McLouth wins center field job

The Pirates also added Louis Rivas to the roster in case Freddy Sanchez can’t play.

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Nate McLouth won the Pittsburgh Pirates starting center field job Tuesday, beating out Nyjer Morgan less than a week before opening day.

“A lot of players come to spring training and use it as a tuneup for the season, whereas I had to go out every day and do my best and perform,” McLouth said.

Neither McLouth nor Morgan has previously owned a starting center field job in the majors.

McLouth, given the news shortly after the Pirates beat the Twins 7-3, is hitting .311 to Morgan’s .228. Morgan has superior speed and baserunning ability and is better defensively, but McLouth has more power — he had 13 homers while hitting .258 in 329 at-bats last season.

“Nate swung the bat extremely well, and he gives you a dimension with the power he has, and he finished the year strong last year,” manager John Russell said.

Russell, according to McLouth, didn’t say much during the brief closed-door meeting in which the manager and GM Neal Huntington settled the only position player competition in the Pirates’ camp.

“J.R.’s pretty straightforward, there were no jokes,” McLouth said. “He just said, ‘You’re our opening day center fielder, congratulations,’ and I said, ‘Thank you.’ ”

Morgan, who was excellent defensively while hitting .299 during a September callup, wasn’t entirely disappointed after being told he would be on the opening day roster.

“I’m extremely happy for Nate,” Morgan said. “I’m going to come into a role I’m not used to, coming off the bench, maybe do some pinch running and come in as a defensive replacement. As long as I can be beneficial to this new regime and hopefully help the Pittsburgh Pirates get off the schneid, I say, ‘Let’s go, baby.’ ”

Also, the Pirates purchased infielder Luis Rivas’ contract from Triple-A Indianapolis and will start him at second base on opening day if Freddy Sanchez’s sore shoulder isn’t better.

Sanchez didn’t sound optimistic Tuesday about being game-ready in less than a week, saying he doesn’t want to go through the season repeatedly taking cortisone shots just to play. He had arthroscopic surgery late last season to repair a shoulder problem not related to this one.

“When I hit, it’s fine. When I run, it’s fine. Even when I throw lightly, it’s fine. It’s not until I throw hard, I try to let it go, that it doesn’t cooperate,” Sanchez said. “That’s why I’d rather take more time off now, than go through the whole season like this because this is not fun.”

In addition to promoting Rivas, the Pirates cut four players, including former Yankees outfielder Kevin Thompson, and are down to 33 in camp, eight over the limit.

Thompson was optioned to Triple-A, while non-roster left-hander Casey Fossum and right-hander Elmer Dessens were reassigned to the minor league camp. Right-hander Jonah Bayliss was designated for assignment, creating a spot on the 40-man roster for Rivas.