Injuries to Pirates' Adam Frazier, Cole Tucker minor; Anthony Alford progressing

Mar. 4—Two players who potentially could form the Pittsburgh Pirates middle infield on opening day have missed Grapefruit League games, but the team's director of sports medicine on Thursday allayed fears their ailments will linger.

Todd Tomczyk referred to Cole Tucker's left thumb contusion as "minor," and he called Adam Frazier's right groin tightness "minor." Each is expected to get into a game lineup soon.

"(Tucker) is going to do everything he can do to from swing right-handed to take ground balls, let the inflammation calm down a little bit," Tomczyk said during a video conference call with media. "And hopefully you will see him back out there very soon."

Tomczyk said Frazier has been asking to play for three days now.

"Basically we have to convince (and) just tell (manager Derek Shelton) to put him in the lineup," Tomczyk said.

"We did not want little things to turn into big things, couple of the last steps are running the bases at the maximum full velocity, and obviously having Derek watch, the staff watch. And then Adam and Derek having a conversation."

In other injury news divulged by Tomczyk during his call Thursday:

— Outfielder Anthony Alford has "made very nice strides over the past week" after an initial mild setback in his return from a broken elbow. Alford is on no hitting restrictions and will be evaluated after a throwing session Friday.

— Nothing should be read into the lack of game action thus far for some of the pitchers expected to be part of the bullpen. Tomczyk specifically addressed Michael Feliz and Edgar Santana, the latter of which hasn't pitched during the regular season since 2018 Tommy John surgery. Each is throwing live batting practice sessions and figure to get into games soon. "It's kind of funny to say but we are short on innings because of the 5-7-9 (-inning games) and how the teams are constructing the early part of spring training," Tomczyk said. Feliz didn't pitch after Aug. 1 last season because of a forearm strain.

— Outfielder Jared Oliva (low-back tightness) has resumed "light baseball activities." Tomczyk said the Pirates envision him playing "in the near future."

— On the 60-day injured list because of a sprained elbow, lefty Austin Davis has been playing catch this week. "He's responding well to the initial workloads," Tomczyk said, "so he's making some nice progress."

— Rule 5 draft pick Jose Soriano is more than 13 months out from Tommy John surgery. "He started his side progressions and he's making nice strides there as well," Tomczyk said. "Recovering well."

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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .