Isiah

Kiner-Falefa

Peguero was called up from the minors on Tuesday following the controversial release of Rowdy Tellez. He has since started two games at shortstop with Isiah Kiner-Falefa moving to third base and Jared Triolo moving to first. We should expect that to be the lineup for the final few games of the season, which gives Peguero some value in deeper formats and means that Billy Cook seems to have lost his starting spot.

Kiner-Falefa’s stolen base was his 11th of the season. He was mostly an afterthought heading into the season, but eight home runs, 11 stolen bases and a .274 average is enough to have some value in deeper formats.

Kiner-Falefa has at least two hits in four of his last five games. He’s 9-for-20 (.450) with no home runs and one RBI in that time. The Pirates leadoff man is hitting .276 with a .705 OPS and 43 RBI on the year.

Kiner-Falefa drove in his run with an RBI single in the fifth, and it broke a 2-2 tie. The infielder singled for all three knocks, and improved his average to .272 in the process. Since coming over in the trade near the deadline, Kiner-Falefa has slashed .229/.262/.306 over 157 at-bats.

And so it begins. Early this week the Pirates had mentioned Cruz would see some time in center field to wrap up the season and after two days as a DH, Cruz will make his first career start in center field at any level. There may be some growing pains, but luckily we don’t play in fantasy leagues that penalize for defense. With Cruz in center field, Isiah Kiner-Falefa will remain the team’s starting shortstop with Jared Triolo at third base.

Kiner-Falefa took Mariners starter Luis Castillo deep to straightaway center field on the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the first inning for his first round-tripper in a Pirates uniform. The versatile 29-year-old finished with three hits and is batting .296 (16-for-54) with one homer, five RBI and three steals in 13 games since coming over from the Blue Jays at last month’s trade deadline.

The versatile infielder laced an RBI double in the fourth inning and followed that up with a softly hit single later in the seventh. Kiner-Falefa continues to play every day since coming over to Pittsburgh and could even become the Pirates starting shortstop in the immediate future since Oneil Cruz left Friday’s game with an injury and was not really able to walk off under his own power. If that also comes with a move up the lineup than IKF could see a value boost for deeper formats.

Kiner-Falefa and the Pirates got off to a great start in this one: both of his extra-base hits came in the first two innings as the lead-off hitter and helped the Pirates get up to an early 4-0 lead. Then, oddly, he was asked to bunt with two on in the ninth and popped it up right back to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. He’s drifted back into a utility role after being traded to Pittsburgh with just two starts since being traded last Tuesday. They have come in consecutive games though, so he may become a fixture in their lineup soon enough.

The Pirates saw one game from IKA on his minor league rehab assignment and decided that he was healthy enough to join the big-league club. He should see everyday action with his new team while rotating around the diamond to do so. He’ll bat sixth against Diamondbacks’ left-hander Jordan Montgomery on Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Kiner-Falefa will make his Pirates debut this weekend after needing just one minor league rehab contest. The versatile 29-year-old was acquired earlier this week from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline and will return after missing roughly one month recovering from a right knee sprain.