40.8 F
Pittsburgh

The Twenty: Alemais, Craig, Brault, Holmes, and Keller Led the Pirates System This Week

Published:

Every week we have live reports from all over the system, while John Dreker provides additional views of the minors via MiLB.tv, which included Indianapolis, Altoona and Bradenton this week. We also had live coverage of Indianapolis, Altoona, Bradenton and West Virginia in the past week. All of these reports are combined and used each week to highlight the top performers during that time span. We go with the top ten hitters and pitchers, giving you the 20 best players from last week.

HITTERS

Stephen Alemais, SS, West Virginia – The thing about The Twenty is that it doesn’t care if you’re one of the best fielders in the entire system, you have to hit your way on to the list. Alemais did just that this week and most of the damage came on Wednesday when he slugged two homers. That gave him two home runs this season and three in his brief career. It’s not something we have seen from him in games that count, but he did hit three homers in one week during the Fall Instructional League last September, so the power is hidden in there. The Pirates don’t expect him to be a power hitter in the future, but they do want him to drive the ball more. He spent this off-season working out with Jose Reyes and learning hitting from Carlos Beltran, and so far he has shown an improvement over last year. As a player who went to a major college program, he really can’t prove much at Low-A, but he should see plenty of time at Bradenton late this season and have a chance to show his skills in the pitcher-friendly FSL. – John Dreker

Trae Arbet, 2B, West Virginia – Arbet is one of five players to repeat from last week’s The Twenty article. He didn’t quite put up the huge stats he had coming into the past week, but he is still hitting the ball very well. Arbet has a .339/.403/.554 slash line through 14 games. His biggest issues on offense in the past have been low walk and high strikeout totals due to a lack of plate patience. It’s too early to judge if he’s really improved on those issues, or he’s just in a hot streak that looks great due to small sample size. Arbet needs the bat to carry him up the farm system ladder because his defense isn’t that good at second base and he’s not a fast runner, so all of the tools are in the quick bat and raw power he brings to the plate. – JD

Chris Bostick, INF/OF, Indianapolis – Indianapolis has the lowest team batting average in the International League and the second worst OPS, but Chris Bostick has been a bright spot in the lineup so far this season. He had hits in all six games this week as part of an eight-game hit streak and a ten-game on base streak. Bostick has made starts in left field, right field, third base and second base already this season. He’s also played shortstop and center field (albeit briefly) in the past. The Pirates traded Bradenton catcher Taylor Gushue to get the now 24-year-old Bostick, and early on it looks like he could contribute at the Major League level at some point this season. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so that helps his case. The added versatility, to go along with his above average speed, could make him a nice bench piece in Pittsburgh. – JD

Will Craig, 1B, Bradenton – We focus on offense with this list, but it’s worth mentioning that Craig showed some impressive defense at first base this week. Craig showed the ability to make a good throw down to second base to start a double play, along with the ability to lay out for hard grounders and line drives to his right. There were questions about his long-term chances of sticking at third base, but I have very few questions right now about his chances at first base. That said, he’s on the list because of his offense, going 9-for-22 with a double and two walks. There hasn’t been much power yet, although the FSL isn’t the best league for power production. He hits the ball hard at times, but I think we’re going to have to wait until Altoona to get a first glimpse of his power potential. His offense is starting to come around here, and I could see him making the move to Double-A by mid-June if this recent production continues. – Tim Williams

Ty Moore, LF, West Virginia – Moore has been on a tear since he joined West Virginia a few games into the season after they suffered two injuries. He replaced Victor Fernandez in left field after he went down with a hamstring injury. Fernandez just reported to Extended Spring Training for rehab on Sunday, so Moore still has time to prove that he deserves the playing time once Fernandez gets back. Moore started with a ten-game hit streak after joining West Virginia. That was broken in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, then he reached base three times in the second game. In 12 games, he has a .404/.466/.577 slash line and he’s struck out just four times in 58 plate appearances. Abigail Miskowiec wrote about Moore’s leadership qualities as a returning player this year. That article also included write-ups on Carlos Munoz and Logan Ratledge, who happen to be the next two players on this list… – JD

