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Prospect Watch: Meadows Continues His Hot Streak, Liz Struggles For First Time

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TOP OF THE SYSTEM

A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today.  Note that this list doesn’t include players currently in the majors. If a player is in the majors, he will be removed, everyone below him will be shifted up a spot, and a new player will be added to the bottom of the list. If a player is out for the season, he will be removed and everyone below him will move up a spot. Removing these guys doesn’t mean they have lost prospect status. It is just an attempt to get 30 active prospects on the list. Rankings are from early season update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.

1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Altoona – DNP

2. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

3. Austin Meadows, CF, Bradenton – 2-for-4

4. Josh Bell, 1B, Altoona – DNP

5. Reese McGuire, C, Bradenton – 0-for-4

6. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

7. Alen Hanson, 2B, Indianapolis – 2-for-4, SB

8. Cole Tucker, SS, West Virginia – 1-for-4

9. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis – DNP

10. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bristol – DNP

11. Harold Ramirez, OF, Bradenton – Pan-Am Tournament

12. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, West Virginia – DNP

13. JaCoby Jones, SS, Bradenton – 0-for-4, 3 K

14. Adrian Sampson, RHP, Indianapolis -DNP

15. Trey Supak, RHP, Bristol – 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

16. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bristol – DNP

17. Barrett Barnes, OF, Bradenton – 0-for-4

18. Clay Holmes, RHP, Bradenton – DNP

19. Cody Dickson, LHP, Bradenton – DNP

20. Willy Garcia, OF, Indianapolis – DNP

21. John Holdzkom, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

22. Jordan Luplow, 3B, West Virginia – 0-for-4

23. Connor Joe, 1B, West Virginia – DNP

24. Wyatt Mathisen, 3B, Bradenton – 0-for-3, BB

25. Casey Sadler, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

26. Steven Brault, LHP, Altoona  – DNP

27. Tito Polo, OF, West Virginia – Pan-Am Tournament

28. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Bradenton – DNP

29Luis Heredia, RHP, Bradenton – DNP

30. Taylor Gushue, C, West Virginia – 1-for-3, 2B

DAILY SUMMARY

Top Pitcher: Chad Kuhl, RHP – 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 HR

Top Hitter: Logan Ratledge, SS – 2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB

Home Runs: Jose Osuna (3), Logan Hill (3), Sandy Santos (3), Edward Salcedo (1)

AAA: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS    

Box Score

Result: Columbus 6, Indianapolis 2

Starting Pitcher: Radhames Liz, RHP – 5.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 0 HR

Top Hitter: Brent Morel, 3B – 3-for-4, RBI

Other Notable Performers:

Alen Hanson, 2B – 2-for-4, SB

Keon Broxton, RF – 1-for-3, BB, R

Game Notes: Radhames Liz has been dominating before today, giving up just one run in his three starts and three relief appearances. He had seven strikeouts on the night, but gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks in five innings. While A.J. Morris had two perfect innings after Liz, another pitcher doing well recently, had a tough night. Yhonathan Barrios gave up two runs over 11 innings in his first nine games at AAA before Saturday. He got hit around a little last time out, giving up a run on three hits, but things got a little worse in this game. Barrios gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in his only inning.

Alen Hanson had two hits and stole his 23rd base of the season. He is hitting .286/.329/.422 this season. Elias Diaz wasn’t available for this game, as he and Josh Bell left for the Futures Game. Corey Hart went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, making him 4-for-26 with ten strikeouts in his rehab assignment.

AA: ALTOONA CURVE

Box Score

Result: Altoona 4, Bowie 2

Starting Pitcher: Chad Kuhl, RHP – 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 HR

Top Hitter: Jose Osuna, LF – 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI

Other Notable Performers:

Adam Frazier, SS – 1-for-3, HR, BB

Max Moroff, 2B – 1-for-4

Game Notes: Chad Kuhl went six innings on Saturday night, allowing just one unearned run. He gave up eight hits and a walk, but the only run scored due in part to a throwing ever from Kuhl. It’s his second straight appearance with six innings and no earned runs. Reliever Jhondaniel Medina extended his incredible streak of keeping the baseball in the park. The last home run he allowed was on June 28,2013, a stretch of 79 appearances and 113.1 innings.

