Pirates' Austin Hedges: Headed for No. 2 role

Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton confirmed Monday that Hedges is in line to serve as the Pirates' No. 2 catcher moving forward after Endy Rodriguez was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis, Justice delos Santos of MLB.com reports.

Though Rodriguez will ascend to the top of the depth chart following his call-up, Hedges won't be removed from the catching mix entirely. Shelton noted that he still expects Hedges to catch a couple of times per week, and the veteran is also likely to be deployed behind the dish on select occasions late in close games when defense is of greater importance. Hedges' skills as a pitch framer and game caller may be the only attributes keeping him on the Pittsburgh roster at this point; he's slashing a lowly .175/.226/.227 over 177 plate appearances on the season.