Tyler Glasnow started last night, so it’s time for the prospect status updates. Due to injuries, the Pirates have been using a lot more rookies than I anticipated. Three of them have already been sent back down to the minors, otherwise this would be enough for an entire article, not just the intro to the Morning Report. Of the three players sent down, two won’t reach 131 at-bats this year, or likely anytime soon (if ever), but it was nice to see Danny Ortiz finally get into a Major League game after ten seasons. Sure it would have been nice to get him an at-bat, but I’m sure it was just as thrilling for him to be out there three innings on defense and make a play.
Then Ortiz’s debut was backed up the next day by the third-string catcher in High-A getting called to the majors in an emergency, giving John Bormann a great story, lifetime healthcare and some extra spending cash. While he’s still on the 40-man roster, he’s receiving an approximate 900% raise over what he was making four days ago. If he stays on the 40-man for awhile, it gives him an automatic raise for next year as well, as you can’t pay a player less than 60% of their salary from the year before.
Dovydas Neverauskas was the third player sent down and I could see him making 30 more relief appearances for the Pirates this year, so don’t count him out. He and Edgar Santana are the best relief prospects and I think both could spend half of the season in Pittsburgh.
Back to the guys actually in the majors right now. Glasnow is now at 44 Major League innings, just 6.1 away from losing his prospect status. I did not want to put him back in the top 30 on our Prospect Watch. It’s a lot of work to replace the players at the top of the list because everything changes below them. So I was very happy about his performance after the first inning last night.
Johnny Barbato has pitched twice, giving him 15 career appearances and 15.2 innings. For relievers, there are two cutoffs, 50 innings and 30 appearances, so he’s halfway to the limit on the latter. Trevor Williams is at 12 appearances and 22.1 innings career. At this point, I could see him returning to the minors to get work in before he loses his prospect status. Might not be a bad idea to switch him with Neverauskas or Santana and let Williams work regularly out of the bullpen if that’s the role the Pirates see for him in the future.
On offense, the Pirates have Alen Hanson, Jose Osuna, Gift Ngoepe and Elias Diaz in the majors right now. All four of them played last night, but Diaz probably won’t be around much longer this time around. He’s far away with his ten at-bats and Ngoepe only has 11 at-bats. Both of them are iffy to lose that prospect status this season, unless a catcher injury forces Diaz into regular playing time.
Osuna now has 32 at-bats and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the next prospect after Glasnow to lose that prospect tag. Hanson does have a nice lead over him with 56 at-bats in the majors, but I think he might see his playing time drastically cut once Frazier and Freese return. Clint Hurdle loves pinch-runners and Hanson is the best man for that job.
Can you believe the Pirates have used 11 rookies already this year already? Josh Bell is the only one who has lost his prospect status.
So once Glasnow does lose his prospect status, then he is officially off of our top 50 list, where he ranked #3 coming into this season. That will move Kevin Newman up another spot to third place. He already moved up a spot after Josh Bell lost his prospect status on Opening Day. It would then put six players on Bradenton in the top eight spots. Jacob Stallings would then move onto our top 50 list, though Johnny Barbato might be more deserving of the spot. We never ranked him due to the timing of his acquisition, and there’s no real reason to do it now. We are still about 2 1/2 months away from when we re-rank the players in our mid-season update.
Now the real question is, how many more times will Glasnow’s start be the time I update the prospect status? If he can pitch anything like he did last night and get 6.1 innings, then Sunday against the Brewers will be the day he loses that prospect status. That would work out well because I would then just give an update every Sunday and occasionally expand on it like I did today.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds by a 12-3 score on Tuesday night. The Pirates will go with Jameson Taillon tonight, making his sixth start of the season. He allowed two runs over six innings against the Reds back on April 11th. The Reds will counter with 24-year-old right-hander Rookie Davis, who has an 11.17 ERA through three starts this season.
In the minors, Tyler Eppler makes his fifth start today. He was pushed back a day to keep Clay Holmes on normal rest. Eppler went five innings in his last outing, giving up four runs. In his three previous starts combined, he allowed two runs. Dario Agrazal has a 1.08 WHIP, a 2.09 GO/AO ratio and he leads all Pirates with 30.1 innings pitched. Tanner Anderson has a 1.94 GO/AO ratio, so expect a lot of ground balls between Bradenton and Altoona.
MLB: Pittsburgh (12-14) @ Reds (12-14) 7:10 PM
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (2.08 ERA, 12:24 BB/SO, 30.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (8-15) vs Toledo (12-11) 1:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (2.45 ERA, 2:15 BB/SO, 22.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (14-9) vs Richmond (9-13) 10:30 AM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tanner Anderson (2.01 ERA, 9:11 BB/SO, 22.1 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (15-11) vs St Lucie (10-16) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Dario Agrazal (2.64 ERA, 2:18 BB/SO, 30.2 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (11-15) vs Hickory (10-15) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Matt Anderson (4.30 ERA, 10:23 BB/SO, 23.0 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is the second home run of the season from Chris Bostick. He reached double digits in homers each season from 2013 until 2015.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
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.
4/26: Pirates recall Gift Ngoepe. Dovydas Neverauskas optioned to Indianapolis.
4/25: Hector Garcia placed on disabled list. Mike Wallace added to West Virginia roster.
4/25: Jerrick Suiter added to Bradenton roster. Trace Tam Sing assigned to Extended Spring Training.
4/25: Antonio Bastardo placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Johnny Barbato.
4/24: Adam Frazier placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Dovydas Neverauskas.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus one trade of note that would seem backwards based on today’s standards. On this date in 1947, the Pirates traded outfielder Al Gionfriddo to the Brooklyn Dodgers for five players. The odd part of the deal is the fact the Pirates paid out at least $100,000 (possibly $125k according to one source) to the Dodgers as part of the deal. By the 1949 season, only one of the players was left in a Pirates uniform, pitcher Kirby Higbe. One of the players the Pirates got back made his name in baseball as a manager years later, infielder Gene Mauch.
Five years after that deal, the Pirates traded pitcher Bill Werle to the St Louis Cardinals for veteran pitcher Red Munger. The trade didn’t do much for one of the worst teams in franchise history, as that 1952 club finished with a 42-112 record. Munger was 0-3, 7.18 in four starts and one relief appearance for the Pirates.
The two players born on this date are first baseman Ivan Cruz (1999-2000) and catcher Chris Cannizzaro (1968). You can read a mini bio for each player in the link above.
On this date in 1882, second baseman George Strief hit the first home run in franchise history. It was the first of five homers he hit during his five-year career. It came off pitcher Will White, who would win 40 games that season and he allowed just three homers all year. White is the brother of Deacon White, who played for Pittsburgh in 1889 and was elected to the Hall of Fame four years ago.