Jose Osuna provided the offense with a two-run homer and an RBI single. The homer is his third for Altoona and his seventh on the season. He also has 20 doubles this year. Stetson Allie went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, though he did help out by throwing a runner out at home plate to end the sixth inning. Edward Salcedo hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot in the fourth inning. Adam Frazier extended his hitting streak to 13 games and his on base streak to 17 straight.

A+: BRADENTON MARAUDERS   

Box Score

Result: Dayton 3, Bradenton 2

Starting Pitcher: Frank Duncan, RHP – 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

Top Hitter: Chris Diaz, 2B – 2-for-3, RBI

Other Notable Performers:

Edwin Espinal, 1B – 2-for-4, 2B

Austin Meadows, CF -2-for-4

Game Notes: On Saturday night, Austin Meadows showed the skills that make his one of the top prospects in baseball. He came into this game with a .350 batting average in 19 games since the All-Star break. He not only had two hits in this contest to continue that streak, he also picked up his 14th stolen base of the season and he had two outfield assists. Meadows is now hitting .300, which is more impressive than it sounds. In the pitching-friendly Florida State League League, just five players have a .300 average after play on Saturday and Meadows is just 18 points behind the league leader.

Montana DuRapau retired all six batters he faced, lowering his ERA with Bradenton to 0.61 through 29.1 innings. On top of that, he has allowed just ten hits and three walks since moving up from West Virginia. The only strange part about his success is that he was doing well as an extreme ground ball pitcher with the Power, but he has been a fly ball pitcher in High-A.

JaCoby Jones struck out three times in this game, giving him 97 on the season, which leads the Pirates’ system.

A: WEST VIRGINIA POWER

Box Score

Result: Greensboro 1, West Virginia 0

Starting Pitcher: Austin Coley, RHP – 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR

Top Hitter: Taylor Gushue, C – 1-for-3, 2B

Other Notable Performers:

Cole Tucker, SS – 1-for-4

Pablo Reyes, DH – 0-for-3, BB, SB

Game Notes: Austin Coley threw five shutout innings, but he got no run support from his teammates. The Power had four hits, one walk and a hit batter, plus they went 2-for-2 in stolen bases. They couldn’t come up with any big hits, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Taylor Gushue’s tenth double was the only extra-base hit for West Virginia. Pablo Reyes stole his 15th base of the season and Jeff Roy picked up his 13th steal. With four strikeouts and no walks in this outing, Coley has a 13:76 BB/SO ratio in 91.2 innings.

A: WEST VIRGINIA BLACK BEARS

Box Score

Result: West Virginia 7, Vermont 3

Starting Pitcher: Dario Agrazal Jr., RHP – 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR

Top Hitter: Logan Hill, RF – 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Other Notable Performers:

Kevin Newman, SS – 0-for-4, BB, R

Kevin Kramer, 2B – 2-for-3, 2 R, BB

Mitchell Tolman, 3B – 1-for-3, 2B, BB, 2 RBI

Game Notes: Morgantown scored six runs over the last two innings for a comeback victory on Saturday night. Logan Hill hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth. He has homered three times this year and driven in 20 runs in the team’s first 21 games. Mitchell Tolman drove in two runs in this game, after scoring two runs in each of his last two games. Kevin Kramer had two hits, scored two runs and drew a walk. First round pick Kevin Newman is now hitting .158 after going 0-for-14 in his last three games.

Starter Dario Agrazal Jr. allowed two runs over five innings, giving him a 2.77 ERA in his first five starts. He threw 52 of his 77 pitches for strikes. He has gone at least five innings in every start and allowed two earned runs or less each time.

