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Morning Report: Youth in Indianapolis, Team History and a Possible New Country for the Pirates

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Baseball America posted an article on Wednesday in which they ranked the farm systems by the average age of the players on the Opening Day rosters. According to BA, the Pittsburgh Pirates have the tenth youngest farm system. The also listed the youngest team in each league. I mentioned yesterday that West Virginia didn’t have a single position player who was under the age of 22, making them one of the older Low-A teams among the 30 clubs. On the flip side, BA notes that Indianapolis is the youngest team in the International League.

The comparison between Indianapolis and West Virginia gets crazier when you realize that Austin Meadows would be the youngest position player on the Power right now. We will have more on the ages around the farm system later this week.

**The Pirates lost a little bit of history over the weekend, as Vic Barnhart passed away at the age of 94. He was a shortstop for the 1944-46 Pirates. He was the last living member from the 1944-45 teams and no one from an earlier team is still living. Barnhart was also the son of OF/3B Clyde Barnhart, who played his entire big league career for the Pirates from 1920-1928, taking part in two World Series. During the 1925 series, he helped the Pirates to their second title by driving in five runs. The younger Barnhart was basically a direct connection to the early days of the team when they had players like Pie Traynor, Kiki Cuyler, Paul and Lloyd Waner. In fact, Lloyd Waner played his first two seasons with Clyde and his last two seasons with Vic. Truly a piece of team history died with Vic Barnhart.

Barnhart was the fourth oldest Pirates player when he passed away. Wally Westlake at 96 years and 159 days is the oldest, along with being the eighth oldest MLB player still living. The next oldest would be outfielder Marv Rackley, who is 100 days shy of his 96th birthday today, followed by pitcher Johnny Hetki, who turns 95 on May 12th. Lefty pitcher Lee Howard is the only player from the 1946 team left living and three players from the 1947 team are still around (Westlake and second baseman Eddie Basinski).

**You may have read or heard after the three-game sweep against the Cardinals the past three days, that it was the first time the Pirates have ever got swept in a three-game series when they allowed six or fewer runs. Most people noted that the research only went back until 1913, while others just said it didn’t happen at all. I took it a step further and went through the first 31 seasons in franchise history and found out it happened just once ever (feel free to Retweet to help spread the research). That was back in July of 1888 when the Alleghenys/Pirates lost 1-0, 1-0 and 2-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies in three games. The Phillies were actually called the Quakers back then.

The Pirates were at home then and got strong pitching performances from Ed “Cannonball” Morris, Harry Staley and Hall of Famer Pud Galvin, but they couldn’t score a single run. They were actually scheduled to play a doubleheader the day after the third shutout, but that was rained out. That doubleheader was a makeup of two games rained out earlier in the season, so a five-game series turned into three games and three shutouts for the Alleghenys.

** I don’t like giving teasers on possible international signings because the Pirates do a lot of scouting that turns out to be nothing (just like every team in every sport), but this is an extremely minor one for a team with the biggest bonus pool in baseball starting this July 2nd. I search for news everyday so you don’t have to, and yesterday I came up with the Pirates scouting a kid from Costa Rica, a country which has never produced a Major League player.

They didn’t exactly go out of their way for him, he was at a camp in Mazatlan where the Pirates always have a representative, as you might know from our winter coverage and all the players in Mexico playing with Venados de Mazatlan. The Pirates were one of two teams showing interest in the young center fielder, along with the Chicago Cubs. If the Pirates and Cubs were the only teams scouting a good player for July then the Pirates would have no trouble getting him because the Cubs are under penalty (can’t spend more than $300K on any one player). This kid isn’t going to command a big bonus if he signs, so don’t expect it to be big news if it happens, other than the new country angle. I did a series of articles last year about what it was like to sign out of Mexico, Australia and Bahamas, so for me at least, that would be an interesting one to add.

