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Morning Report: The Short-Season Teams Begin Their Schedules Soon

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The three short-season teams all begin their seasons soon. Morgantown will be the first team to get going, as they play their first game on Friday night. That team should get a majority of the draft picks. The roster holds 35 players and the Pirates sent 16 players from Extended Spring Training (EST) at Pirate City to Morgantown on Monday. That means they could add at least 19 draft picks to that roster. I say “at least”, because there have been plenty of cases of EST players being sent to their club, only to be released early in the season as the roster starts to fill up.

Bristol starts their season next Thursday, so they still have some time. One of the draft picks from this year who indicated he was signing, said that he was going to Pittsburgh to get his physical tomorrow, then he would soon be off to Bristol to meet up with his new teammates. I’m guessing that team will get together next Monday, and then they hold practices until the season starts. Last year, Bristol received a total of eight draft picks and two of them were there for a very short time. The highest draft pick they got was tenth round pick Logan Sendelbach. I expect this season to be similar as far as the number of players and the fact they will mostly be late round picks. A lot of Bristol’s roster will be made up of players from last year’s GCL team.

The GCL Pirates start their games on the 24th, one day after Bristol begins. They will get the high school players drafted, though only four of them may sign. Since only 13 players came over from the DSL, that means they will need to get more players from elsewhere. The GCL players who don’t move up to Bristol (only one from the end of the 2015 GCL season went to Morgantown), will return to the league for a second season, filling out the roster.

The Pirates could also send some college players to the GCL, though they are usually Junior College (JuCo) players. The possible problem with that this year is they only selected three JuCo players, and two were taken within the first seven rounds, so they might not go there. Last year seven college draft picks saw time with the GCL team, all pitchers, and only two were there all season. The only college position player was Garrett Russini, who was signed as a non-drafted free agent. That’s the other way the Pirates could fill out rosters if players are needed. I don’t think they will have to sign any other players. EST was fairly crowded last time I checked, so there seemed to be more than enough players to fill all three rosters when you include the draft picks.

I expect the GCL team to be the most interesting besides the obvious interest everyone will have in first round pick Will Craig. The Pirates drafted a lot of players with either strong defense, or big, hard-throwing pitchers with control issues. Defense doesn’t show up in the boxscore, so that’s a tough area to get excited about unless you’re watching the games. The pitchers will probably have their share of good and bad days. The GCL Pirates could get the four prep pitchers drafted in the top 11 rounds, all with high upside. That should keep Tim Williams busy through the month of July at Pirate City, as we bring you updates on these players when they make their pro debuts.

We will have previews on each of these teams as soon as we have the rosters.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton is 5-5 in their last ten games. They are in first place in their division, two games ahead. The first half of the FSL season ends on June 22nd. Their magic number is four.

West Virginia has been eliminated from the first half pennant race. The second half begins on June 23rd.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates won 4-0 on Tuesday night. Jeff Locke gets the start tonight, his 13th of the season. He took one for the team during his last start, which was the makeup game in Colorado. Locke gave up 11 earned runs over 4.2 innings. He allowed nine earned runs over 29.1 innings in his previous four starts combined. The Mets will go with Noah Syndergaard, who has a 2.00 ERA in 76.2 innings this year, with 95 strikeouts and a 1.00 WHIP. His last stat was in Pittsburgh and he allowed two runs over six innings.

In the minors, Mitch Keller gets his second start after being skipped in the rotation to help limit his innings. He allowed four runs over five innings in his last start, which was his worst outing of the season. Keller ranks first in the league with an 0.79 WHIP, and fifth in both strikeouts and ERA.

Chad Kuhl gets the starts for Indianapolis, trying to break a string of subpar starts. His ERA has gone up each of his last five starts, though the first two in that stretch saw him go from 0.91 to 1.03 (0.99 in the middle) and pitch well each game. In his last three games combined, he has allowed ten runs over 14.1 innings. Alex McRae makes his second start for Altoona and Colten Brewer gets the noon start for Bradenton.

