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Prospect Watch: Live Report of Mitch Keller Getting Back on Track

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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.

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1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Pirates -[insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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3. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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4. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Pirates – In the Majors

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, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

10. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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11. Kevin Newman, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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12. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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13. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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 14. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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15.Cole Tucker, SS, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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16. Chad Kuhl, RHP, Pirates – In the Majors

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, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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25. Gage Hinsz, RHP, West Virginia  – [insert_php]
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26. Adrian Valerio, SS – Bristol – [insert_php]
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27. Adam Frazier, INF/OF, Pirates – In the Majors

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, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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P2 Top Performers

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Prospect-Watch-Indy

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With Tyler Glasnow getting the promotion to the majors, Kyle Lobstein took over as the starter tonight for Indianapolis. Things went well for the lefty, as he went six shutout innings, with three hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Lobstein was relieved by Curtis Partch, and that’s when things fell apart. Partch gave up five runs on five hits in the seventh inning, with just one out recorded. He left two runners on for Trey Haley, who allowed both to score, while adding a run of his own. Indianapolis lost 6-0, and all six runs came in that seventh inning.

Alen Hanson led the quiet offense tonight, going 2-for-3 and picking up his third multi-hit game in his last six games. He’s showing some positive signs lately, with a .792 OPS so far in the month of July. Josh Bell went 0-for-3, then was replaced in the ninth inning. On the surface, it appears to be rest for Bell. He struck out in the 6th inning, and the only play he was involved in was completing a 5-3 putout in the top of the eighth inning. Bell missed a few games last week after a collision, but has played every day this week.

Prospect-Watch-Altoona-Curve

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Clay Holmes has been fantastic lately, and continued that stretch tonight. He went six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks, with four strikeouts. The walk total was high for Holmes, and marks the second time in his last four starts that he has walked four batters. However, this was the fifth straight start where he allowed two or fewer runs, and four of those starts have seen him go six innings or more (the other was a five inning appearance, with the four walks). Holmes has struggled at times early in the season, and his most recent struggles came on June 11th, when he gave up seven earned runs in 4.1 innings. Since then, he has looked great, and seems to be settling in at Double-A now.

I wouldn’t say that Kevin Newman is settling in at the Double-A level, because he hit the ground running. He went 2-for-5 with a double, extending his hitting streak to 15 games. He also has hits in 16 of 17 games so far at the new level, since his promotion. In that time, he’s hitting for an .813 OPS in 70 at-bats, with seven walks and five strikeouts. Harold Ramirez also continued his strong hitting lately, going 2-for-5 on the night, but getting caught stealing twice, once on a pickoff. Eric Wood and Barrett Barnes also had multiple hits, with Barnes picking up his 13th double of the year, going 2-for-3 with a walk.

Prospect-Watch-Bradenton

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The Marauders continued a suspended game from June 26th with Fort Myers, with Austin Coley picking up things in the 5th inning. That’s significant, because Coley started the original game, leading to a line score where he went eight innings, giving up five runs on eight hits, with a walk, two strikeouts, and three homers. Most of the damage came in the initial start, with four runs in the first three innings. Coley only gave up one run in today’s outing, showing that the two week break between innings really helped him settle down in this contest.

The Bradenton offense didn’t do anything in the first game, getting shut out. It looked like the same thing was going to happen in the seven inning game two, but they battled back with three runs in the seventh inning, ultimately losing 8-3. Chase Simpson and Michael Suchy both had two hit games, while Erik Lunde went 1-for-3 with a double for the only extra base hit of the game.

Tanner Anderson started the second game, giving up four runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings. Luis Heredia came on for the final two innings, giving up four runs on five hits, with two walks and no strikeouts. Heredia pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, getting three straight groundouts. All of the damage off him came in the sixth inning, with five hits and two walks in the first eight plate appearances of the inning.

Prospect-Watch-WV-Power

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LAKEWOOD, NJ –  Mitch Keller has struggled for more than a month now, posting a 5.08 ERA in his last seven starts. His control during that time has been solid and he’s still picking up strikeouts, but he hasn’t been keeping the runs off the board. His outings have been been shorter, averaging less than five innings per start. On Thursday night in Lakewood, Keller threw seven innings for the first time since May 15th, which also happened to be a start in Lakewood. Just like in that game, Keller allowed two earned runs, but they came about in different ways.

Keller started off with six shutout innings and he breezed through them with just over 60 pitches. Every inning was quick, finishing around 8-12 pitches. During those first six frames, he gave up three singles and a hit-by-pitch, with one runner in four different innings. In three of those innings, that runner was erased on a double play.

In the seventh, things fell apart and it started with a routine fly ball to center field. Logan Ratledge hasn’t play much outfield until recently. He didn’t play any last season after being drafted and this was just his eighth start in center field this year. The first batter of the seventh hit a routine high fly to medium center and Ratledge just never found the ball, which landed about 15 feet in front of him for a double.

After that gift double, the next batter sacrificed the runner to third base. That was followed by a four-pitch walk, which was really the only time Keller didn’t have any command on the night. The next batter hit a screaming line drive to center field, which ended up as a sacrifice fly. Keller then gave up another hard hit ball to the gap, which went as a legit double and brought home the second run. Keller hit the next batter on a two-strike curve, before finishing the inning with a pop up to third base. All told, he allowed two runs on five hits and one walk, with six strikeouts, in five of them the batter went down swinging. In his last start against Lakewood, the two runs came on a pair of solo homers.

