A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Tyler Glasnow, Trevor Williams, Alen Hanson, Jose Osuna), or loses his prospect eligibility, he will be removed from this list. Everyone below him will be shifted up a spot, and a new player will be added to the bottom of the list. If a player is out for the season, he will be removed and everyone below him will move up a spot. Removing these guys doesn’t mean they have lost prospect status. It is just an attempt to get more active prospects on the list. Rankings are from the 2017 Prospect Guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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3. Kevin Newman, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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6. Will Craig, 3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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10. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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11. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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12. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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13. Max Kranick, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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14. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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15. Edgar Santana, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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16. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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17. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Pirates – [insert_php]
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18. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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19. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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20. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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21. Stephen Alemais, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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22. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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23. Travis MacGregor, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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24. Barrett Barnes, LF, Extended Spring Training -[insert_php]
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25. Max Moroff, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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26. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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27. J.T. Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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28. Chris Bostick, INF/OF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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29. Connor Joe, 3B, Altoona – [insert_php]
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30. Pat Light, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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Indianapolis won 5-4 on Sunday, as two Columbus runs in the bottom of the ninth made it a nail-biter late. Josh Lindblom was scheduled to pitch this game, but he was called up to the Pirates, so Cody Dickson took his place. Dickson pitched three scoreless innings, but that was as far as he could go due to a high pitch count. It was a minor miracle that he didn’t allow a run, as he walked five, gave up two hits and threw a wild pitch in his limited work. Brett McKinney followed and Columbus scored an unearned run off him without the aid of a hit during his three innings.
Pat Light threw the seventh and allowed a run, then gave way to Dovydas Neverauskas, who breezed through 1.2 innings. That was until he took a one-hopper off the side of his right knee. He convinced the staff that he was fine, but he looked off after that, immediately giving up a two-run homer, which was followed by a single and a walk. On his 45th pitch of the day, he finished the game with a strikeout.
Indianapolis got solo homers from Eric Wood and Jacob Stallings in this game. It was the third of the season for Wood and the first for Stallings. Wood also drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Max Moroff and Austin Meadows both went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. Danny Ortiz and Joey Terdoslavich each had two hits. Ortiz scored a run, while Terdoslavich had a sacrifice fly.
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Altoona won game one of a doubleheader against Akron by a 6-4 score. Two of the hottest hitters on the team had big games, as Kevin Kramer collected two doubles and Connor Joe drove in four runs.
Yeudy Garcia started the game and for the second straight outing, he did not give up an earned run. Garcia was efficient through three innings, then had trouble getting through five frames for the win. He needed 43 pitches in the fourth and fifth combined, after using just 38 pitches in the first three innings. He also allowed two unearned runs, resulting from Kevin Kramer’s first error of the season. Garcia followed up the error by allowing two doubles. He worked out of a fifth inning jam that was due to his own wildness when he issued his second walk and hit a batter. Garcia had four strikeouts and a 6:4 GO/AO ratio. Over his last two starts, he has lowered his ERA from 10.80 down to 4.74 through 19 innings.
Tate Scioneaux closed out the seven inning game by giving up two runs over two innings. They were the first runs allowed for him this season, after starting the year with 14 shutout innings.
Kramer extended his season-long on base streak to 23 games with a first inning double. He added his ninth double of the season later in the game. Kramer also walked once and scored three runs. Joe had three hits that all resulted in runs. He scored Kramer with a first inning single. Then he brought home two runs in the fifth inning with his third double of the season. Joe topped off his day with an RBI single in the seventh. Wyatt Mathisen was 2-for-2 with a walk and his sixth double. Jordan Luplow and Kevin Newman each went 0-for-4. Newman’s average dropped to .250 through 23 games.
Game Two recap: Altoona swept the Sunday doubleheader with a 4-1 victory in the second game. Sean Keselica started for the first time, coming into the game with some very impressive bullpen numbers. He had an 0.00 ERA, an .080 BAA and an 0.52 WHIP in 15.1 innings this season. He had gone three innings twice before this season, but the third inning on Sunday ruined his perfect ERA. Keselica breezed through two innings, then allowed a double, single and a walk in the third, giving him his first earned run of the season. Austin Coley and Montana DuRapau each followed with two scoreless innings, giving the win to Coley and save to DuRapau.
Kevin Kramer extended his on base streak to 24 games with a triple and a single. He now has a .386/.491/.636 slash line this season. His only out of the game came on a two-pitch strikeout, as the umpire penalized him a strike for stepping out of the box. Kevin Newman had two hits, including his sixth double. Edwin Espinal saw his average drop slightly to .341, after going 1-for-3 with his sixth double. Connor Joe had his on base streak snapped, though he was actually on base due to an error and scored a run. Jordan Luplow hit a two-run homer in the second inning, his fifth of the season.
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Bradenton had to go to their bullpen for the entire game on Sunday, as Gage Hinsz was scratched from his start. We will try to get an update on Hinsz today. He wasn’t put on the disabled list, so that might be a good sign, though it’s not a certainty that it means good news. Logan Sendelbach took his placed and the Dunedin bats knocked him around for 2.2 innings. He allowed ten runs on 12 hits and needed 69 pitches to get through his abbreviated outing. He came into the game with a 2.20 ERA and it was up to 6.16 when he left.
