Pirates Rising Catcher Placed on Paternity Leave
In this story:
The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced some news at catcher before the second game of their series at PNC Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Henry Davis was placed on the paternity list, and Rafael Flores Jr. will take his place on the 26-man roster after being brought up from the taxi squad.
Meanwhile, Joey Bart is set to begin a rehab assignment with Single-A Bradenton. He was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left foot infection on May 12.
Pirates C Henry Davis is going on the Paternity List, while C/1B Rafael Flores Jr. is activated off the taxi squad
— Dominic Campbell (@DOMISMONEY) June 10, 2026
Pirates C Joey Bart is also starting his rehab-assignment with Single-A Bradenton
Davis' Trajectory With Pirates
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Davis has had a bit of an up-and-down professional career.
Ranked as the No. 18 prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus heading into the 2022 campaign, Davis slashed .264/.380/.472 with 10 home runs and 42 RBIs across four levels, reaching as high as Double-A Altoona.
Davis was widely viewed as a top-100 prospect before the 2023 season as well, and he backed up that title by batting .306/.454/.561 over 250 plate appearances between Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis.
He made his big-league debut on June 19 of that year, but his production from the minors didn't follow him to Pittsburgh as Davis posted a .653 OPS with seven homers across 255 trips to the plate.
He took a step back in 2024 with a .453 OPS in 37 games and 122 plate appearances for the Pirates while posting -2 Blocks Above Average and -3 Framing Runs, per Baseball Savant.
Davis' bat didn't come along in 2025 either, evidenced by a .512 OPS in 287 trips to the plate. He showed considerable development defensively though, recording a Fielding Run Value of 2 and 5 Caught Stealing Above Average.
The 26-year-old's offense has remained at that same level so far this season, logging a .526 OPS to go alongside five home runs, but he's done a fantastic job of controlling the running game with 3 Caught Stealing Above Average and an elite pop time of 1.86 seconds.
Endy Rodriguez, who has a 122 wRC+ in 56 plate appearances this year, should handle the starting duties at catcher for as long as Davis is on the paternity list while Flores serves as the backup.
Ranked as the No. 8 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system by MLB Pipeline, Flores made his major league debut for the club last September and has a .644 OPS in Triple-A this year.
He was the key piece of the club's return in the trade that sent David Bednar to the New York Yankees at last year's deadline.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Jack is a New Jersey native who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh as a Media & Professional Communications major in 2024 who is now covering the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Yankees for On SI.