I know I didn’t mention his name because it really is a minor piece of news. If you need to know, I’m sure Google and some ability to speak Spanish will help you find it. I also worded the title that way to see how many people thought the Pirates themselves would be leaving for a new country after the way this season has started.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 2-1 to the St Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon. The Pirates are off today. They open a three-game series against the New York Yankees on Friday night. Tyler Glasnow will make his third start against lefty CC Sabathia, who has a 1.47 ERA through three starts.

In the minors, Clay Holmes makes his third start, hoping to get his first quality start. He has been knocked out early due to pitch count in each of his first two games. Taylor Hearn goes for Bradenton. He threw a career-high six innings in his last start and had seven strikeouts and no walks. West Virginia’s Cam Vieaux has allowed one run in each of his starts. Altoona has off today, while Indianapolis has a morning start time.

MLB: Pittsburgh (6-9) vs Yankees (10-5) 7:05 PM 4/21
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (12.15 ERA, 7:8 BB/SO, 6.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (4-9) vs Durham (8-5) 11:05 AM (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (11.57 ERA, 6:4 BB/SO, 4.2 IP)

AA: Altoona (9-4) @ Akron (4-9) 6:35 PM 4/21 (season preview)
Probable starter: Tanner Anderson (0.84 ERA, 4:4 BB/SO, 10.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (9-5) vs Clearwater (10-4) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Taylor Hearn (2.31 ERA, 3:12 BB/SO, 11.2 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (7-7) vs Lakewood (7-7) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (1.74 ERA, 2:5 BB/SO, 10.1 IP)

HIGHLIGHTS

From Tuesday night in Altoona, an RBI single from Kevin Newman. He also added a double in this game.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

4/19: Brett McKinney assigned to Extended Spring Training. Johnny Barbato added to Indianapolis roster.

4/18: Starling Marte suspended 80 games by MLB. Pirates recall Jose Osuna

4/18: Brandon Waddell placed on disabled list

4/18: Joey Terdoslavich added to Indianapolis roster

4/18: Pedro Vasquez added to Bradenton roster. Julio Eusebio assigned to Extended Spring Training

4/17: Pirates acquire Johnny Barbato from New York Yankees. Barbato optioned to Indianapolis.

4/15: Cam Vieaux added to West Virginia roster. Mike Wallace assigned to Extended Spring Training

4/13: Julio Eusebio added to Bradenton roster. Pedro Vasquez assigned to Extended Spring Training

4/11: Albert Baur placed on disabled list. Ty Moore added to West Virginia roster

4/11: Cam Vieaux assigned to Extended Spring Training. Mike Wallace added to West Virginia roster

4/11: Jordan George assigned to Extended Spring Training. Trace Tam Sing added to Bradenton roster

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus one significant trade of note. On this date in 1985, the Pirates traded away long-time closer Kent Tekulve to the Philadelphia Phillies for reliever Al Holland and a minor league pitcher named Frankie Griffin, who never pitched above Double-A.  Tekulve still ranks second on the Pirates all-time list for games pitched (722) and saves (158), plus he added 70 victories, and he saved three games during the 1979 World Series. Holland only lasted until August before he was sent to the California Angels in a six-player deal.

Former players born on this date are: Outfielder Chris Duffy (2005-07),  third baseman Mike Mowrey (1914), outfielder Steamer Flanagan (1905) and outfielder Sam Nicholl (1888). As an 18-year-old in the Ohio State League, Nicholl batted .331 in 92 games. At the very end of the next season, he was with the Pirates/Alleghenys, seeing regular playing time as five of their 16 players were injured. Nicholl hit .045 that October, then had a job with the 1889 Alleghenys out of Spring Training. Unfortunately, he injured his hand and was released a week into the season when he still couldn’t grip the bat tight enough to swing.

On this date in 1901, the Pirates opened up the season with a 4-2 win at Cincinnati. This was the 20th season in franchise history and ended up as the first time they finished in first place. That was before the modern-day World Series started, so the 1901 Pirates were declared the champions that season. It was also the first year of a three-year run in which they took the National League crown each season.

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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