Chris Devenski has resumed baseball activities after missing the past week of games for the Pittsburgh Pirates because of an undisclosed illness. The right-handed reliever landed on the 15-day injured list on May 7, but the team says he is moving again and beginning the climb back toward game readiness.
Todd Tomczyk said Devenski had resumed all baseball activities and responded well to the initial stress from the performance staff. The Pirates expect him to ramp up the intensity and volume of his running in the coming days before Donnie, Ben and the rest of the group discuss the next steps.
That update lands at a time when Pittsburgh is already juggling its outfield depth. Jake Mangum was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactively on May 6 with a left hamstring strain, then scratched from the lineup right before first pitch on May 7. Nick Yorke was brought up in Mangum’s spot, Billy Cook started in right field in the series opener against the San Francisco Giants on May 8, and Yorke started in left field in the series finale on May 10.
For the Pirates, Devenski’s progress matters because it narrows one problem even as another remains unsettled. He had been unavailable for the past week, and the team needed to navigate games without a relief arm it had planned to have on hand. Now the focus shifts from the illness itself to whether his ramp-up goes smoothly enough to get him back into the bullpen without another setback.
Mangum’s situation shows the same balancing act in a different part of the roster. Tomczyk said the outfielder had also moved in the right direction, and the club has already had to adjust its lineup twice in quick succession to cover the injuries. Pittsburgh does not need a long explanation for why this stretch matters: it is trying to keep enough healthy players on the field to get through the week while waiting on two pieces who are both still in motion.
The next checkpoint is Devenski’s running progression, followed by the internal conversation about what comes after that. If he keeps answering well, the Pirates will have another arm closer to returning, and for a club already leaning on replacement options, that is the sort of update that can change a week.
