Pirates recall Wilber Dotel from Indianapolis, option Cam Sanders back down

The Pirates went looking for fresh innings and found them in Wilber Dotel, recalling the 23-year-old right-hander from Triple-A Indianapolis and sending Cam Sanders back down in a move made to shore up the major league bullpen.

Pittsburgh made the switch on Sunday, April 19, after relievers covered nine innings in Saturday’s rain-affected 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. With another game against Tampa Bay waiting at PNC Park, the club clearly decided it could not keep asking the same arms to absorb that kind of load.

Dotel is now in line to make his major league debut, a fast rise for a pitcher the Pirates value enough to keep on the 40-man roster all offseason. MLB Pipeline ranks the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native as Pittsburgh’s No. 12 prospect, and the organization moved him up after a start that never happened. He had been scheduled to work on the road for Indianapolis in Omaha on Saturday, but was scratched during warmups after learning he was headed to Pittsburgh.

The promotion says as much about the Pirates’ priorities as it does about Dotel’s standing in the system. Pittsburgh is choosing immediate bullpen help over leaving a young starter in place at Triple-A, even though Dotel’s early numbers in Indianapolis were uneven. In his first three starts for the Indians this season, he went 1-2 with a 6.28 ERA, striking out 13 in 14 1/3 innings while allowing plenty of traffic, including 18 hits and two home runs.

For Indianapolis, the ripple effect is direct. Dotel’s turn in the rotation disappears, and the club loses one of the more notable arms on its staff. Sanders is the other casualty in the shuffle, returning to Indianapolis just two days after Pittsburgh recalled him on April 17. That kind of churn is usually a sign that the big league club is chasing short-term relief wherever it can find it.

The result is a clear message from Pittsburgh: the pitching staff needed help now, and Dotel was the arm deemed ready to answer.