MLB: Pittsburgh (33-31) @ Mets (34-29) 7:10 PM
Probable starter: Jeff Locke (5.38 ERA, 27:37 BB/SO, 72.0 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (33-31) vs Pawtucket (34-30) 1:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter:  Chad Kuhl (2.15 ERA, 14:54 BB/SO, 67.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (34-29) vs New Hampshire (28-35) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (17.18 ERA, 4:5 BB/SO, 3.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (34-29) @ Clearwater (37-26) 12:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Colten Brewer (4.25 ERA,  24:51 BB/SO, 55.0 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (33-31) @ Lexington (23-41) 12:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Mitch Keller (2.32 ERA, 6:69 BB/SO, 62.0 IP)

DSL: Pirates (3-6) vs Indians (2-6) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is a two-run double from Tito Polo on Monday night. He also had a single, a walk and a stolen base.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

6/15: Dovydas Neverauskas promoted to Indianapolis.

6/14: Pirates place Gerrit Cole on the disabled list. Recall Jameson Taillon.

6/14: Kevin Newman and Wyatt Mathisen activated from disabled list. Trace Tam Sing assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/14: Miguel Rosario promoted to Altoona.

6/4: Pirates release Robert Zarate.

6/13: Sam Street activated from Temporary Inactive List. JT Brubaker assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/11: Pirates acquire Erik Kratz from Angels for cash considerations. Trey Haley designated for assignment.

6/11: Clay Holmes added to Altoona roster. David Whitehead placed on disabled list.

6/11: Pirates place Francisco Cervelli on disabled list.

6/11: Pirates option Kyle Lobstein and Cole Figueroa to Indianapolis. recall Rob Scahill and Arquimedes Caminero.

6/10: Mitch Keller added to West Virginia roster. Logan Sendelbach assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/10: Alex McRae promoted to Altoona.

6/9: Pirates option Jameson Taillon to Indianapolis. Kyle Lobstein recalled from Indianapolis.

6/9: Frank Duncan promoted to Indianapolis.

6/8: Pirates recall Jameson Taillon. Curtis Partch optioned to Indianapolis.

6/8: JT Brubaker promoted to Bradenton. Julio Vivas added to West Virginia roster.

6/6: Clay Holmes assigned to Extended Spring Training. David Whitehead added to Altoona roster.

6/4: Pirates released Nate Irving, Edgar Figueroa, Eric Thomas and Eliezer Ramirez.

6/4:  Pirates option Rob Scahill and Wilfredo Boscan to Indianapolis. Recall Curtis Partch and Cory Luebke.

6/4: Ryan Vogelsong transferred from 15-day disabled list to 60-day DL.

6/4: Guido Knudson added to Indianapolis roster.

6/2: Gage Hinsz assigned to West Virginia. Mitch Keller assigned to Extended Spring Training.

6/2: Justin Masterson assigned to Indianapolis. Frank Duncan assigned to Altoona.

6/2: Arquimedes Caminero assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

6/2: David Whitehead assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/1: Pirates release Michael Fransoso.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date. At this time last year it was six former players, but Erik Kratz is back with the team now. The five former players are pitcher Bruce Del Canton (1967-70), infielder Gene Baker (1957-58, 1960-61), outfielder Bud Stewart (1941-42), first baseman Babe Dahlgren (1944-45) and 1890 first baseman Peek-A-Boo Veach, who has my second favorite Pirates nickname ever behind Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson.

The Pirates have made nine trades of note on this date. You can read details on all nine trades here.

1982: Bill Robinson dealt to the Phillies for Wayne Nordhagen.

1977: Ed Kirkpatrick sent to the Rangers for Jim Fregosi.

1966: Don Schwall sent to Braves for Billy O’Dell.

1961: Gino Cimoli traded to Braves for Johnny Logan

1958: Gene Freese and Johnny O’Brien dealt to Cardinals for Dick Schofield.

1951: Cliff Chambers and Wally Westlake sent to Cardinals for Joe Garagiola, Dick Cole, Ted Wilks, Howie Pollett and Bill Howerton. Chambers threw a no-hitter one month earlier.

1949: Ed Sauer sent to Braves for Phil Masi.

1943: Dutch Dietz sent to Phillies for Johnny Podgajny.

1939: Bill Schuster sent to Braves/Bees for Elbie Fletcher.

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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