Most Valuable Network

Paulino On His Way to Indy

The Pirates have announced that they will option C Ronny Paulino to Indianapolis. With C Ryan Doumit (photo) finishing his rehab assignment (broken tip of his thumb) in Altoona, the Pirates need to make room on their roster for Doumit’s return.

C Raul Chavez was brought up from the Indians on May 14th to fill in for Doumit when he went on the Disabled List. Chavez was intended to be the back-up for Paulino, but when given the opportunity, he took it. He has worked very well with the pitching staff, and has also been doing some hitting, with a .242 average and 5 RBI in his 11 games. Instead of merely backing up Paulino, Chavez has played in 7 of the Pirates’ last 8 games, and had a hit in all but one of them. On the other hand, Paulino has been struggling at the plate, hitting .218 with 2 homers and 18 RBI. So, with a roster spot needed to accommodate Doumit, the decision was made to keep the veteran Chavez in Pittsburgh and have Paulino report to Indianapolis, where he will be working on both hitting and defense.

The Indians will need to make a corresponding roster move. That could be moving C Carlos Maldonado back onto the disabled list. That announcement will be made later today.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 10:51 am and is filed under Carlos Maldonado, Raul Chavez, Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects, AAA - Indianapolis Indians, Ryan Doumit, Pittsburgh Pirates Minor-League Affiliates, Ronny Paulino. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.