As for the scouting, Keller looked really strong, with his issue being that he got too many fastballs up in the zone. He was hitting 96 MPH consistently, even more often than when I saw him earlier in the year. He was throwing his 79-80 MPH curve for strikes and used the pitched often. He was even using the 88-89 MPH changeup more often than I saw in the past, and it too was getting some strikes. Keller maintained his velocity for the first six innings, but it dropped off in the seventh, sitting around 92-93.

The first six innings looked really nice, but there were some hard hit balls right at outfielders and a couple long fly balls, so it could have been worse. He seemed to tire in the seventh and his control hurt him as much as the gift double did. He threw 55 of 84 pitches for strikes on the night and the percentage of strikes was much higher before the seventh inning. Even with the hard contact, it was a solid outing from a 20-year-old pitcher who obviously has a lot of talent.

West Virginia lost 3-2 in ten innings with Julio Eusebio taking the loss. Seth McGarry threw two scoreless innings to get them into extras. Ke’Bryan Hayes had three hits on the night, with a booming double to the right-center gap, to go along with two infield hits he just beat out. His double drove in Mitchell Tolman with the first Power run, then Hayes scored the tying run on a Danny Aribbas double. Arribas had two hits on the night. Christian Kelley had just one hit, but it was a well hit line drive into left field.- John Dreker

Prospect-Watch-Morgantown

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Morgantown has off tonight.

Prospect-Watch-Bristol
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Bristol swept a double-header today, winning the first game 7-4, and the second game 4-1. Blake Cederlind got the start in the first game, going three innings, with three runs, two earned, on two hits and two walks, while striking out four. Then, David Whitehead came on in relief, throwing 2.1 innings and giving up just one unearned run. This was the fourth appearance Whitehead has made for Bristol, and all four have been in relief. The results haven’t been good, with a 7.45 ERA and six walks in 9.2 innings, which is almost similar to his results in Altoona this year. When he returns to Altoona, he will probably go to a bullpen role, based on his usage. However, his return to Altoona seems to be a matter of “if” rather than “when” based on these results. He did fine tonight from a runs standpoint, but walked two batters in his 2.1 innings, which is not something a guy like him should be doing in rookie ball.

Garrett Brown led the way with a 4-for-4 night in the first game, picking up a double. Brown then went 2-for-2 in the second game, completing his perfect night at the plate. Adrian Valerio also had a nice day at the plate, going 3-for-7 with a double. Jhoan Herrera didn’t get a hit in the first game, but went 2-for-3 with a double and a homer in the second game.

Matt Eckelman, drafted in the 21st round this year, made the start in game two, pitching five shutout innings, with two hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. Eckelman had been pitching out of the bullpen prior to this, making two long relief appearances with three innings each. In those outings, he combined for two earned runs on five hits and one walk in six innings, while striking out eight. It will be interesting to see if he gets more work in the rotation, or moves back to long-relief after the double-header.

Prospect-Watch-GCL

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The GCL Pirates lost 3-0 to drop to 3-8 on the season. Miguel Hernandez started and threw five impressive shutout innings, giving up two singles and no walks. He had three strikeouts and an 8:3 GO/AO ratio. Hernandez pitched great in his season opener this season, then struggled with his control in his second game. He was also struggling with control in his last couple starts of Extended Spring Training. So when his control is on, he can dominate lower level hitters, but he has just as many games in which he isn’t throwing enough strikes.

Chris McDonald followed Hernandez and struggled in his pro debut. He was signed on Sunday along with Evan Piechota out of independent ball to help give the GCL team so much-needed innings. This link includes a scouting report on McDonald. He threw three innings on Thursday, giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits, no walks and one strikeout.

The offense failed to show up in this game. The Pirates had three singles, three walks and a hit batter. They had two runners on in the fifth and seventh innings, but they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. This game included the pro debut of Andrew Walker, who was also signed out of independent ball last weekend. He went 0-for-3 and committed an error. – John Dreker

Prospect-Watch-DSL

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The DSL Pirates won 11-9 on Thursday, coming back from a 9-4 deficit in the eighth inning to win. This game included something we haven’t seen yet this season, an earned run charged to Leandro Pina. The 17-year-old righty began his career with five consecutive starts in which he threw five shutout innings, which is the maximum innings per start for DSL pitchers with the Pirates. Pina allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits in four innings, which now gives him an 0.62 ERA.

Reliever Raymond Rodriguez followed Pina and allowed five runs before he could get through an inning of work. Armando Bustamante was up next and he surrendered just one run in his 2.1 innings. Julio Gonzalez got the win with a scoreless eighth and Ramon Garcia picked up his fifth save with a shutout in the ninth.

The seven-run eighth inning started with two straight singles, then a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with one out. That was followed by a walk for the first run, then a two-run double by Carlos Garcia and a two-run triple from Eddy Vizcaino. A Rodolfo Castro triple scored Vizcaino, and then Castro came home on a Yair Babilonia single to finish the scoring.

Castro continued his success at the plate, collecting three hits to give him a .325 average. He also continued to have trouble in the field, with two more errors, to give him 17 on the season. Vizcaino and Cristopher Perez had two hits each, and Vizcaino drove in four runs. – John Dreker

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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