Carlos Munoz, 1B, West Virginia – Just like Moore, Munoz also got a chance to play after an injury for West Virginia. When first baseman Albert Baur went down the first week, Munoz was added to the active roster. After a few rough games at the start, he has picked it up with the bat. He went 7-for-20 this past week, hitting two homers and drawing five walks. Munoz wasn’t in an ideal situation to start the season. As a player in your last year before free agency, being the 26th man on a Low-A team is a bad spot, but now he has a chance to prove he belongs. He’s going to have to really carry himself with the bat and continue to hit homers, because the defense has been poor this year and first base and he’s a detriment on the bases. – JD

Logan Ratledge, INF/OF, West Virginia – Ratledge is having a solid all-around season as the oldest player (turns 25 in July) on West Virginia’s active roster. He’s been a leader at the top of the lineup, hitting .302/.416/.508 through 17 games, with four doubles, three homers, 12 walks and four stolen bases. Ratledge has also seen time at every position except first base and catcher. He pitched four times last year and he’s already been called upon this season, which will likely happen again at some point. Basically, he is a valuable player on a minor league team due to versatility and his all-around game. That’s not the description of a prospect, but he should be able to hang on for a while with the type of resume. – JD

Jason Rogers, 1B/3B, Indianapolis – The veteran in the Indianapolis lineup, Rogers leads the team with an .849 OPS. He’s hit three homers this year, after connecting on a total of six in 105 games with Indianapolis last year. Rogers hasn’t been playing much on defense, getting six starts at first base and the rest as the designated hitter. The bat is what will get him back to the majors and the Pirates could use a strong pinch-hitter, which was his specialty with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015, but not last year in limited time with the Pirates. He’s not on the 40-man roster, but the Pirates have two open roster spots and if they want someone with MLB experience, there aren’t many choices at Indianapolis. – JD

Sandy Santos, CF, West Virginia – Santos was off to a very rough start this season, piling up the strikeouts. He finally broke that slump last Monday, collecting three hits in a game, including a home run. He week slowed down a little after that, but he still did enough to get into the top ten this week. Santos turned 23 last week, so that’s not an ideal age for Low-A. He didn’t make his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League until he was 19, but he has advanced four levels higher in four years since then. Santos has been mentioned a lot as a very toolsy players and that’s evident by watching him. He’s got good speed, can cover ground in center field, has a strong arm and a lot of raw power. He’s got an athletic, 6’3″ frame, which makes him a player to keep an eye on in case he ever does put it all together.  He is still very mistake-prone in all facets of his game, so that’s a big part of the reason he hasn’t progressed further along. – JD

Mitchell Tolman, 2B, Bradenton – Tolman reminded me a little bit of Max Moroff at the plate this past week. He’s a very selective hitter, sometimes getting a bit too selective and working deep counts. That said, he doesn’t go to the same extreme that Moroff goes to. He went 9-for-31 with two doubles and a home run this week, pulling the home run into the right field bullpen. He’s got some power potential for a middle infielder, which will mostly come in the form of extra base hits, but also with the chance to hit a few out. He also does a good job of getting on base, although the big test for those skills will come at the higher levels. It’s hard to say at this point whether he will be another utility infield type like Moroff or Erich Weiss, or if he will emerge as more of a starting option. The conservative guess right now would put him in the same category as Moroff/Weiss, which isn’t a bad thing. – TW

PITCHERS

Dario Agrazal, RHP, Bradenton – I wrote over the weekend that Agrazal looks like another Trevor Williams type prospect emerging for the Pirates. He was consistently hitting 94-95 MPH in his last start, even in his 7th inning of work. He topped out at 96. His fastball is a heavy sinker that generates a lot of ground balls. This year he has a 57% ground ball rate in four starts. In the last week, he started showing more strikeouts, getting ten strikeouts in 13 innings over two starts, with four earned runs and no walks. He pounds the strike zone with his sinker, limiting the walks, and limiting damage. He doesn’t really have a good strikeout pitch, instead focusing on mixing up his pitches well when he gets deeper into counts. When he’s doing a good job of that, the strikeouts will come, as they did this past week. However, that doesn’t project for good strikeout numbers in the upper levels, which is why Agrazal profiles as a middle reliever who can go extended innings, working off his mid-90s sinker. – TW

Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – Brault hasn’t been bad this season, but he also hadn’t put together a dominating performance you might expect out of him at the Triple-A level. He changed that against Scranton on April 20, allowing one earned run on five hits over six innings. He struck out nine batters and walked just one. His command continued to improve, throwing 65 percent of his pitches for a strike, after just 58 percent during his first two starts. He walked just one batter, after walking eight over his previous three starts this season. Brault has worked on using his athleticism more with his delivery and those improvements have been more frequent each time on the mound. He threw his fastball to both sides of the plate and paired that with his sinker to keep hitters off-balance. Brault was one of the five pitchers competing for that final starting spot in Pittsburgh during Spring Training. One week ago, if the Pirates needed to bring up a starting pitcher, the choice would have been unclear due to nobody stepping forward outside of Tyler Eppler, who just reached the Triple-A level this season. But if Brault puts together more of these type of outings, he will be the obvious choice to help the Pirates’ rotation if needed. – Brian Peloza

Austin Coley, RHP, Altoona – Coley was supposed to be in the Altoona bullpen this season. Then a doubleheader the first week meant that the Curve needed a spot starter. After that, Brandon Waddell went down with a left forearm strain, which has caused him to miss two starts. Coley got his chance in the rotation and he has filled in admirably. In three starts and one relief appearance, he has a 2.76 ERA, a .190 BAA and an 0.98 WHIP, with 14 strikeouts in 16.1 innings. He gave up two runs over seven innings this past week. Coley was very inconsistent last year at Bradenton, occasionally putting up solid starts, but they would soon be followed by poor outings. He’s been having success this year with an 88-90 MPH sinker that has late movement, along with a slider that was getting swinging strikes. He frequently went to his changeup as well, giving him a three-pitch mix. Coley noted that he could throw the sinker a little harder, which is what we have seen in the past, but it has better action when he doesn’t overthrow it. – JD

Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – Holmes was coming off possibly the worst start of his professional career, only recording two outs and throwing 35 pitches before being removed in the first inning. Then, Clay Holmes put together a pitching gem against Durham on April 20, striking out seven and walking just one in six scoreless innings. And the highlight? His velocity. Holmes was sitting 95 MPH, touched 96 on several pitches and hit 97 twice. And the best pitch of the game was his 99 MPH fastball on the edge that struck out Durham’s Curt Casali looking. Holmes credits his increased velocity this season to having a full offseason to rest and prepare. He had Tommy John surgery in 2015 and that didn’t allow him to have a normal routine during the offseason prior to the 2016 campaign. But Holmes wasn’t a one-pitch show against Durham, using a slider-cutter and curveball effectively. He’s working on throwing his two-seam fastball to both sides of the plate, not wanting to only use sinkers on one side of the plate. Holmes was able to mix his pitches well and keep the ball on the ground when he needed them the most, inducing three double plays. His control was improved, throwing 51 of his 80 pitches for a strike and only walked one batter, after walking three in each of his first two starts. Holmes has the potential to be a top-end starter in the major leagues. But he will need to put together more outings similar to what he had this week and eliminate the rough outings where he struggles with command and making it deep into the game. – BP

Mitch Keller, RHP, Bradenton – From a numbers standpoint, Keller had a strong outing. He gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings, with four strikeouts and no walks. From a stuff standpoint, it wasn’t Keller’s best outing. The command of his fastball wasn’t there, and he went in with a focus of throwing a lot of changeups, but didn’t have the feel for the pitch until late in the game. There were some encouraging signs, specifically his curveball usage. The opposing hitters started sitting on Keller’s fastball in the third inning, and he responded by switching to the curveball more often in the fourth. This got him back on track, giving him a pitch that could bail out the other two offerings that weren’t working. Keller will need to learn how to use the off-speed stuff earlier in future outings, which I wrote about in detail last week. – TW

