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Morning Report: Indianapolis Leads the Farm System in Pitching

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With all of the strong pitching by Indianapolis starters this season, you would have to assume they have one of the best pitching staffs in the International League. They rank second overall with a 3.23 ERA. Most of the damage has been done by the bullpen, because the starting staff has Tyler Glasnow at 1.78, Jameson Taillon at 2.04, Steven Brault at 2.44, Chad Kuhl and Frank Duncan both at 2.58, and Trevor Williams right at the team average with his 3.24 mark. The only regular starter with a higher ERA than the team is Wilfredo Boscan with a 4.22 ERA. His ERA went up 57 points in his last start, so he wasn’t that far off before Thursday night.

How does the Indianapolis pitching staff compare against the rest of the teams in the system?

Altoona has had some issues with starters, so their 4.11 ERA isn’t a surprise. They rank eighth in the 12-team Eastern League.

Bradenton is in a league that favors pitching, so their 3.29 ERA looks like they are keeping up with the Indianapolis staff. They have got some strong bullpen work and decent starting pitching, but they don’t come close to the talent in Indianapolis, which isn’t an insult really when you consider the Triple-A staff. That ERA has them ranked fifth in the Florida State League, which is basically middle of the pack.

West Virginia ranks fifth just like Bradenton, but they have a 3.50 ERA. The South Atlantic League is fairly neutral with pitching/hitting unless you play in Asheville, which is a paradise for hitters.

The NY-Penn League isn’t big on offense this year. With all 14 teams now playing 30 games this season, Morgantown ranks 11th with a 3.88 ERA. On the other hand, the Appalachian League has some big offense. Bristol has pitched really poorly through 23 games, posting a 5.62 ERA, which is last in the league. Somehow they have still managed to play near .500 ball despite ranking next to last in offense.

The GCL Pirates have a 3.71 ERA, which is 11th in the 17-team league. The DSL Pirates are at 3.93, which places them 27th of 42 teams in the Dominican.

Tomorrow we will look at the offense around the system.

** The Dominican Summer League held it’s All-Star game on Sunday and two Pirates took part in the festivities. Right-handed pitcher Leandro Pina started the game and retired the side in order in his only inning. Rodolfo Castro moved from his normal shortstop position over to third base and played three innings on defense. He struck out looking in his only at-bat. Both players are 17 years old, with Castro being the youngest player on the DSL Pirates and Pina being the third youngest.

** Altoona has an odd series coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday. They will play the Hartford Yard Goats for three games with a doubleheader on Wednesday. All three games will take place in Altoona, but they will be considered road games and Altoona will bat first. Hartford is a new team this year and their stadium still hasn’t been finished, so these technically are their home games. The Tuesday game is a 4:00 PM start time and all the games are free to the public. So if you have nothing to do on Wednesday and you’re in the Altoona area, go watch at least 14 innings of free baseball.

** If you normally skip the highlight section, don’t today. That is all.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates won 2-1 over the Nationals in 18 innings on Sunday. The Pirates are off today before heading home for a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Jameson Taillon will be activated from the disabled list for Tuesday night’s game. The Pirates placed him on the DL to help limit his innings for the season. Between Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, he is up to 89.2 innings. The Brewers will counter with Junior Guerra, who has a 3.06 ERA in 82.1 innings, with 72 strikeouts and a 1.07 WHIP. In his last start, he gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks over 5.2 innings. In his two prior starts, Guerra threw a combined 15.1 innings of shutout ball.

In the minors, Tyler Glasnow makes his first minor league start since July 2nd and his last start (with the Pirates) was 11 days ago, so with the All-Star break, he was basically skipped a start. He is first in the International League with 113 strikeouts, third with a 1.78 ERA and eighth with a 1.14 WHIP.

Gage Hinsz will start today, coming off an outing in while he threw seven shutout innings. His control has improved a ton over last year, going from 23 walks in 38 innings, to seven walks in 44.1 innings this season. Altoona is off today, while fifth round pick Blake Cederlind gets the start for Bristol and 11th round pick Max Kranick is scheduled for the GCL Pirates.

MLB: Pittsburgh (47-44) vs Brewers (39-51) 7:05 PM 7/19
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (3.86 ERA, 5:21 BB/SO, 28.0 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (49-47) vs Lehigh Valley (55-40) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (1.78 ERA, 52:113 BB/SO, 96.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (52-41) vs Hartford (50-42) 4:00 PM 7/19 (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (3.95 ERA, 21:68 BB/SO, 100.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (50-41) vs Clearwater (54-38) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.79 ERA, 30:59 BB/SO, 97.1 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (48-45) @ Hickory (49-45) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (3.45 ERA, 7:30 BB/SO, 44.1 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (14-16) @ Williamsport (17-13) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Stephan Meyer (6.28 ERA, 10:18 BB/SO, 28.2 IP)

Rookie: Bristol (10-13) vs Danville (11-12) 6:00 PM (season preview)

GCL: Pirates (9-11) vs Blue Jays (17-3) 12:00 PM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates (14-22) vs Mets1 (18-17) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is a ridiculous double play from third round pick Stephen Alemais. If you see a better turn at second base this year, please let me know.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

7/17: Jonathan Schwind assigned to Altoona.

7/16: Elias Diaz assigned to Altoona on rehab.

7/16: Gerrit Cole activated from the disabled list. Josh Bell optioned to Indianapolis.

7/15: Pirates sign Austin Shields. Assigned to GCL Pirates.

7/15: Pirates sign Boomer Synek. Assigned to GCL Pirates.

7/14: Francisco Cervelli assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

7/14: John Kuchno assigned to Altoona.

7/14: Jordan George promoted to West Virginia

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)

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a big game from Ralph Kiner. We start with pitcher Windy McCall, who was a lefty reliever for the Pirates during the 1950 season. He pitched twice for the Bucs, allowing seven runs in 6.2 innings. He turns 91 today, which makes him the tenth oldest living former Pirates player.

Also born on this date, we have two groups of two players that match up well. First up are outfielder Johnny Hopp and pitcher Al Lyons. They were traded for each other, as Lyons played for the 1947 Pirates, while Hopp came over from the Braves and played three seasons with Pittsburgh. Also included in that trade was the great Pirates’ manager Danny Murtaugh, who was a player at the time.

Wilbur Fisher and Bill Haeffner go together well because they were born on the exact same day in 1894. Fisher only got to play one Major League game, pinch-hitting on June 13, 1916. Haeffner was the team’s third-string catcher in 1920, but got a chance for some regular playing time when the starter and backup both got hurt in the same game. He retired right in the middle of his playing career when the Pirates wouldn’t meet his salary demands prior to the 1921 season.

On this date in 1951, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers by a 13-12 score. Ralph Kiner helped the last place Pirates squeak past the first place Dodgers by going deep three times. He hit a first inning grand slam, a two-run homer in the fourth and a solo homer in the eighth inning. The link above has a full recap of the game and the boxscore can be found here.

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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