According to Baseball-Reference, the Indianapolis Indians are the fourth youngest team in the International League. Their average age is 25.4 years old. The youngest team in the league has an average player age of 25.0 years, and the league average is 26.5 years old. The fact that the Indians are one of the youngest teams shouldn’t come as a surprise because they are loaded with prospects. That’s what you like to see for the long-term future in Pittsburgh, especially with Altoona and Bradenton also being loaded with prospects, but that doesn’t give them a lot of experience to call on if injuries occur in the majors.
Josh Harrison limped off the field today after batting in the ninth. After the game he said he thinks he will be okay, but if the Pirates needed to call someone up now, you’re talking about Max Moroff probably being the replacement. As the list shows below, he is actually one of the more experienced (MLB) players at Indianapolis on offense, which isn’t saying much considering he’s played two games for the Pirates.
Three of the last cuts from Indianapolis all have Major League experience. Joey Terdoslavich, Eury Perez and Jackson Williams are all still with the organization for now, though they don’t have a role yet. The Pirates usually keep a 26th man and sometimes 27th man with their minor league clubs. In Altoona right now it’s Justin Maffei and Chris Diaz, Bradenton has Trace Tam Sing and West Virginia has Carlos Munoz. That’s in case of injury/promotion, you have someone right there with the team as a replacement.
Getting back to the experience at Indianapolis. Those three extras wouldn’t help much because they are marginal Major League talent. Williams provides the same value as Jacob Stallings, but doesn’t have the experience Stallings has with some of the young pitchers. Perez would make a solid fifth outfielder due to his defense and speed, but the Pirates aren’t going to use defensive replacements in the outfield, and they have speed on their bench with Alen Hanson. So the Pirates could have more MLB experience down at Indianapolis if they wanted right now, but it wouldn’t make them better in case of an injury.
The real significance is that it’s just something you don’t see often. There are so many prospects at Indianapolis, even if they aren’t top tier prospects, you just don’t see that much young talent on one team. Ideally, you want your Triple-A roster to be loaded with prospects because they are cost controlled, making it easier to add to the MLB roster to fill holes.
Here is a rundown of the Major League experience on Indianapolis right now. I put it in games/plate appearances/innings, because someone like Elias Diaz picked up Major League service time when he was injured last year:
Batters
Jason Rogers 117 games, 212 plate appearances
Jacob Stallings, 5 games, 15 plate appearances
Elias Diaz, 3 games, 6 plate appearances
Max Moroff, 2 games, 2 plate appearances
Pitchers
Josh Lindblom, 110 games, 136.2 innings
Dan Runzler, 89 games, 72.1 innings
Drew Hutchison, 82 games, 417.2 innings
A.J. Schugel, 41 games, 61 innings
Pat Light, 17 games, 16.2 innings
Steven Brault 8 games, 33.1 innings
As you can see on the batting side, they have a combined total of 235 plate appearances and it’s almost all Jason Rogers. On the pitching side, Drew Hutchison has almost 100 more innings than everyone else combined. Also you may have noticed that half of these players are prospects still and they have what you would consider a “cup of coffee” amount of experience in the majors.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 6-5 in ten innings on Sunday over the Atlanta Braves, giving them a series sweep. The Cincinnati Reds now come into Pittsburgh for three games. Tyler Glasnow will make his first start of the season tonight, going up against lefty Brandon Finnegan. In the minors, the fifth starters will make their first starts of the season, with today’s action highlighted by #10 rated prospect Gage Hinsz. Josh Lindblom pitched an inning of relief in the season opener, which is why he has a pitching line already.
MLB: Pittsburgh (3-2) vs Reds (4-2) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (NR)
AAA: Indianapolis (2-2) vs Columbus (2-2) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Josh Lindblom (0.00 ERA, 0:0 BB/SO, 1.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (2-2) @ Richmond (2-2) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tanner Anderson (NR)
High-A: Bradenton (4-0) @ St Lucie (2-2) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (NR)
Low-A: West Virginia (0-4) vs Asheville (2-2) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (NR)
HIGHLIGHTS
From the first two days for Altoona, a home run for Kevin Kramer, followed by….
…an Opening Day double off the bat of Kevin Newman
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
4/7: Junior Lopez suspended 25 games
4/4: Pirates sign pitcher Yoandy Fernandez
4/4: Pirates release Francis Rodriguez, Adrian Grullon, Robbie Coursel and Nestor Oronel
3/29: Pirates release Jason Creasy and Justin Topa
3/29: Pirates release Jared Hughes
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
There have been six former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including two players who won World Series rings with the team. Outfielder Lee Lacy signed with the Pirates as a free agent in January 1979 and was used mainly off the bench that first season, where he hit .247/.327/.412 in 84 games. Lacy lasted with the Pirates until 1984 and played a total of 1,523 games during his 16-year career.
Joe Gibbon was a rookie pitcher for the 1960 Pirates. He made nine starts and 18 relief appearances that season, posting a 4.03 ERA over 80.1 innings. He pitched twice during the World Series against the New York Yankees and allowed three runs over three innings. Gibbon pitched with the Pirates until he was dealt in a 1965 trade with the San Francisco Giants that brought Matty Alou back to Pittsburgh. Gibbon returned to the Pirates in another trade with the Giants in 1969. He pitched two more seasons in Pittsburgh and made two appearances during the 1970 playoffs.
Also born on this date, Howard “Howdy” Groskloss, infielder for the 1930-32 Pirates. He went right from college at Amherst to the big leagues, though the Pirates weren’t quick to use him that first season. He was far at the end of the bench, playing just two games that first year. He saw a decent amount of playing time in 1931, but was used strictly as a pinch-hitter for the first 153 games of the 1932 season, and even then only batted 16 times. Finally, in the last game of the year, the Pirates gave him the start and he went 0-for-4 with an error. That ended up being his last Major League game. Groskloss is one of just a few former Pirates to live to 100 years old. Prior to his passing in 2006, he was the oldest living former baseball player.
On this date in 1962, the Pirates opened up their season with a 6-0 win over the Phillies. Bob Friend started and went the distance for the complete game shutout. Roberto Clemente drove in four runs. This was the 81st season in franchise history and the first time they opened the season on April 10th. You can view the boxscore here.
