The Pittsburgh Pirates already shut down left-handed starter Steven Brault and righty reliever Duane Underwood Jr. for the season by transferring them to the 60-day injured list.

Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk didn’t sound overly optimistic righty starter JT Brubaker and reliever David Bednar will return by the end of the season, either.

“We’d love for them to, but we have their short-term health in line, so, unfortunately, we’re running out of days on the calendar,” Tomczyk said Wednesday afternoon on a video conference call. “We’re going to assess them daily and see what makes the most sense.”

Brubaker (right shoulder inflammation) is eligible to come off the 10-day IL and is “presenting with a pain-free clinical exam,” Tomczyk said. He will be reassessed later this week or over the weekend to determine when to begin a formal throwing program. Brubaker is 5-13 with a 5.36 ERA in 24 starts this season.

Bednar (right oblique strain) has resumed playing catch and is “relatively pain-free and asymptomatic,” which Tomczyk called “encouraging news.” Bednar (3-1, 2.18 ERA, three saves) isn’t eligible to come off the IL until Sept. 21, so the Pirates have to determine a throwing program for him first.

“It is too early to tell,” Tomczyk said. “It’s very encouraging that he is playing catch. If it was up to David, he’d be out there pitching again. But, as you’ve heard us talk about a lot, we want both short- and long-term goals for all our players. What we don’t want is to put them in a situation where he makes this injury worse and it piggybacks into his offseason and the first half of his offseason is rehabbing versus just active recovery. So we’re being very diligent and making sure we do what’s best for David.”

Tomczyk said infielder/outfielder Michael Chavis (right elbow strain) will begin a rehab assignment. He will serve as the designated hitter for Triple-A Indianapolis, which will allow him to build up the volume and strength of throwing before returning to full-game activity.

Brault strained the same left lat muscle that sidelined him from spring training until early August, Tomczyk said, but considers it “encouraging news” that there’s no new tear from from the previous injury. Brault (0-3, 5.86 ERA) averaged 76 pitches through his first six starts before being pulled after 42 pitches in two innings Friday.

“Lat injuries are complicated in their own nature,” Tomczyk said. “I think he proved to himself that he could get back to a high volume of pitching. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t sustainable to the rest of this year.

“So it’s kind of back to not Square One, but it’s back to the drawing board to look at how the body moves, to look at how the mechanics do, look at the arm action and the delivery and see if there are any refinements in that process. To look at his offseason strength and conditioning program, from mobility to strength, and really peel back all the layers of the onion to see if there are opportunities for growth and refinement to the overall body of Steven Brault.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)