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Morning Report: The Starters Used Most Often For Each Affiliate

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It might be hard to believe because it’s a short-season team with a limited schedule, but the GCL Pirates have already received starts from 14 different pitchers. Finding that out today, led my to look at how many starters all the others teams have used, as well as which five pitchers have the most starts for each team. We had some guesses for each rotation based on Spring Training usage, so it’s interesting to see who has the most starts for each team with a few weeks left in the season.

Indianapolis has used 15 starters already, more than all the other teams. You would expect them to see extras, especially when the Pirates call up starters and they need to be replaced on short notice. They have also had injuries and a trade to deal with this year. Back in February, we may have guessed at this point that Brandon Cumpton, Casey Sadler, Nick Kingham and Adrian Sampson would make up a majority of the starts and Jameson Taillon would be there by now with his share of games. The top five starters are Sampson(21), Chris Volstad(20), Wilfredo Boscan(19), Sadler(13) and Angel Sanchez/Radhames Liz with ten each. Of those six, Sanchez and Sadler are injured, Sampson has been traded.

Altoona has used ten different starters, but they have been the most consistent team. The openers were Zack Dodson, Chad Kuhl, Jason Creasy, Angel Sanchez and Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow was hurt and has moved to Indy recently, while Sanchez moved up to Indy at mid-season. The other three have made every start, while Matt Benedict took Glasnow’s spot and Steven Brault took Sanchez’s place. The other three starters were Rob Scahill and Charlie Morton on rehab, and Thomas Harlan, who is the emergency fill-in, usually during doubleheaders.

Bradenton has had 11 starters this year. Cody Dickson(23), is the only pitcher to make all his starts. Frank Duncan has 21, but he moved to the bullpen for a short time. Jayson Aquino made 18 starts before he was traded to the Indians. Luis Heredia has 17 starts(yet 32 less innings than Aquino). Steven Brault made 13 before he got called up. Dickson, Duncan, Heredia, Clay Holmes and Tyler Eppler make up the current rotation.

West Virginia has used ten starters, with five getting a large majority of the starts. Austin Coley(23), Alex McRae(22), Colten Brewer(18), Yeudy Garcia(17) and Stephen Tarpley with 16, have been the starters for awhile. Dovydas Neverauskas and Jon Sever were getting starts early, but Sever been used in long relief recently and Neverauskas was promoted to fill innings at Bradenton.

Morgantown has used ten starters, with two of them getting hurt and Tyler Glasnow was there on rehab. Dario Agrazal Jr, Bret Helton and Jonathan Brubaker have been in the rotation the whole time. Hector Garcia was supposed to be, but he went down with Tommy John surgery. Stephan Meyer hurt his back in his only start and he’s now in the GCL. Brandon Waddell just joined the rotation, taking over for Luis Paula. Seth McGarry went to the GCL first to get stretched out, and since then he’s been the other regular in the rotation.

Bristol has used ten different starters. Unfortunately, their big three of Mitch Keller, Gage Hinsz and Trey Supak have all missed some time, so the team has been forced to use others in their place. Billy Roth was scheduled for the rotation with those three and he leads with nine starts. Then he’s followed by Marek Minarik, Neil Kozikowski and Logan Sendelbach, who have all made seven starts. Hinsz has the fifth most with six. It looks like the big three are all back in the rotation, although Supak pitched briefly(due to rain) on Monday and hasn’t pitched since. That could just be due to two rain outs, so he may go tonight.

As mentioned above, the GCL Pirates have used 14 different starters. That number is a little deceiving because the GCL is used often for rehab games, and when a pitcher is there on rehab, he usually starts. It doesn’t matter if he’s normally a reliever, they let the upper level guys get in their work first. The top five starters are Luis Escobar(10),  Chris Plitt(7), Nestor Oronel(6), Nicholas Economos(5) and three players have made three starts. Pirates’ fourth round pick Jacob Taylor probably would have started more, but he was injured in his first game and now he’s out until 2017 with Tommy John surgery.

The DSL Pirates strayed from their regular rotation the first time through the order, switching two players. They have used eight starters, including Ronnie Agustin, who was supposed to be in the Opening Day rotation. He has made six starts because the top two pitchers(Adonis Pichardo and Brian Sousa) have both been hurt. Yerry De Los Santos(switched with Agustin), Domingo Robles and Miguel Hernandez have made all 13 starts. Pichardo made eight and a player given a tryout during spring, Argenis Romano, has made seven starts. Sousa has only made four, which is unfortunately because he may have been the best pitcher there for the Pirates.

Pirates Game Graph


Source: FanGraphs

Playoff Push

The Pirates trail by five games in the division to the Cardinals. They have a 2.5 game lead for the top wild card spot.

Indianapolis is 8-2 in their last ten games. They have a 4.5 game lead in the division.

Altoona is 6-4 in their last ten games and they are in third place, 5.5 games back of Bowie.

Bradenton is 6-4 in their last ten games. They trail Palm Beach by three games in the standings.

West Virginia is 7-3 in their last ten games and they have a six game lead in the division.

Morgantown is 4-6 in their last ten games. They are 3.5 games back in the wild card chase.

The Bristol Pirates are 5-5 in their last ten games. They are three games back in the division.

GCL Pirates are 3-7 in their last ten games. They are 3.5 games back in the standings.

The DSL Pirates have been eliminated from the postseason.

