Some news about the Indianapolis rotation, the Triple-A and Eastern League All-Star games, and some added thoughts on the debut of Max Kranick.
** If you wanted to figure out what the Pirates might be thinking about with their rotation after the All-Star break, the Indianapolis rotation didn’t give much help. Ryan Sheets, the PR man for Indianapolis, tweeted out the rotation for the Indians over the next four days, starting tonight in Louisville. They go with Wilfredo Boscan tonight, then Trevor Williams, Steven Brault and Frank Duncan. One open spot, no mention of Tyler Glasnow. You would assume both Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon will be back within the next five games, plus Jeff Locke, Jon Niese and Francisco Liriano are all still around. Chad Kuhl hasn’t gone anywhere yet either, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his next start was with Indianapolis. That’s just because I’d be more surprised if Cole and Taillon weren’t back. I also wouldn’t be surprised if that Indianapolis rotation is just tentative, and doesn’t play out that way. (UPDATED: 30 minutes after this was published, the Pirates announced Liriano, Cole and Kuhl would start the first three games back from the All-Star break)
**The Eastern League All-Star game didn’t go well for a couple of Altoona Curve pitchers. Both Tyler Eppler and Jared Lakind allowed two runs in their only inning of work. Eppler pitched the fourth inning and gave up his two runs on three hits, with no walks or strikeouts. Lakind followed in the fifth and also allowed three hits and no walks, but he picked up two strikeouts.
On offense, both Edwin Espinal and Harold Ramirez came into the game in the top of the fifth as defensive substitutions. Espinal played first base and went 0-for-2 with a strikeout. Harold Ramirez went to center field and he had a single in two at-bats.
** The International League didn’t have as much excitement, with Frank Duncan being the only representative of the Pirates. Tyler Glasnow and Josh Bell were selected to the game, then replaced when they were called up to the majors. Duncan pitched the sixth inning and retired the side in order on eight pitches with a ground out, a fly out and a strikeout.
** If you missed the video of 11th round pick Max Kranick’s pro debut in the Prospect Watch yesterday, it’s worth checking out. That 11th round tag might be deceiving to some people, but Kranick was rated as a late second round, or early third round pick by some draft sources. He has just as much potential as second round pick Travis MacGregor or fourth round pick Braeden Ogle. In the video, you can see Kranick isn’t sharp with his control, and Tim Williams noted that he was dealing with some adrenaline issues in his pro debut. That was backed up by his bullpen catcher, Mikell Granberry. He told me how good Kranick looked in the bullpen, then I showed him the video and he said Kranick looked a lot better before the game.
Nick Kingham also pitched Wednesday and is scheduled to pitch next Tuesday at home next. So if Kranick stays on the same schedule as Kingham, then we should have video of both of them again and you’ll probably see a different Kranick in that game as the first game jitters are out of the way.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
The Pirates are on their All-Star break until Friday.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates are on their All-Star break. They are off until Friday when they begin a three-game series in Washington.
In the minors, both Indianapolis and Altoona return from their All-Star break today. Indianapolis will go with Wilfredo Boscan, while Altoona will send Alex McRae to the mound. Dario Agrazal goes for West Virginia. He has allowed four runs over 19.1 innings in his last three starts combined.
Matt Eckelman will start for Bristol and Miguel Hernandez goes for the GCL Pirates. No pitcher has been named for Morgantown yet, but James Marvel is due up next in the rotation.
