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Morning Report: Trevor Williams Returns to Indianapolis Rotation

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Trevor Williams returns to Indianapolis for the first time since leaving his start on April 10th with a shoulder injury. He pitched Sunday in Bradenton, and talked to Tim Williams afterwards, stating that he was ready to rejoin Indianapolis. He is making his return, but the prospect rotation scheduled to start the year, still won’t be together for the first time.

Chad Kuhl had some minor arm soreness that kept him in Extended Spring Training to begin the season, so he wasn’t there the first week. He returned early when Williams went down. Steven Brault is now out with a hamstring strain, and he isn’t due back for a minimum of four weeks, which could possibly mean the five prospects are never in the same rotation. By the time Brault returns, you would assume at least one out of Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl and Tyler Glasnow will be in the majors already.

This will be the first time I really get to see Williams pitch, and I will be providing a full recap an analysis in the Prospect Watch tonight after he’s done. I saw him pitch in the Arizona Fall League All-Star game for an inning, then saw him briefly during Spring Training as well, plus some of our videos we took during the spring. Those were all abbreviated outings though, so an actual start with a high pitch count will be interesting to watch.

I must admit that I planned on watching Williams for a half hour, then switching to Clay Holmes, because I really want to see the game where Holmes puts it all together for the first time. I’ve seen a fastball that has hit 96 MPH in his last two starts (he was topping out at 95 before that), which he gets great downhill action on. I’ve seen his curve used as a put away pitch with great results. I’ve watched him show some very nice changeups, plus he started throwing a two-seam fastball recently, but he hasn’t had a game where everything is working.

The problem is that Bowie doesn’t seem to be broadcasting games, which is a first this season for Altoona. So I have a pretty good fallback plan in watching the entire start for Williams. Plus, watching Holmes instead would have been a little selfish on my part because Wilbur Miller will be covering the Altoona game live and Indianapolis is on the road, so no one will there. My (sort of) loss is your gain.

** Bradenton swept St Lucie in a doubleheader yesterday, moving them into sole possession of first place, just a couple days after they were in fourth place. They are going for the first half title, which would give them home field in the playoffs, even if they went 0-70 in the second half. The Florida State League season has just under four weeks left, though that includes three days off for the FSL All-Star game. Of course, if they are going to win the first half title, they will have to do it without Kevin Newman, who will be out of action for the rest of the first half.

** On Friday, we posted a mock draft from Jonathan Mayo in which he had the Pirates taking shortstop Nolan Jones, a high school player from Holy Ghost Prep in Bensalem, Pa. A short time later, Prep Baseball Report updated their top 100 list for high school draft prospects (subscription required) and they ranked Jones as the 12th best player in the class, fifth among position players. Their rankings had a slightly interesting twist, as it seems most people have been a little higher on Alex Kirilloff, who is a prep 1B/OF from Plum HS in Pittsburgh. Prep Baseball has Kirilloff as the 13th best player. We have heard that the Pirates have interest in both Jones and Kirilloff, but most people have them both off the board before the Pirates select 22nd overall. If Kirilloff has dropped a little, it’s possible the Pirates may be able to choose between the two in-state prep players, and not just take the one that falls to them.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton is 7-3 in their last ten games. They are in first place in their division, one game ahead. The first half of the FSL season ends on June 22nd.

West Virginia is 5-5 in their last ten games. They are in fourth place in their division, trailing first place by 5.5 games. The first half of the SAL season ends on June 19th.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates won 9-1 over the Rangers on Friday night. They will send Juan Nicasio to the mound tonight, making his ninth start of the season. He went five innings in his last start against the Braves, allowing three runs. He gave up four earned runs in each of his previous two starts. The Rangers will counter with Yu Darvish, who is making his first Major League start since August 9, 2014.

In the minors, Trevor Williams returns to Indianapolis. He threw five shutout innings in a start for Bradenton on Sunday. He left his only start for Indianapolis back on April 10th after ten pitches due to a mild rotator strain. He was at a limit of 80 pitches on Sunday, which will likely be bumped up to 85 pitches (or six innings) tonight.

Clay Holmes goes for Altoona tonight. He has allowed three earned runs or less in six of his nine starts, and he has allowed just one homer in 44.2 innings this season. He has a very strong 3.00 GO/AO ratio.

Austin Coley goes for Bradenton. He has allowed a total of nine earned runs in his last seven stats combined, after giving up nine earned total in his first two starts. West Virginia starter JT Brubaker has allowed at least three earned runs in each of his last five starts. In 15 starts last year, he gave up three runs or more just four times.

MLB: Pittsburgh (28-19) @ Rangers (27-21) 7:15 PM
Probable starter: Juan Nicasio (4.46 ERA, 17:43 BB/SO, 42.1 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (24-22) @ Pawtucket (23-25) 6:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Trevor Williams (0.00 ERA, 0:0 BB/SO, 0.1 IP)

AA: Altoona (26-20) @ Bowie (18-28) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (5.24 ERA, 19:29 BB/SO, 44.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (26-22) vs St Lucie (25-23) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.33 ERA, 17:31 BB/SO, 48.2 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (24-23) vs Columbia (25-23) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (4.40 ERA, 20:50 BB/SO, 45.0 IP)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is the walk-off single from Erich Weiss on Thursday morning. Interesting defense by the left fielder in this one. First thought was that he was trying to get momentum in case the runner from third tagged up, but then I quickly remembered that there were two outs already, so I have no idea what he was doing there. Still counts as a two-run single though.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

5/27: Trevor Williams and Jim Fuller assigned to Indianapolis

5/27: Kevin Newman placed on disabled list. Colten Brewer added to Bradenton roster.

5/27: Logan Sendelbach added to West Virginia roster. Jess Amedee assigned to Extended Spring Training.

5/26: Jhondaniel Medina promoted to Indianapolis.

5/25: Pirates place Tony Watson on paternity list. Recall Rob Scahill.

5/25: Pirates place Arquimedes Caminero on disabled list. Recall Kyle Lobstein.

5/24: Pirates place Ryan Vogelsong on disabled list. A.J. Schugel recalled from Indianapolis.

5/23: Logan Sendelbach assigned to Extended Spring Training. Jess Amedee added to West Virginia.

5/22: Trevor Williams assigned to Bradenton. Colten Brewer sent to Extended Spring Training.

5/22: Trace Tam Sing added to Bradenton roster.

5/21: West Virginia assigns Ty Moore and Casey Hughston to Extended Spring Training. Logan Ratledge and Sean Keselica added to West Virginia roster.

5/21: Logan Hill demoted from Bradenton to West Virginia.

5/21: Pirates release Eric Karch.

5/21: Juan Diaz assigned to Extended Spring Training

5/20: John Kuchno assigned to Indianapolis. Guido Knudson assigned to Extended Spring Training.

5/19: Starling Marte activated from paternity list. Alen Hanson optioned to Indianapolis.

5/19: Elias Diaz placed on 60-day disabled list.

5/19: Wilfredo Boscan added to 40-man roster and promoted to Pittsburgh. Cory Luebke optioned to Indianapolis.

5/17: John Kuchno assigned to Extended Spring Training.

5/16: Starling Marte placed on paternity list. Alen Hanson recalled.

5/16: Juan Diaz added to Indianapolis roster.

5/15: Pirates activate Cory Luebke from disabled list. A.J. Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note, which is where we will start. On this date in 1960, the Pirates made a deal that would help them on their way to their third World Series title and first in 35 years. They dealt two minor league players to the St Louis Cardinals for veteran pitcher Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell and infielder Dick Gray. Mizell would win 13 games that year for the Pirates.

Former players born on this date include two special ones listed below. The others are 2000-01 first baseman Alex Hernandez, 1992 outfielder Kirk Gibson and 1906-07 pitcher James “King” Brady.

The other two players born on this date are 1947 pitcher Steve Nagy and 1957 pitcher Bob Kuzava. Nagy turns 97 today. He is the seventh oldest living former big league player and the oldest Pirates player. Kuzava turns 93 today and he is the seventh oldest living Pirates player. Nagy made his big league debut with the 1947 Pirates, pitching six times, five of those games as a reliever. He would later pitch for the 1950 Senators. The younger Kuzava made his debut a year before Nagy and ended up pitching ten years in the majors, playing for eight different teams.

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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