On Monday afternoon while all the news was going on with the Pirates, Mitch Keller was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week. We covered his one start live and also talked about it in The Twenty article from Monday morning. Keller threw seven shutout innings last week, matching his performance from his previous start. He also struck out nine batters for the second straight start and allowed just two hits and no walks.
It seems hard to believe that the same guy who lasted just 2.1 innings in his first start, and gave up seven hits two starts later, is now the FSL league leader with an 0.90 WHIP, but his last two starts have been dominating. That’s also the best WHIP among all Pirates minor league starters, and only Eduardo Vera at 0.88, has a better WHIP among Pirates with more than 20 innings. Keller had an 0.92 WHIP last year, which was tops among all Pirates with more than 62 innings, so he’s actually just ahead of that pace this season.
Despite some very strong pitching performance so far this season, Keller is the first Pirate to be named Pitcher of the Week at any of the four levels. The only batter to win Player of the Week so far has been Kevin Krause during the first week of the season. If you missed it from the Prospect Watch last night, Krause landed on the disabled list with a hamstring injury he suffered while running out a grounder.
**A lot has changed since yesterday’s prospect status update. I included Elias Diaz in the article and he got sent back to Indianapolis after Sunday’s game. The Pirates called up Max Moroff and Chris Bostick, giving them two more players to add to a list that was already at nine prospects in the majors at some point this season. That doesn’t even include Tyler Glasnow and Josh Bell, who lost their prospect status during the season. It’s May 9th and they have already used 11 rookies.
I doubt Trevor Williams is going to start again after last night. While I’m sure he likes the MLB paychecks, it appears it would have been for him if they left him in the starting role at Indianapolis. Maybe they get better results from him last night if he was coming up off 5-6 minor league starts already. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Steven Brault get the start the next time this rotation spot comes up, but we will see. Regardless, this is a prospect status update and after pitching three innings last night, Williams is now 23 innings away from losing his prospect status.
The game last night saw Jose Osuna, Alen Hanson, Gift Ngoepe, Chris Bostick and Max Moroff all play. Osuna batted four times, putting him at 47 at-bats, or 84 away from losing his prospect status. Hanson batted once, pushing him over the halfway mark. He is at 66 at-bats, with 65 more needed. Ngoepe didn’t bat, so he’s stuck on 24. Moroff had three at-bats to add to the two he had last year. Bostick got his first two at-bats out of the way. If I had to guess right now from this group, I think only Osuna and Hanson lose their prospect status this year.
Bostick and Moroff will remain on our Prospect Watch top 30 for a week. If they’re still in the majors after that, then we will replace them on the list.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night. The Pirates will send Ivan Nova to the mound for his seventh start of the season tonight. He allowed season highs in hits (10) and earned runs (4) in his last start. The Dodgers will counter with 20-year-old lefty Julio Urias, who has an 0.84 ERA in two starts this season.
In the minors, Clay Holmes makes his sixth start of the season for Indianapolis. He has a respectable 3.72 ERA, with 22 strikeouts and a 2.88 GO/AO ratio in 19.1 innings, but he has only gone five innings once this season. Altoona’s Tanner Anderson has a 1.98 ERA and a 2.05 GO/AO ratio. Kevin Kramer has a 25-game on base streak active. Bradenton’s Pedro Vasquez allowed a season-high three earned runs in his last start. West Virginia has off today.
MLB: Pittsburgh (14-18) @ Dodgers (18-14) 10:10 PM
Probable starter: Ivan Nova (2.14 ERA, 1:27 BB/SO, 42.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (11-16) vs Charlotte (14-15) 11:05 AM (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (3.72 ERA, 12:22 BB/SO, 19.1 IP)
AA: Altoona (17-11) @ Richmond (12-17) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tanner Anderson (1.98 ERA, 10:14 BB/SO, 27.1 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (19-13) @ Jupiter (13-19) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Pedro Vasquez (2.64 ERA, 5:19 BB/SO, 30.2 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (15-17) @ Asheville (15-16) 7:05 PM 5/10 (season preview)
Probable starter: James Marvel (3.41 ERA, 8:29 BB/SO, 29.0 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is a two-run double from Connor Joe, who had a 12-game hitting streak snapped over the weekend.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
5/9: Jackson Williams assigned to Altoona from Indianapolis. Zane Chavez assigned to Morgantown.
5/8: Pirates add Max Moroff and Chris Bostick to roster. Elias Diaz and Phil Gosselin assigned to Indianapolis.
5/8: Adam Frazier assigned to Indianapolis on rehab. Just Maffei assigned to Indianapolis.
5/8: Boomer Synek retired.
5/8: Kevin Krause placed on disabled list. Logan Ratledge promoted to Bradenton.
5/7: Michael Suchy placed on disabled list. Jerrick Suiter promoted to Altoona.
5/7: Jess Amedee activated from disabled list.
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.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, and a game from 80 years ago that seemed like the Pirates were playing the Pirates. Players born on this date include 1952 first baseman Tony Bartirome, who was signed the previous year by Pie Traynor. His playing career wasn’t that memorable, but older fans might recognize the name because he was the trainer for the Pirates for 19 seasons, include two World Series (1971 and 1979) seasons. So you could say that Traynor signed the trainer.
Also born on this date, Culley Rickard, who played for the Pirates from 1941-42 and then again in 1947. In between, he served three years in the military during WWII. He had his arm broken by a line drive during the 1942 season, with the incident happening when he was throwing batting practice.
Finally, catcher Dan Sullivan, who caught one game on Opening Day of the 1886 season when the Pirates (then called Alleghenys) played their only Opening Day doubleheader. He went 0-for-4 with two errors and it ended up being the last game of his five-year career.
On this date in 1937, the Pirates faced a Braves team that used six players that had either already played for the Pirates, or would later in their career. The team was also managed by Bill McKechnie, who played for and managed the Pirates. The Braves (who were also called the Bees back then) used former/future Pirates Deb Garms, Vince DiMaggio, Al Lopez, Elbie Fletcher, Tommy Thevenow and Guy Bush in the game. Pittsburgh won and moved to 11-3 on the season. You can view the boxscore here.
