The Pirates announced Saturday their initial roster for the club’s alternate training site in Pittsburgh, which will host 31 players from the start. However, the biggest surprise was not who was included but rather, who was not.

Cole Tucker, the former top prospect who fell short in the shortstop competition this spring, and Jared Oliva, the Pirates’ No. 16 prospect, were both left off the club’s alternate training site roster.

According to manager Derek Shelton, this was part of the plan to help the duo, along with other Minor Leaguers, develop some specific skills before heading to Pittsburgh. He declined to specify what those skills were.

“We sat down and talked to them about what our thoughts were and laid out a plan, and they were both 100 percent on board with it,” Shelton said. “We figured Bradenton was a better place to get the actual skill development stuff.”

Tucker went 4-for-23 (.174) with a double and a triple in eight Grapefruit League games, while Oliva was 3-for-25 (.120) with a double and a homer in 13 games. Shelton said their arrival at the alternate training site is expected at some point, but it’s unclear at the moment.

“To give you how long they’re going to be there, I can’t give you that, because I don’t think we know,” Shelton said. “But we do think that they will be at the alternate site, and they’ll start the year [in the Minor Leagues] when [the season] starts.”

Here is the full roster announced on Saturday.

Pitchers (15): Tyler Bashlor, Chase De Jong, Jandel Gustave, Geoff Hartlieb, Max Kranick, James Marvel, Nick Mears, Braeden Ogle, Sean Poppen, Edgar Santana, Chasen Shreve, Shea Spitzbarth, Blake Weiman, Steven Wright, Miguel Yajure

Catchers (4): Jason Delay, Joe Hudson, Christian Kelley, Andrew Susac

Infielders (7): Ji-hwan Bae, Rodolfo Castro, Will Craig, Oneil Cruz, Wilmer Difo, Todd Frazier, Connor Kaiser

Outfielders (5): Brian Goodwin, Hunter Owen, Chris Sharpe, Troy Stokes Jr., Travis Swaggerty

Shelton said the group will be led by Triple-A manager Brian Esposito, Triple-A pitching coach Joel Hanrahan, Double-A hitting coach Dave Newhan and Double-A bench coach Gary Green.

Worth noting

• Shelton said Kyle Crick, who left the team late in Spring Training for the birth of his child, won’t be activated Saturday but could be back by Sunday at the earliest. Shelton does not expect Crick to need to be built up before his first appearance of the season.

“As soon as he clears the intake process, he will be back,” Shelton said.

• In the fourth inning of the Pirates’ 5-3 win over the Cubs on Opening Day, Dustin Fowler made a baserunning blunder that cost the team a run. With one out, Ke’Bryan Hayes lined a hard flyout to right field, and by the time the ball was caught by Jason Heyward, Fowler was nearly halfway down the third-base line.

“He was on a contact read and just got too aggressive on the flight of the ball,” Shelton said. “[Third-base coach Joey Cora] talked to him about it afterward, and I think [first-base coach Tarrik Brock] talked to him about [it] this morning. He just made a poor read. Fortunately, it didn't hurt us.”

It was one of two overaggressive mistakes in the inning, as Anthony Alford was picked off for the first out after straying from first base. However, the Pirates are playing a balancing game of trying to be aggressive -- as shown by a successful double steal with Adam Frazier and Fowler that inning -- without being too aggressive.

“We’re going to have to do things on the bases,” Shelton said on Thursday. “We stole some bases today, and we moved guys. We have to be able to do that.”

Up next

The Pirates will close out their opening series of the 2021 season on Sunday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mitch Keller will make a birthday start, as he turns 25 years old, in the ballpark closest to his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Zach Davies will pitch for the Cubs in the 2:20 p.m. ET contest, and the action will be live on AT&T Sportsnet and MLB.TV.