MLB: Pittsburgh (46-42) @ Nationals (54-36) 7:05 PM 7/15
Probable starter: TBD
AAA: Indianapolis (48-44) @ Louisville (44-47) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Wilfredo Boscan (3.65 ERA, 7:42 BB/SO, 66.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (50-38) vs Harrisburg (47-41) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (10.25 ERA, 10:19 BB/SO, 26.1 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (47-41) @ Dunedin (47-42) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Buddy Borden (4.50 ERA, 5:8 BB/SO, 12.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (45-44) vs Augusta (48-42) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Dario Agrazal (4.43 ERA, 13:50 BB/SO, 89.1 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (11-14) vs Auburn (14-12) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: TBD
Rookie: Bristol (8-11) @ Kingsport (8-11) 7:00 PM (season preview)
GCL: Pirates (7-10) vs Yankees East (4-13) 12:00 PM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates (12-22) vs Cubs1 (16-18) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is a West Virginia highlight from a couple weeks ago, as Mitchell Tolman hits a triple against Lexington. New videos should be added tomorrow, as Indianapolis and Altoona return to action. Tolman had a .781 OPS and 22 extra-base hits heading into Wednesday.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
7/13: Daniel Zamora placed on West Virginia disabled list.
7/13: Colten Brewer activated from temporary inactive list. Nick Neumann placed on Bradenton disabled list.
7/12: Rob Scahill claimed off waivers by Brewers.
7/10: Ryan Vogelsong assigned to Altoona on rehab.
7/9: Jonathan Schwind promoted to Indianapolis.
7/8: Pirates sign Josh Outman.
7/8: Josh Bell promoted to Pittsburgh. Tyler Glasnow optioned to Indianapolis.
7/8: Nick Kingham assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
7/7: Juan Paula promoted to Morgantown.
7/7: Tyler Glasnow recalled. Kyle Lobstein optioned to Indianapolis.
7/6: Steven Brault optioned to Indianapolis. Kyle Lobstein promoted to Pirates.
7/6: Jacob Stallings sent outright to Indianapolis.
7/6: Pirates released Clario Perez.
7/5: Gerrit Cole assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
7/5: Steven Brault promoted to Pirates. Jacob Stallings designated for assignment.
7/5: Austin Meadows placed on Indianapolis disabled list.
7/5: Tomas Morales promoted to Indianapolis (sent back to Altoona on 7/6)
7/4: Jameson Taillon placed on 15-day disabled list.
7/4: Jin-De Jhang promoted to Indianapolis. Tomas Morales assigned to Altoona.
7/4: Erik Lunde activated from disabled list. Assigned to Bradenton. Raul Hernandez assigned to GCL.
7/4: Elias Diaz assigned to Bradenton on rehab.
7/4: Chris Stewart placed on disabled list.
7/4: Pirates claim Eric Fryer off waivers. Rob Scahill placed on waivers.
7/3: Pirates sign Chris McDonald and Evan Piechota. Both assigned to GCL.
7/3: Pirates sign six international free agents.
7/3: Yunior Montero promoted to West Virginia.
7/3: Curtis Partch sent outright to Indianapolis.
7/2: Pablo Reyes activated from temporary inactive list. Trace Tam Sing placed on temporary inactive list.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Six former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including one of the better pitchers from the early years of the Pirates. Jesse Tannehill pitched for Pittsburgh from 1897 until 1902, starring on the first two teams in franchise history to finish first in the National League. Tannehill was a star during his day, going 197-117 in his career and 116-58 during his time with the Pirates. No one in team history with more than 650 innings, has a better winning percentage. From 1898 until 1902, he won at least 20 games in all but one season. That one year he didn’t, he won 18 games and led the NL with a 2.18 ERA. One interesting note about his career can be found on Baseball-Reference, where they list the most comparable players. For Tannehill, the top five are: The other three pitchers in the 1902 rotation, Sam Leever, Deacon Phillippe and Jack Chesbro, plus Babe Adams and Ed Morris, who both made their name with the Pirates.
As for the other five former players, we have third baseman Jose Hernandez (2003,06), pitcher Earl Francis (1960-64), pitcher Bob Purkey (1954-57, 1966), utility fielder Jack Farmer (1916) and 1913-15 pitcher Joe Conzelman. More on them can be found in the link above.
Also in the above link, there is a recap of a wild game between the Pirates and Cincinnati Reds from the 1974 season that turned the year around for Pittsburgh. They were 12 games under .500 going into the game and went 51-25 the rest of the way. You can find the boxscore here.
