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Morning Report: Pirate City Updates and Prospect Status Notes

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Some quick notes from Pirate City then some other notes and all of the usual good stuff at the bottom.

Antonio Bastardo pitched well for two innings earlier this week as he continues to rehab from his phantom injury. Starling Marte was playing Extended Spring Training games when he first got to Pirate City, but for the last couple weeks or so he has just been working out to stay in shape. My guess is it’s just due to the fact he has eight weeks left before he can return to the Pirates, so no rush to get him into games against players going to short-season ball. Brandon Cumpton is ready to leave Pirate City and is likely to join Bradenton soon…very soon. It will be his first regular season game since September 13, 2014.

Catcher Raul Hernandez injured his hamstring, returned in a couple weeks and quickly re-injured his hamstring, so he is out of action. Junior Lopez was suspended 25 games to start the season, then got hurt while working out at Pirates City during the suspension. He hasn’t returned to action yet, so don’t expect to see him anytime soon.

** Trevor Williams started last night so it’s time for the prospect status updates. I thought he had a chance to cross that magic 50 IP barrier in two starts (including last night), but now that seems highly unlikely (prove me wrong, Trevor). With five innings last night, he has 30.1 this year and 43 in the majors. Just 7.1 to go and he’s off our list and out of our 2018 Prospect Guide.

As for the others, Johnny Barbato is still plugging away at his two chances to get off a list he has never been on. He threw an inning last night, giving him 14.1 this year, added to the 13 from last year, leaving him 23 innings short of the finish line. He’s also a reliever, so they get 30 appearances as well before they cross the mark. This was his 23rd, so eight more and he’s off the list.

For the hitters, Danny Ortiz could be on his last day with the Pirates (for now) once Gregory Polanco returns. He can come off the disabled list today and he seems anxious (and possibly ready) to do just that. Ortiz batted three times last night and has 12 at-bats total. I’d be shocked if he lost his prospect status this year. Before last night Jose Osuna and Gift Ngoepe weren’t doing anything on offense, but I think Ortiz would have been the one to return anyway. We will see though, one game shouldn’t change any opinions. Osuna now has 71 at-bats and Ngoepe has 47 after last night, so even if they stay, they will remain in the updates for awhile.

Finally, Alen Hanson pinch-hit on Wednesday night for his 51st at-bat of the season. Added on to the 31 he had last year, that leaves him 49 short of losing his prospect status.

** Brandon Waddell has some crazy stats that don’t match up well. In 15.1 innings, he has 17 strikeouts, a 3.83 GO/AO ratio and a .193 BAA. Yet somehow, he has a 4.70 ERA and has made five starts already with only 15.1 total innings. Part of the low inning total is due to his forearm strain that had him out for nearly four weeks and limited his pitch count recently. That being said, he also got knocked out in the first inning in one start and didn’t get through his scheduled innings in three other outings. He’s keeping hits off the board, while getting an insane amount of grounders and an above average strikeout total, yet walks and high pitch counts have given him a poor overall line. Waddell goes this morning for Altoona in their second straight morning start time.

** I mentioned yesterday that the rained out doubleheader meant that West Virginia had a second game canceled this season. Well, their doubleheader on Wednesday was also rained out, which means both of those games will be canceled. They don’t play Augusta again during the first half of the season, which has now gone from 70 games down to 66 at this time.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton leads their division by two games with 23 games remaining in the first half.

West Virginia trails their division leader by 4.5 games, with 24 games left in the first half. They are in fifth place. The Power have a four-game series (May 25-28) versus first place Hagerstown this week.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 12-5 over the Atlanta Braves in ten innings on Wednesday night. The Pirates will go with Ivan Nova, who is making his tenth start of the season this afternoon. He threw six innings against the Braves during his season debut and gave up just one unearned run. He has a 2.80 ERA in five road games. The Braves will counter with 44-year-old right-hander Bartolo Colon, who has a 6.38 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP in nine starts this year.

In the minors, Clay Holmes starts for Indianapolis tonight. He has allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last seven starts, while picking up seven or more strikeouts in five of those games. Altoona has a morning start time with Brandon Waddell on the mound. West Virginia hasn’t played since Sunday and at various times yesterday, they had three different pitchers listed for the doubleheader and it kept changing. I listed TBD below for today because James Marvel was supposed to go Monday, followed by Oddy Nunez, Luis Escobar and Cam Vieaux today. None of those first three pitchers made their start, so I’ll wait to see how they figure out the rotation because it’s a mess now.

MLB: Pittsburgh (21-26) @ Braves (20-24) 12:10 PM
Probable starter: Ivan Nova (2.63 ERA, 4:36 BB/SO, 61.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (24-20) @ Lehigh Valley (31-14) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (3.08 ERA, 15:44 BB/SO, 38.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (24-19) vs Akron (20-21) 10:30 AM (season preview)
Probable starter: Brandon Waddell (4.70 ERA, 9:17 BB/SO, 15.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (28-19) vs St Lucie (22-25) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Pedro Vasquez (2.38 ERA, 7:30 BB/SO, 45.1 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (21-21) vs Hagerstown (27-18) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is an RBI single from Trae Arbet, who has been hitting the ball well this entire season. He went into Wednesday night’s action with the 11th highest OPS (.892) in the South Atlantic League.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

5/23: Yunior Montero assigned to Extended Spring Training. Sam Street added to Bradenton roster.

5/22: James Marvel activated from West Virginia disabled list. Chris Harvey assigned to Morgantown.

5/20: Jhan Marinez added to Pirates roster. Josh Lindblom placed on disabled list.

5/19: Pirates claim Jhan Marinez off waivers.

5/19: Stephen Alemais placed on disabled list.  Cam Vieaux activated from West Virginia disabled list.

5/19: Jin-De Jhang added to Altoona roster. Zane Chavez placed on disabled list.

5/17: Gregory Polanco placed on disabled list. Danny Ortiz recalled from Indianapolis.

5/16: Pirates sign Haicheng Gong.

5/16: JT Brubaker activated from Altoona disabled list. Chris Diaz assigned to Morgantown.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including 2006 first round pick Brad Lincoln, who turns 32 today. Among the former players, we have first baseman Randall Simon (2003-04), outfielder William Pennyfeather (1992-94), first baseman Jim Marshall (1962) and pitcher John Hofford, who played for the franchise in 1885-86, before the Pirates were called the Pirates (Alleghenys) and before they moved to the National League, which happened in 1887.

On this date in 1954, the Pirates traded outfielder Cal Abrams to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Dick Littlefield. The Orioles got one good season out of Abrams, while Littlefield pitched well for the Pirates in 1954, a season in which they lost 101 games. He struggled the next season, then was part of a deal that brought Bill Virdon to Pittsburgh.

On this date in 1935, the Pittsburgh Pirates won 11-7 over the Boston Braves, but an aging slugger for Boston was the big story. That day, Babe Ruth hit the last three homers of his Major League career. The last homer he hit left Forbes Field over the right field roof, making him the first player to ever accomplish that feat. Here is the boxscore from that game. Bartolo Colon did not take part in that game for the Braves.

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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