By PAUL LIOTTI
PITTSBURGH – Rochester’s Chris Bostick, a 2011 Aquinas graduate, was called up by the Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday night, after Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay completed a 4-player trade.
The Pirates made the spot for Bostick, who has starred for the International league’s Indianapolis Indians this season, after they struck a deal to acquire starting pitcher Chris Archer from the Rays in exchange for centerfielder Austin Meadows, and pitcher Tyler Glasnow and a third player to be named.
By sending centerfielder Meadows to Tampa Bay, it opened the door on the big league roster for Bostick to, who has starred for the Indians in the middle of the outfield this season.
In 78 games this year in Indianapolis, Bostick is hitting .295 with 88 hits in 298 at-bats, with 24 doubles, 3 triples and 4 round-trippers. His .436 slugging percentage, .787 on-base plus percentage and batting percentage are all in the top five for the Indians this year.
Since Pittsburgh unloaded Meadows in the trade, the move would seem to be more than just a temporary assignment for Bostick, who was called up in May 2017 for 20 games, The right-handed batter, who was a 44th-round draft pick of the Oakland A’s in 2011, already had a spot on the 40-man September roster for the Pirates.
As Indianapolis is a member of the International League, he traveled to Rochester and helped lead the Indians to a 3-game sweep of the Red Wings in early June. In the series, Bostick went 5-for-11 with 1 home run, 1 double, 3 RBI and scored 3 runs.
Bostick, who grew up in Gates, missed action earlier this season after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. He was reinstated from the 7-day disabled list July 25. In the three games prior to Tuesday, he didn’t miss a beat, collecting 4 hits in 13 at-bats.
This is his 8th season playing baseball professionally, which has seen the 25-year-old spend 3 ½ years in Single A and 1 season in Double A with three organizations – Oakland, Texas and Washington. Mid-season in 2016 he was called up to the Syracuse Chiefs before the Washington Nationals organization dealt him to Pittsburgh prior to the start of the 2017.
On May 8, 2017 he made his major league debut in historic Dodger Stadium as Pittsburgh traveled to Los Angeles. While his first two major league at-bats ended in strikeouts, he ended up appearing in 19 other games last year, hitting .296 in 27 at-bats, with two doubles, 6 runs scored and 1 RBI. His first hit – a double — was against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh on September 7.
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