Today’s Schedule

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates beat the Mets by an 8-1 score on Sunday afternoon to sweep the series. They now travel home for three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gerrit Cole gets the ball in game one tonight, making his 24th start. He allowed one run over 7.2 innings against Arizona back in April. The Diamondbacks will send Jeremy Hellickson to the mound. He has a 4.73 ERA in 123.2 innings. He threw eight shutout innings against the Phillies in his last start.

In the minors, Tyler Eppler will make his tenth start of the season. He has allowed three earned runs or less in all but one of his appearances this year. The GCL Pirates will finish a suspended game, before they play their regularly scheduled game. Altoona has off today. Morgantown is on their All-Star break until Wednesday. Four players have been selected to the NYPL All-Star team. You can view last night’s prospect watch here.

MLB: Pittsburgh (69-46) vs Diamondbacks (57-59) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (2.48 ERA, 34:149 BB/SO, 148.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (73-50) vs Norfolk (70-50) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Chris Volstad (3.19 ERA, 36:75 BB/SO, 124.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (64-57) vs Portland (44-77) 7:00 PM 7/18 (season preview)
Probable starter: Chad Kuhl (2.76 ERA, 37:88 BB/SO, 127.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (62-57, 30-19 second half) vs St Lucie (60-59) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (3.77 ERA, 12:32 BB/SO, 45.1 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (71-47, 34-15 second half) @ Lexington (49-68) 5:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter:  Alex McRae (2.37 ERA, 31:87 BB/SO, 98.2 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (27-29) vs Auburn (26-28) 6:05 PM 7/19 (season preview)
Probable Starter: TBD

Rookie: Bristol (23-25) @ Bluefield (20-32) 6:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: TBD

GCL: Pirates (26-19) vs  Yankees2 (17-28) 12:00 PM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates (25-41) vs Brewers (30-36) 10:30 AM (season preview)

Highlights

Here are a couple videos from the last two days, starting with Josh Bell hitting.

Here are highlights from Sunday’s game pitched by Tyler Glasnow

Recent Transactions

8/16: Jose Salazar retired.

8/16: Pirates sign Frank Herrmann. Jeremy Bleich placed on temporary inactive list.

8/14: Edward Salcedo traded to Royals. Robert Stock assigned to Altoona.

8/13: Angel Sanchez placed on disabled list. Andy Vasquez sent to Altoona.

8/11: Rob Scahill sent to Altoona on rehab.

8/11: Wilfredo Boscan sent outright to Indianapolis. Jeff Inman placed on disabled list.

8/11: Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

8/9: Adam Miller promoted to Indianapolis.

8/9: Cole Tucker placed on disabled list. Erik Forgione sent to Morgantown.

8/8: Kevin Newman and Edgar Santana promoted to West Virginia.

8/8: Junior Sosa placed on disabled list. Isaac Sanchez activated from Bradenton disabled list.

8/7: Vance Worley sent outright to Indianapolis.

8/7: Deolis Guerra returned to Pirates from Indians and placed on disabled list. Wilfredo Boscan designated for assignment.

8/6: Rob Scahill assigned to GCL on rehab.

8/5: Indians claim Deolis Guerra off waivers.

8/5: Isaac Sanchez assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab. Stephan Meyer assigned to GCL from Morgantown.

8/4: Dovydas Neverauskas promoted to Bradenton. Robert Stock sent to GCL.

8/4: Jake Burnette activated from disabled list.

8/4: Jonathan Schwind activated from Altoona disabled list. Adam Miller assigned to Altoona.

8/3: Michael Morse added to active roster. Jaff Decker optioned to Indianapolis.

This Date in Pirates History

Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including three that played for playoff teams and one had a very brief career.

Chad Quall, 2012 pitcher. Came over from the Yankees at the trade deadline and really struggled, allowing 11 runs in 13.2 innings

Alex Cole, 1992 outfielder. The Pirates traded for Cole on July 4th and he went to right field, where he hit .278 in 64 games. Went 2-for-10 with three walks in the postseason.

Bill Landrum, closer from 1989 until 1991. Had a 1.67 ERA in 81 innings, with 26 saves in 1989. Had a 2.13 ERA the following year. Saved 17 games in 1991. Pitched three playoff innings between 1990-91, giving up one run.

Johnny Rawlings, second baseman from 1923 until 1926. Played 219 games for the Pirates, hitting .272, with 97 runs scored. Never won a Gold Glove, but he was an excellent fielder.

Arch Reilly, third baseman on June 1, 1917. His regular job was as a college math teacher and he didn’t join the Pirates until he was done with work that year on May 28th. He played one inning at third base in his only game, handling one play. He started at third base two days later in an exhibition game, which were often played during the season back then. Reilly was released to the minors the next day and he never appeared in the majors again.

His story coincides with a player named Marcus Milligan. During that exhibition game Reilly started, Milligan pitched the last four innings. That was the only game he played for the Pirates before also getting released to the minors with Reilly. Unfortunately for Milligan, he never got a chance to get into a real MLB game. He passed away in 1918 in a plane crash while training for WWI at the age of 22.

On this date in 1971, Bill Mazeroski doubles for his 2000th hit. He becomes the seventh player to collect 2000 hits in a Pirates’ uniform. Willie Stargell is the only player to reach that mark since. Roberto Clemente was previously the last one to reach that goal with the Pirates before Mazeroski.

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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