Josh Lindblom, RHP, Indianapolis – Lindblom put together a solid start that had one blemish — a hanging curveball that Yankees’ top prospect Clint Frazier hit for a home run. Otherwise, Lindblom was good and pitched around traffic in the fifth inning. In that inning, Scranton loaded the bases on two walks and single. But Lindblom struck out Ji-Man Choi to end the threat. That was the only strikeout Lindblom had and he walked three, throwing 66 of his 99 pitches for a strike. Lindblom is a veteran that mixes his pitches well to get outs. His likely role in Pittsburgh would be as a middle reliever, but Lindblom could also provide starting pitching depth if needed. – BP

James Marvel, RHP, West Virginia – Marvel continues to impress in his first full season after Tommy John surgery. He had control problems with Morgantown in 2016, but those seem to be a thing of the past as he has a 1.29 WHIP and a 1.86 ERA. He pitched 5.1 strong innings on Sunday, and the only hard contact opposing batters could manage in that start were a pair of leadoff doubles in Marvel’s last two innings. His fastball velocity has seen a recent uptick, from high 80s last year to 91-93 in 2017, and his curveball is starting to be a reliable strikeout pitch. He fits the Pirates mold of a groundball pitcher, and he pairs the previously mentioned pitches with a sinker and a changeup that he rarely uses. He’s not going to blow hitters away, but his 19:6 K/BB ratio indicates he’s moving in the right direction. – Abigail Miskowiec

Oddy Nunez, LHP, West Virginia – In his start two weeks ago, Nunez had some abysmal defense behind him, which led to him looking good while putting up numbers that suggested otherwise. He made two starts this past week and allowed one run on three hits and two walks over eight innings. The numbers show that he is an intriguing prospect. The 20-year-old lefty was a bullpen arm in the GCL last year and his fastball sat high-80s. He was a typical projectable arm for the Pirates. He has great size, listed at 6’6″ (I’ve been told he’s taller) and he has a solid workhorse frame. This spring he added about 4-5 MPH to his average fastball and that was enough for the Pirates to skip him two levels and move him to the starter role. Nunez throws that fastball on a downward plane with solid command, which has led to a lot of weak contact and some swing and misses this season. He will be limited this year due to his age and limited innings in his previous two seasons. – JD

Pedro Vasquez, RHP, Bradenton – With four other starters in the Bradenton rotation who can sit 94-95 MPH or higher, Vasquez almost looks like a soft tosser with a 90-93 MPH sinker. He gets his results not from power, but from his ability to pitch and mix up his stuff. In the last week, he combined for two runs in 11 innings, with five strikeouts and two walks. I saw him on Tuesday against a very aggressive, lefty-heavy lineup. He got through that group by showing a nice changeup that kept opposing hitters off his fastball. It’s hard to determine his upside at this point, since this is his first season with the Pirates, and only his second full season in pro ball. His stuff isn’t the best, but it would be good enough to continue being effective in the upper levels if he continues showing an ability to mix up his pitches and attack lineups in a smart manner the way he did on Tuesday. – TW

Cam Vieaux, LHP, West Virginia – Last week I mentioned that Vieaux should have no problem with Low-A hitters because he’s an advanced 23-year-old college pitcher. Left-handed pitchers with good control really don’t need much to get by at this level either. He had no problems with the Lakewood offense this week, earning his second Twenty spot with one run over six innings on Thursday night. In three starts, Vieaux has a 1.65 ERA in 16.1 innings, with a 1.10 WHIP and a .259 BAA. There are some issues, especially for an advanced pitcher at this level. He has just six strikeouts and an 0.89 GO/AO ratio could use some improving. He was also showing a slight dip in velocity this spring, so that’s something to watch for this season. Vieaux will likely be the first starting pitcher promoted from West Virginia, but for now, he can work on a strikeout pitch, getting more ground balls and regaining some of that velocity. – JD

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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles