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Morning Report: Bradenton Looks Like a Playoff Team Full of Prospects

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We don’t mention minor league records too often here unless it means the team is about to make the playoffs, or the team is just so bad you can’t help but mention the record. That’s mostly because teams full of prospects usually don’t put up the best records. You can stack a minor league team with veterans and they can run away with a league title, but you didn’t really accomplish anything in the process as an organization.

It’s different this year with Bradenton though, because they have six of the top nine prospects in the system right now. Mitch Keller, Gage Hinsz and Taylor Hearn are in the rotation, while Will Craig, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Cole Tucker are in the infield. If Tyler Glasnow can somehow carry over his finish from the last game and go 6.1 innings tonight, he will no longer be considered a prospect. Then you’re talking about the Marauders having six of the top eight prospects in the system. Through play on Saturday night, the Marauders have an 18-12 record, putting them in first place by 2.5 games.

While it’s still early in the five month minor league season, it’s important to remember that the Florida State League is a split schedule league, broken up into two segments of 70 games. That means if you win the first half, you’re the home team in the playoffs, even if you go 0-70 the rest of the way.

During the first Morning Report this year, it was used as an introduction where I mentioned the Playoff Push section. That will return sometime soon (at least a week from now) so you can follow the Marauders as they go for the first half title. They won that first half title last year and that ended up giving Mitch Keller an extra two starts, including his eight shutout innings in the finals. We also saw Connor Joe hit for power for the first time, and a strong start from JT Brubaker in the finals.

I’m not sure how many of the six top prospects will remain in Bradenton all season, or who of note could make it up to Bradenton later in the season because West Virginia doesn’t have many prospects this year. Despite a recent rough patch from Luis Escobar, he could be the big name this year. Stephen Alemais will be in Bradenton by mid-season most likely, plus the other two starting pitchers for the Marauders, Dario Agrazal and Pedro Vasquez, both have potential and youth. I doubt Mitch Keller will be there still, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hinsz and Hearn spend the entire season there, so they could pick up 1-2 valuable extra starts with some added pressure.

It’s safe to say that not everyone of note will be promoted to Altoona this year, so there will be some top prospects in Bradenton still when the season ends. A spot in the playoffs would be added experience for some important players in the system.

The West Virginia Power also play in a league with a split schedule. They had a chance to get to .500 yesterday, which would have been impressive after an 0-6 start. I didn’t forget them for the Playoff Push section, they’re just in sixth place now so it seems unlikely at this point. It’s an old team for the league, so they could make a push over the next 40 games. If not, we will just update them until they get eliminated from the first half.

Once the first half is over, the Playoff Push section disappears again until around August 1st, when we start covering all eight affiliates and the Pirates.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 2-1 in ten innings on Saturday night over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates will go with Tyler Glasnow this afternoon, making his sixth start. He allowed three runs in the first inning of his last game, then threw five shutout innings to pick up his first big league victory. The Brewers will counter with 24-year-old right-handed pitcher Zach Davies, who has a 6.07 ERA in 29.2 innings this season.

In the minors, Gage Hinsz gets the start for Bradenton. He is coming off one of his best career outings, one in which he allowed one run over seven innings. He gave up one run over six innings in his previous start. Cam Vieaux has allowed one run in four of his five starts this season and no runs in the other game. Altoona was rained out for the second day in a row, so Yeudy Garcia will try again today during a doubleheader. No starter has been announced yet for the second game. Josh Lindblom was scheduled to start for Indianapolis, but he has been promoted to Pittsburgh. (UPDATED: Sean Keselica will start game two for Altoona and Cody Dickson will start for Indianapolis)

UPDATE of the UPDATE: If they make anymore changes, oh well. Altoona is now going with Alex McRae for game one and Yeudy Garcia for game two, while Gage Hinsz has been scratched for an unknown reason in favor of Logan Sendelbach

MLB: Pittsburgh (14-16) vs Brewers (15-16) 1:35 PM
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (6.97 ERA, 17:22 BB/SO, 20.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (9-16) @ Columbus (11-16) 2:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter:  Cody Dickson (7.36 ERA, 7:9 BB/SO, 11.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (15-10) @ Akron (11-14) 1:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Yeudy Garcia (6.43 ERA, 9:18 BB/SO, 14.0 IP) and Sean Keselica (0.00 ERA, 4:18 BB/SO, 15.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (18-12) vs Dunedin (16-14) 1:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (5.63 ERA, 8:14 BB/SO, 24.0 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (14-16) vs Lexington (12-18) 2:05 PM  (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (1.27 ERA, 4:14 BB/SO, 28.1 IP)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is the ninth strikeout of the game from Mitch Keller on Friday night. He has now thrown back-to-back games of seven shutout innings

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

5/6: Jameson Taillon placed on disabled list. Josh Lindblom promoted to Pirates

5/4: Brandon Waddell activated from disabled list. JT Brubaker placed on disabled list.

5/3: Jordan George activated from Bradenton disabled list.

5/2: Jackson Williams promoted to Indianapolis. Justin Maffei assigned to Morgantown.

5/2: Zane Chavez assigned to Altoona.

5/1: Pirates recall Elias Diaz. Option John Bormann to Bradenton.

5/1: Pirates release Greg Williams, Holden Helmink and Julian Villamar.

4/30: Pirates option Danny Ortiz to Indianapolis. John Bormann promoted to Pittsburgh.

4/30: Pirates release Trace Tam Sing.

4/29: Pirates place David Freese on disabled list. Danny Ortiz promoted to Pittsburgh.

4/29: Justin Maffei added to Indianapolis roster.

4/28: Luis Heredia assigned to Altoona. Pirates release John Kuchno

4/28: Jackson Williams added to Altoona roster. Zane Chavez assigned to Morgantown.

4/28: Brett McKinney added to Indianapolis roster.

4/27: Eury Perez added to Indianapolis roster.

4/27: Jess Amedee placed on the disabled list. Trace Tam Sing added to Bradenton roster.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, two trades of note and one historic play from 1925. The players born on May 7th are Mark Smith, outfielder for the 1997-98 Pirates, and Dave Barbee, who played left field for the team in 1932.

The first trade of note has a major player involved, Hall of Fame center fielder Lloyd Waner. He was dealt to the Boston Braves in 1941 for pitcher Nick Strincevich. Waner was on the downside on his career and eventually returned to the Pirates in 1944 for his last two seasons. Strincevich started off really slow in Pittsburgh, but by the time Waner returned, he was a different pitcher. Over the 1944-46 seasons, he won 40 games and pitched over 600 innings, making the deal a win for the Pirates. During that 1941 season, Waner went to the plate 234 times without striking out….yes you read that right.

Also traded on this date in 1962 was pitcher Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, who was sent to the expansion New York Mets in exchange for first baseman Jim Marshall. Mizell had 90 career wins and Marshall was hitting .344 at the time of the deal, but by the end of the season, both saw their Major League careers end.

On this date in 1925, shortstop Glenn Wright turned the sixth unassisted triple play in Major League history. It came in the ninth inning of a 10-9 loss to the Cardinals at Forbes Field. Wright caught a liner, stepped on second base and then tagged the runner coming from first. The batter was Hall of Fame first baseman Jim Bottomley and the runner on first base was Hall of Fame second baseman Rogers Hornsby. The runner on second base was Jimmy Cooney, who happened to be the next player to turn an unassisted triple play, which he did two years later against the Pirates.

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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