Sam Street relieved Sendelbach and picked up some of the slack, although he still had his issues, allowed three runs in 4.1 innings. Jess Amedee came off the disabled list for this game and couldn’t get through an inning, giving up three runs. Earlier in the day, Jerrick Suiter was promoted to Altoona to fill in for an injured Michael Suchy, opening a roster spot for Amedee. Seth McGarry followed and retired all four batters he faced to keep his ERA at 0.00 through 13.1 innings.
The Marauders lost 16-4 and they were outhit 22-6. There were some big hits in the game for them though. Will Craig had an RBI double to the right-center gap in the first inning. He also added a single later and an RBI ground out. Logan Hill hit his eighth homer of the season. Cole Tucker was 1-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. He has been on base in 16 straight games. Former Major Leaguer John Bormann had an RBI double. Ke’Bryan Hayes had the day off.
UPDATE: Hinsz was scratched with shoulder soreness. He said the issue was minor, and something similar to an issue he had last year.
“It’s just a little soreness,” Hinsz said. “Same kind of thing as last year. I skipped a start and made the rest of them. So that’s where it’s at.”
Hinsz felt the soreness throughout the week. He went on his regular schedule, but couldn’t get to 100%, and felt it wasn’t safe to go out today to make the start. He had the best start of his career last time out, and was hoping to keep riding that success, but will hold off until next time. He’s hoping that he will just be skipped once, and will make the next start five days from now.
“He’s going to go day by day and see how he feels tomorrow,” Bradenton manager Gera Alvarez said. “We’ll make the adjustment according to how he feels.” – Tim Williams
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CHARLESTON – Cam Vieaux hasn’t been challenged much this year. He may not have the head-turning numbers of Luis Escobar or the imposing frame of Oddy Nunez, but statistically, Vieaux is the Power’s most consistently successful starter. Today’s start followed the mold of the five that came before: scatter base runners and leave the mound with a one or zero on the board.
Vieaux just got his first win today, though, because the Power can’t score runs when he takes the ball. In his six starts, the Power have scored seven runs in the innings Vieaux took the mound, which gives greater importance to Vieaux’s microscopic ERA. After today’s five innings, his ERA sits at 1.35, and his WHIP is 1.05.
Somehow, I have missed every one of Vieaux’s starts until today, despite that fact that four of them came at home, so I had very little idea of what to expect from the left-hander. Spring reports put his fastball in the high 80s, but today, he sat 90-92 in the early innings with the velocity and control tapering off in the fourth and fifth.
Vieaux said, “There definitely were times today when I tried to throw one by someone so that’s probably where those [higher velocity fastballs] came in.”
All five of the hits Vieaux allowed came on line drives into the gaps, and he didn’t do a great job of getting grounders. He made the pitches when he needed them, and he had pinpoint control on all three of his pitches through the first few innings. (All four of his strikeouts came in the first two innings.)
“It definitely was a lot more of a struggle,” Vieaux admitted. “I felt like I didn’t have that one pitch that was able to get guys out today.”
For the third straight game, each batter in the Power lineup saw time on the base paths, but unlike the last two games, in which the Power outscored their opponent 21-17, today the Power could not get the big hit when needed. They left nine runners on base, six in scoring position. They took the lead in the first on a lead-off double by Stephen Alemais and an RBI single by Ty Moore. Moore was then thrown out on an attempted steal to kill the early momentum.
In the third, the Power loaded the bases with one out after a lead-off home run by Alexis Bastardo, but Trae Arbet and Logan Ratledge popped out. In the fourth, Clark Eagan led off with a double but was thrown out trying to advance to third on a sacrifice bunt.
The biggest offensive inning for the Power featured four runs on only three hits. The Legend pitchers fell apart after hitting Eagan with a pitch to load the bases. They subsequently walked in three runs and allowed an RBI bloop single by Carlos Munoz. Alemais and Hunter Owen struck out with the bases loaded, and Arbet flew out to center to end the inning.
The Power relievers each contributed two innings of one-run baseball to quietly finish the game. Jordan Jess allowed his run in the seventh, and Matt Frawley gave up one in the ninth, but secured the 9-3 win.
Alexis Bastardo stood out at the plate. He started the season as the fourth outfielder on the Power roster, but as Sandy Santos’s struggles at the plate continued, Bastardo gradually saw more playing time. He took over full-time on May 3 and since then he’s hitting .461/.500/1.000 with a double and two home runs. He has also flashed some significant leather in center field, despite saying that he’s much more comfortable in right field.
After the game, Bastardo said, “I’ve never played every day so I’ve focused in the batting cage and BP to get ready to play.”
Carlos Munoz went 3-for-3 with a pair of singles and a double. He also walked twice. Clark Eagan went 2-for-3 with a single, a double, and two runs scored. Chris Harvey was the only Power player without a hit, but he reached on a walk and a fielder’s choice.
Stephen Alemais is having mixed results at the plate. When he hits the ball, he drives it hard, but he has some pretty ugly swings at times. He has struck out 22 times in 22 games and rarely walks, which robs him of some opportunities to make plays on the base paths. – Abigail Miskowiec
