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Prospect Watch: Steven Brault Throws Seven Shutout Innings

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P2 Top 30

A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (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, Indianapolis – [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, Indianapolis – [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, Indianapolis -[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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P2 Top Performers

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Prospect-Watch-Indy

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INDIANAPOLIS — Runs were few and far between earlier this season as Indianapolis struggled offensively and had a pair of 20-plus scoreless inning streaks.

Now, the Indians can seem to do no wrong at the plate.

The Indians have scored five or more runs in 15 of their last 22 games, but have also shown the ability to win close, low-scoring games.

That was the case on Sunday in a 3-2 win over Toledo in 11 innings, completing a four-game sweep. Steven Brault put together his best outing of the season with seven shutout innings, while Barrett Barnes had the game-winning RBI sacrifice fly in the 11th inning.

Joey Terdoslavich led the inning off with a single and Jacob Stallings followed with a single, which moved pinch-runner Austin Meadows to third. That set up Barnes’ winning at-bat.

“Early in the season we didn’t have many big hits,” Terdoslavich said. “We had a couple of guys that were hot, but lately it’s been big hit after big hit after big hit, No. 1 through 9, whomever is playing that day.”

Jason Rogers tied the game at two with a home run to left field in the eighth inning, on a slider left over the middle-inside portion of the plate.

Eric Wood crushed a home run to left-center field in the second inning, sending it about 420 feet in one of the deepest parts of the park. Wood has six home runs and 18 RBI this season.

“It’s a feeling throughout the dugout,” Barkett said. “We’re confident, guys are feeding off each other, guys are playing relaxed and they’re having fun.”

Indianapolis has won 18 of its last 22 games. Brault is on an almost equal hot streak, allowing just three hits in his seven shutout innings on Sunday. He walked just one batter and struck out four, throwing 65 of his 98 pitches for a strike.

In his last four outings, Brault has given up just three earned runs in 24 innings.

“We’ve been working on being able to stay simple, stay athletic and just attack hitters,” Brault said. “This was a good next step in that development. We’re just going for getting better every start and I feel really good with the direction I’m headed.”

Brault took command of the game against Toledo early, retiring the side in the first inning on six pitches. He got ahead 0-1 on 13 of the first 15 batters he faced.

“The hitters are defensive right away,” Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett said. “You can mix your pitches and use your all of your pitches when you get ahead, and he did a good job of doing that.”

Brault had good command of his fastball, his breaking ball showed good movement and he used his changeup effectively. More importantly, Brault pitched the style of game that fits his talents. His ability to go after hitters in recent starts has been a key to that stretch.

“He’s shown the ability to attack the zone and pitch with his hair on fire and not try to be so fine,” Barkett said. “Quit trying to be Tom Glavine, Kenny Rogers or Al Leiter, and just go after them.”

Brault realizes his success, as with most pitchers, is based on the attitude he brings to the mound.

“If I’m nibbling I’m not being myself anyway,” Brault said. “That’s not how I’m going to get hitters out. The way I get hitters out is getting after them, showing them I’m confident in the zone and confident in my stuff.”

Brault had an efficient first inning, inducing a pair of groundouts and shallow popout on six pitches. JaCoby Jones popped out the first pitch of the game just a few feet into right field. Argenis Diaz grounded out two pitches later and Brault induced an Efren Navarro groundout three pitches later.

Brault’s only stretch of trouble came in the fifth inning, though the inning started off innocently with a flyout to left field. At that point, Brault had thrown a first-pitch strike to 13 of the first 15 batters he faced.

Omar Infante doubled and Logan Watkins singled, both on 2-0 counts. Brault fell behind 3-0 to Brendan Ryan before coming back to get a shallow flyout to left field and he then got Matt den Dekker to ground out to end the inning.

Brault only allowed one other hit in his outing, a two-out single in the second inning.

Brault was able to extend his outing with an efficient sixth inning, retiring the side with just 11 pitches. JaCoby Jones grounded out on the first pitch of the inning. Brault struck out Argenis Diaz looking and worked back from a 2-0 count to induce Efren Navarro into a groundout.

In the seventh inning, Brault worked around an error by Max Moroff at shortstop, striking out two batters on breaking pitches, leaving with a 1-0 lead.

But that lead was short-lived once Dovydas Neverauskas entered and did not look sharp, allowing two runs on three hits in the eighth inning. Neverauskas threw just 16 of his 30 pitches for a strike.

Indianapolis had a two-out rally in the fourth inning. Jacob Stallings walked, Barnes singled and Eury Perez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. However, Max Moroff struck out swinging to end the threat.

Phil Gosselin hit a standup double into the right-center field gap in the first inning, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.

Indianapolis threatened in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Gosselin grounded out with runners at first and second.

Edgar Santana retired the side in the ninth inning on ten pitches. He allowed a lead-off double to Brendan Ryan in the 10th inning on a ball that just went over the third base bag, a call Barkett came out of the dugout to argue.

Ryan moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, but Santana struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning. Santana has thrown 21.2 consecutive scoreless innings pitched

Erich Weiss and Wood had two hits each, while Cody Dickson retired the side on ten pitches in the 11th inning. – Brian Peloza

Prospect-Watch-Altoona-Curve

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ALTOONA, Pa. – After a couple of bad starts, Tanner Anderson had a good bounce back outing on Sunday night for the Curve. Although he loaded the bases with two singles and a walk in the fifth, he got a fly out (sacrifice), strikeout, and groundout to get out of the jam with only one run against in the inning.

Altogether, Anderson went five innings and allowed just that one run on four hits. He struck out five and walked three.

Beginning the game with two ground outs on only four total pitches, he walked Mike Gerber then struck out Christin Stewart, both after full counts. He threw only 42 pitches in his first three innings of work, getting a lot of weak contact and ground balls. In the fourth, he walked the lead-off batter before inducing a 5-4-3 double play to clean things up.

Anderson used his slider effectively, especially against lefties for strikeouts. Otherwise, it was his two-seamer doing all the work again, having a groundout-to-flyout ratio of 8:1. After allowing ten runs in 8.2 IP during his last two starts, he had a very good bounce back game.

“We talked after his last outing that he needed to work in his off-speed stuff a little more,” Curve manager Michael Ryan said. “The more he throws it, the more comfortable he can get. He mixed well tonight. It’s a good hitting team that he kept off-balanced. They probably came in thinking they were getting all two-seamers, and he was able to throw his slider and change-up really well.”

Ryan said that Anderson was able to have more success with his slider tonight because the pitch was coming out at the same slot as the two-seamer. Without being able to read the pitch out of his hand, he was able to disguise better if the pitch was breaking out or breaking in towards the hitter.

J.T. Brubaker worked three innings of relief for Anderson, allowing one run on three hits and four strikeouts. A lead-off walk in the eighth inning came back to bite Brubaker after allow consecutive hits, as that lead-off runner scored.

Brubaker will make his way back into the rotation at some point; however, they want to build him back up out of the bullpen rather than as a starter. With Brandon Waddell, they’ve had to use the bullpen heavily due to pitch and inning limits. They don’t want to have that situation with two starters.

Miguel Rosario pitched a beautiful ninth inning with two strikeouts and a groundout. He has a 1.21 ERA in 22.1 innings this season.

As for the offense, it was a big letdown for the Curve as they faced a pitcher who allowed six earned runs in two out of his last three outings. Matt Crouse, Erie’s starter, had a 6.29 ERA and .317 BAA going into tonight’s game, but he worked 7.2 scoreless innings against Curve batters.

“Tip your hat to Crouse,” Ryan said. “We didn’t make the right adjustments and get on top of the plate. We had some guys have success going the other way, but the others didn’t follow and make that adjustment. He was working away-away all night, and we just didn’t adjust to it quick enough.”

Pablo Reyes and Jordan Luplow both had two singles for the Curve, and no hitter had any extra base hits. Wyatt Mathisen has hit in each of the last seven games that he has started, adding another hit tonight. In 100 plate appearances, Mathisen has a .318 batting average with seven doubles.

Note: As was heavily reported, Kevin Newman was hit in the face with a pitch in Richmond 11 days ago. He came back to play two days later with no problems. Less heavily reported, he also had a ball graze the bill of his helmet for another HBP a week ago against New Hampshire. Since that second HBP, he is 3-for-28 from the plate. Manager Michael Ryan says it is a slight mechanical issue for Newman right now; however, it is something to take note of.

“His eyes are fine, and he’s comfortable out there,” Ryan said. “He’s getting in some good counts; t’s just a timing issue right now for him.” -Sean McCool

Prospect-Watch-Bradenton

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Despite going down 5-1 in the second inning, Bradenton came back for a 6-5 victory on Sunday. Bret Helton got the start on Mitch Keller’s regularly scheduled day. Keller is still out due to the back tightness that knocked him out of his last start after just one inning. Helton got roughed up in each of the first two innings, serving up two homers in the first, followed by three runs in the second. He managed to throw three shutout innings after that, getting to the bullpen with the score tied.

Casey Sadler followed Helton and threw three shutout innings in his third rehab appearance. He pitched one inning in his first game, followed by two frames last time out. Sadler has allowed one run in six innings, with nine strikeouts. Seth McGarry threw a scoreless ninth for the save.

Ke’Bryan Hayes led the offense with an RBI ground out in the third inning, a two-run triple in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the eighth, which gave Bradenton the lead. He now has a .291 average through 35 games and the triple was his third of the season. Logan Ratledge had two hits, scored two runs and picked up an RBI. Logan Hill also added an RBI. Both Cole Tucker and Will Craig had the day off.

Prospect-Watch-WV-Power

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West Virginia won 6-3 over Columbia in a game that was delayed twice by rain and took nearly six hours to play. Matt Anderson started for the Power and threw three shutout innings before the rains came, ending his day due to the long delay. Dylan Prohoroff followed and allowed one run over three innings. That one run was a home run by Tim Tebow. Three relievers pitched an inning each, with Mike Wallace allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth to make the game close. He allowed an RBI double to Tebow.

Adrian Valerio was 1-for-20 coming into the weekend. We got strong reports out of Extended Spring Training while he was rehabbing his broken hand, but that obviously didn’t show up in those first five games. After three-hit games during each of the last two days, he has his average up to .250 through seven games. He doubled twice in this game and drove in a run. Trae Arbet also added three hits and Brent Gibbs went 2-for-3 with two RBI. He is 6-for-19 (.316) since joining West Virginia from Extended Spring Training, although that comes with no walks and eight strikeouts.

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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