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Prospect Watch: Kuhl Pitches Great, Keller and Tarpley Both Hurt by One Big Inning

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P2 Top 30

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 the 2016 prospect guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.

We’re working on a solution for the PHP stat codes not working in the app.

1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Altoona – [insert_php]
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3. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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4. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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5. Alen Hanson, 2B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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6. Harold Ramirez, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
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7. Reese McGuire, C, Altoona -[insert_php]
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8. Elias Diaz, C, Pirates – Disabled List.

9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

10. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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11. Kevin Newman, SS, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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12. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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13. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

 14. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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15.Cole Tucker, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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16. Chad Kuhl, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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17. Max Moroff, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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18. Mitch Keller, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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19. Clay Holmes, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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20. Willy Garcia, OF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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21. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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22. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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23. Barrett Barnes, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
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24. Trevor Williams, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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25. Gage Hinsz, RHP  – Extended Spring Training

26. Adrian Valerio, SS – Extended Spring Training

27. Adam Frazier, INF/OF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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28. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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29. Jordan Luplow, OF/3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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30. JT Brubaker, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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P2 Top Performers

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Prospect-Watch-Indy

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Chad Kuhl came into Thursday morning’s start against Rochester with the best ERA in the International League and the second best (by .01) WHIP. In his first eight starts, he allowed a total of five earned runs.

The game started with Byron Buxton hitting a very long homer to left field. Buxton has been one of the top 1-2 prospects in baseball for the last few years. That was followed by another well hit ball which went for a ground rule double. Kuhl struck out the third batter on three pitches, getting him to chase a sinker that dropped out of the zone. The next batter popped out to shortstop. He got the next batter to ground out to second base for the final out. It was quite a difference between the first two batters and the last three. Kuhl wasn’t working as quick as he normally does (that changed after the first) and the command was a little off, with only ten of his 18 pitches going for strikes.

In the second inning, Kuhl went 3-2, before getting a swinging strikeout on a sinker. He got the next batter to go down swinging on a slider. Kuhl struck out the side, getting the last batter looking on a pitch that caught the inside corner. He missed badly on the three balls to the first batter, but then bounced back from a 3-1 count and got a lot of swinging strikes. A very impressive inning in which he mixed his sinker and slider.

In the third, Kuhl began with a swinging strikeout on a slider down and away. Byron Buxton then popped out to first base, breaking the strikeout streak at four straight. The next batter flared one into center field for a single, breaking the streak of eight consecutive retired. The runner was thrown out stealing to end the inning. Kuhl was at 46 pitches through three frames, with 28 strikes.

The fourth started with a 3-2 sinker sent into the right-center gap for a single. One pitch later, Kuhl got a fly ball to left field for the first out. The next batter hit a ball that looked like a double play, but it took a high bounce on Alen Hanson, who knocked it down, and only got the out at first base. That was followed by a slow roller to shortstop, with Hanson standing over there on the shift. He made a nice play charging in and making the quick throw for the out. Despite the lead-off single and unfortunate bounce, Kuhl still got out of the inning on just 13 pitches. Kuhl used his changeup effectively against the two left-handed hitters.

Thee fifth started with a swinging strikeout on an outside slider. This tied his season high with six strikeouts. He went 3-2 on the next hitter, who hit a swinging bunt that went about 15 feet for an out. Kuhl jammed the next hitter, who blooped a single to center field that landed between three fielders. Buxton lined out to deep left field on a hanging slider for the third out. Kuhl wasn’t as sharp this inning, but the only hit was just well-placed off a nice pitch.

The sixth started with a long fly to center field for the first out. The second out was on a shallow fly ball to left field. The third batter grounded out softly to second base. This was an easy 11-pitch inning, though to ball to center field was well hit.

The seventh began with a soft grounder that beat the shift for a single. Kuhl struck out the next batter swinging, setting a season high. One pitch later, the stadium barely held a fly ball to center field for the second out. Kuhl got through seven with a high fly ball to shallow center field for the final out. That ended his day with 97 pitches, 63 for strikes.

If Kuhl could have a reset switch for the first two batters, he would have had gem in this game, but instead it’s just another great start. After the first two batters, he allowed four hits and no walks, with seven strikeouts in seven innings. He mixed his slider and sinker well this game, getting excellent results with both pitches. Three of those four hits were off solid pitches from Kuhl and just found holes, but they weren’t hit hard. He kept the ball down all game, worked quickly after the first and got a lot of swinging strikes, more than a normal outing for him. There was also a lot of soft contact, though he did give up three well hit outs, the Buxton liner to left field and the two sent to the warning track in center. Perhaps most impressive is that Rochester leads the league in walks and they couldn’t get one in seven innings off Kuhl.

Josh Bell led the offense in the 5-2 win, picking up two hits, a walk and an RBI. Adam Frazier hit his ninth double, scored a run and picked up an RBI. Willy Garcia hit his fifth double and had an RBI. Danny Ortiz had two hits and an RBI. Max Moroff hit his fifth double and scored a run. Jason Rogers had a single, walk and run scored. Indianapolis scored the first four runs off of Jose Berrios, who took over as the top Twins prospect when Buxton exceeded 150 plate appearances in the majors earlier this season.

Cory Luebke finished out the game, allowing a run on one hit in his two innings. He had three strikeouts.

Prospect-Watch-Altoona-Curve

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Altoona won 3-2 on three runs in the bottom of the ninth with all three runs scoring after two outs. With one out, the Curve got back-to-back singles from Edwin Espinal and Jin-De Jhang. After an Eric Wood fly out, pinch-hitter Austin Meadows singled to load the bases. That was followed by a Barrett Barnes walk for the first run and a two-run single from pinch-hitter Erich Weiss for the walk-off win. Manager Joey Cora cleared the bench in the ninth inning, using Jose Osuna to run for Espinal and Reese McGuire to run for Jhang, those were in addition to the two pinch-hitters.

David Whitehead had an odd outing, though not odd for him. He went 5.1 innings, allowing an unearned run on one hit and five walks. He has four games this year in which he has thrown at least five innings without an earned run. In those four games, he has given up a total of five hits, but he has walked 18 batters over those 20.1 innings. He threw a total of 90 pitches in this game, 46 for strikes. Whitehead has walked 41 hitters in 39.2 innings this season.

Altoona had just four hits prior to the ninth inning, and all eight hits were singles. Edwin Espinal had two hits, while Harold Ramirez, Anderson Feliz and Chris Diaz all picked up one hit.

Prospect-Watch-Bradenton

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Stephen Tarpley made his fourth start of the season and he was hurt by one bad inning. In the second frame, Tarpley surrendered three runs on two singles, two walks, a hit batter and a sacrifice fly. His day ended with five innings pitched, allowing just those three runs on five hits, two walks and three hit batters. He threw 85 pitches, 51 for strikes and picked up four strikeouts. Tarpley hasn’t had a solid outing yet since returning from his Spring Training oblique injury. The strikeouts are fine and he isn’t allowing many hits, but his control has been off, leading to high pitch counts and a 4.74 ERA. One nice sign from this game was the 5:2 GO/AO ratio, which will improve on the 1.00 GO/AO ratio he had coming into the day.

Bradenton scored four runs in the second inning, helping them to a 6-3 victory. Kevin Newman drove in two runs with a single in the second (more on him below). He also had a walk, HBP and stole his fourth base of the season. The Marauders had 18 base runners in this game. They could have done more at the plate, but in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position, Newman’s single was their only hit.

In the eighth inning, Newman was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game. Tim Williams will get an update tomorrow when the Marauders return home. In the bottom of the inning, Luis Heredia came on and hit a batter, making it six total in the game. Heredia finished the game with two scoreless innings, though they didn’t go as easy as the rest of his season has gone. Besides the hit batter, he also walked two and gave up a single, needing 38 pitches total. He hit 95 on the radar gun. Heredia has allowed two runs in 22.2 innings this year.

The middle of the lineup did a great job of getting on base. Jerrick Suiter had two hits and scored twice. Connor Joe had two hits and scored once. Michael Suchy and Jordan Luplow both had a single and two walks. Pablo Reyes hit his ninth double of the season.

Prospect-Watch-WV-Power

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Mitch Keller had an outing similar to Chad Kuhl’s day. Keller gave up two doubles and a home run to the first three batters of the day. After that, he allowed one run on two hits and a walk in six innings. He picked up six strikeouts and had a 7:4 GO/AO ratio. Keller threw 89 pitches, 57 for strikes and retired the last eight batters in a row. His previous season high for runs allowed was two, which he did three times. The walk he issued was just the fourth of the season, giving him a 4:58 BB/SO ratio in 51 innings this season. His control has really improved this year, as he gave up 29 walks over 47 innings in his first two seasons of pro ball.

Ke’Bryan Hayes provided all of the offense for West Virginia in their 4-2 loss. In the third inning, he drove in Christian Kelley with an RBI single. In the sixth, Hayes led off the inning with his fifth home run of the season. He has been struggling lately, coming into the game with a .658 OPS in May after finishing April with an .826 OPS.

Cole Tucker hit his third double, but he also committed two errors, giving him four in 14 games. Ryan Nagle had two hits, while Danny Arribas his hit seventh double of the season.

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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