Pirates Select Christian Bethancourt

The Pirates have selected the contract of catcher Christian Bethancourt, per a team announcement. They also recalled southpaw Brandon Eisert. Catcher Endy Rodriguez, who recently underwent hip surgery, heads to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot for Bethancourt.

The Bucs just acquired Bethancourt, 34, in a cash swap with the Yankees in mid-August. He was eligible to be traded post-deadline by virtue of the fact that his contract hadn’t been on a 40-man roster all season. He hasn’t appeared in a game with the Pirates’ Indy affiliate yet since he’s spent the entirety of his time in the organization on the major league taxi squad (which has surely afforded him some time to acclimate with his new pitching staff). In 249 plate appearances between the Triple-A teams for the Cubs and Yankees this year, he’s slashed .270/.320/.491 with 14 homers.

Bethancourt has appeared in parts of eight major league seasons between the Braves, Padres, Rays, A’s, Marlins and Cubs. He’s a career .229/.259/.362 hitter with modest pop but a free-swinging approach at the plate that regularly leads to poor on-base percentages. Bethancourt was once a top prospect and has long been touted for his rocket arm, but he’s had his share of struggles when it comes to blocking and framing.

The Pirates’ yearslong catching carousel looked to finally be stabilizing when Rodriguez hit .267/.373/.467 in 45 games earlier this season. His hip injury again threw the Pirates into a state of uncertainty. Bethancourt now joins a long list of journeymen and yet-to-develop prospects who’ve donned the tools of ignorance for the Buccos in recent years — Henry Davis, Joey Bart, Jacob Stallings, Yasmani Grandal, Andrew Knapp, Jason Delay, Austin Hedges, Tyler Heineman, Roberto Perez, Rafael Flores Jr., Jose Godoy and Brett Sullivan among them.