RK: BRISTOL PIRATES

Box Score

Result: Bristol 14 Kingsport 5

Starting Pitcher: Trey Supak, RHP – 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

Top Hitter: Logan Ratledge, SS – 2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB

Other Notable Performers:

Nick Buckner, RF – 2-for-5, 2B, 2 R

Julio de la Cruz, 3B – 2-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R

Jordan George, DH – 2-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 R, BB

Jose Salazar, 1B – 2-for-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB

Game Recap: Trey Supak was on the mound today, which would usually be the biggest story, but Bristol doesn’t usually put 14 runs on the board. Five players in the lineup had two hits and scored at least two runs. Sandy Santos wasn’t part of that group, but he did hit his third homer of the season. Logan Ratledge came into this game hitting .088 in his first nine games. He had two hits, drove in three runs and scored twice. Jordan George also drove in three runs and Jose Salazar scored three times. Trae Arbet hit his seventh double of the season and he has a .432 average.

Supak didn’t have his best outing, lasting just 3.1 innings. He gave up a two-run homer in the fourth inning and another unearned run earlier in the game. Supak had four strikeouts and no walks, giving him a 3:17 BB/SO ratio in 16.1 innings through his first four starts.

RK: GCL PIRATES

Box Score

Result: Phillies 8, Pirates 2

Starting Pitcher: Nestor Oronel, LHP – 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 HR

Top Hitter: Victor Fernandez, RF – 1-for-4, 2B, R

Other Notable Performers:

Justin Sellers, SS – 2-for-3

Sam Kennelly, 1B – 2-for-4

Game Notes: Nestor Oronel had a great start on Saturday, but got no help from the bullpen. He allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter in five scoreless innings. The 18-year-old lefty allowed one run on two hits in five innings during his last start, so he has put together two straight solid outings.

Phillies’ pitchers shut down the Pirates’ offense in this 10-inning contest, allowing just six hits and two of those came off the bat of Justin Sellers, who was playing his third rehab game for the GCL Pirates. He is 3-for-8 at the plate, but has yet to play a full game or go back-to-back days. Sam Kennelly had two hits and Victor Fernandez hit his fourth double of the season, the only extra-base hit of the game for the Pirates. Kennelly is hitting .321 through 15 games and he has a six-game hit streak.

Ke’Bryan Hayes had his on-base streak snapped at 11 games, which started in his first pro game. Raul Siri has been in a miserable slump since a hot start. In his last ten games, he is 4-for-39 with no extra-base hits. In his first seven games, he had 13 hits, including a homer and three doubles.

RK: DSL PIRATES

Box Score

Result:  Yankees2 9, Pirates 5

Starting Pitcher: Domingo Robles, LHP – 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR

Top Hitter: Jeremias Portorreal, RF – 1-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R

Other Notable Performers:

Melvin Jimenez, 2B – 3-for-4, 3B

Christopher Perez, SS – 1-for-4, R

Game Recap: The Pirates dropped to 15-22, as this week marked the halfway point of the DSL season. Two pitchers that got six-figure bonuses had issues in this game. Starter Domingo Robles gave up three runs on six hits and two walks in four innings. He also threw three wild pitches and hit a batter. Robles now has a 5.14 ERA through eight starts. He was followed by Roger Santana, who couldn’t get through an inning of work before being pulled. He allowed four runs on four hits, which included two doubles and two triples. He has an 8.28 ERA in 25 innings.

The two big stories from Friday’s game continued on Saturday, one good and one bad. Jeremias Portorreal walked twice, giving him 19 walks in his last 14 games. Yondry Contreras went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. For Portorreal, he now has 30 walks in 30 games this season. Contreras has a .189 average and 46 strikeouts in 32 games. At $400,000, he was the highest bonus player signed last year. Huascar Fuentes is hitting .167 this month after batting .349/.439/.663 last month.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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