Pirates informed reporters today, including MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf, Catcher/First Baseman Endy Rodríguez Already underwent ulnar transposition surgery. Stumpf said Rodríguez is expected to be ready for spring training, so he seems to be done in 2025.
This is another unfortunate twist for Rodríguez’s career. He was one of the highest prospects for baseball before his debut. When he started the show in 2023, he didn’t play much, but he had a strong defensive performance. Since he has been a great batsman throughout his minor league career, he hopes he will be a long-time receiver for the club.
But into 2024, he needs surgery on the ulnar ligament and flexor muscle, which has made the whole season disappear. He returned here in 2025, but has also suffered significant damage this season due to injuries. A tear on his right index finger left him injured in mid-April. He recovered from IL in late May, but returned to the shelf about a week later due to inflammation in the elbow. He was quickly transferred to the 60-day IL, which shows that the Pirates knew he had been in a long time. Today’s news confirms this. Due to all these injuries, Rodriguez has played in only 18 major league games this year. It has been nearly two years since he missed all of 2024.
This isn’t ideal for Rodríguez personally, but it also means that the Bucs will be back in 2026 and will be released again behind the plate. As of a few years ago, they had two of the most popular prospects in baseball games. In addition to Rodríguez, they Henry Davisgenerally for the first time in 2021.
Although Rodríguez did not take action most of the time, Davis did not deliver on his promise. Davis currently has 0.183/.271/.298 batting lines out of 579 Big League boards, including 2025’s .169/.247/.281. Joey Bart In April. Last year, when Bart made a appearance in just 282 plates in 282 sets, it looked like a Masters match. But in 2025, he had only two home runs, heading to the plate on 256 times. His gloves are not highly rated, so a decrease in offensiveness will hurt his value.
The Buccaneers are excellent, but lack of lineup, with obvious problems in the infield and behind the plate. Ideally, Rodríguez will take over the job this year and consolidate his own people for the job. Instead, more time was recovered from surgery and more question marks.
Photo courtesy of Charles Leclaire, image
