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Prospect Watch: Steven Brault Puts in a Solid Start on Extended Rest

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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 (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, Pirates – [insert_php]
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15. Edgar Santana, RHP, Pirates – [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, Pirates -[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. Jin-De Jhang, C, Altoona – [insert_php]
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P2 Top Performers

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Prospect-Watch-Indy

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Indianapolis held on for a 6-5 victory on Saturday night. Steven Brault had not started in 11 days, with his last outing being one inning of relief on his normal day to start. The Pirates have been doing that with many of their starters and usually the pitcher doesn’t have a strong outing in his first start back. Compared to his previous starts, this was just average, but that’s only because he was dominating before being rested. Before the relief outing, Brault had given up five earned runs in his previous seven starts combined. That was five games with one run each and two shutout performances.

On Saturday, Brault gave up two runs over six innings, allowing five hits and one walk. He had just three strikeouts and a 6:5 GO/AO ratio. So while two runs over six innings is always a good sign, the strikeouts and grounders were lower than what we have seen from him. Going by results from other pitchers after skipped starts, it’s not surprising that he possibly had a little rust. Still a strong performance though, as he now has a 2.18 ERA in 74.1 innings.

Josh Lindblom was out next and he threw two shutout frames. Johnny Barbato had a four-run lead in the ninth and nearly blew the game. He served up two solo homers, followed by a walk, which ended his night. Dovydas Neverauskas came on to get the final two outs and while he picked up the save, he made things interesting. Neverauskas walked two batters and allowed a hit. That brought home a run changed to Barbato and loaded the bases. He preserved the 6-5 win with a strikeout to end the game.

Phil Gosselin had a big game on offense with three hits, including two doubles. He also drove in two runs. Eric Wood drove in two runs of his own with what ended up to be a big hit. He socked a two-run homer in the ninth to extended the lead and the Indians needed both of those runs. It was the seventh homer of the season for Wood. Chris Bostick hit his 20th double. He also walked and scored two runs. Gift Ngoepe hit his second triple and Eury Perez contributed with a single, a run scored, his sixth stolen bases and an outfield assist.

Prospect-Watch-Altoona-Curve

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Altoona had their game suspended in the bottom of the fourth with a 2-0 lead on Friday. Austin Coley started and went 3.1 innings, allowing two hits and no walks, with four strikeouts. When play resumed, Tate Scioneaux took over and allowed three runs over 1.2 innings, for one of his worst outings of the season. Even with that damage, he still has a 1.99 ERA. Buddy Borden was up next and he gave up one run in his only inning. The run was unearned, but the error was on Borden, who threw away a pick-off attempt. Luis Heredia finished the game with two terrific innings, retiring all six batters he faced, while sitting 94-95 MPH. He has thrown 8.2 scoreless innings over his last six appearances, giving up four hits and two walks.

The offense forgot to show back up for the resumption of the game. Jordan Luplow had two hits prior to the game being suspended. He hit his 14th double of the season, while Wyatt Mathisen hit his ninth. Mathisen’s double was the only hit over the last five innings. Kevin Newman went 0-for-5, and he is now 5-for-35 in his last nine games.

Game Two recap: Altoona got a solo homer from Jordan Luplow to lead-off the second inning, his 15th home run of the season. That would be all that they would need, as Tanner Anderson rolled through six innings in the 2-0 win.

Anderson was coming off two starts in which he allowed a total of 18 hits. He was much better on this night, giving up just two singles, with both runners being erased on double plays. He faced the minimum 18 batters, picking up three strikeouts and a 10:0 GO/AO ratio. If that isn’t impressive enough, he got through his outing on only 58 pitches (boxscore says 53, but it’s wrong). He now has a 3.86 ERA in 67.2 innings this season. Montana DuRapau got the save by striking out three batters in the ninth while working around a walk.

Jordan Luplow added another two hits to his first game total. He had a single to go along with the homer. Altoona added an insurance run in the sixth inning, as Jerrick Suiter doubled, then Edwin Espinal drove him home. Kevin Newman bounced back from a bad first game to go 2-for-3 with a walk. He was caught stealing for the second time this season in just four attempts.

Prospect-Watch-Bradenton

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Bradenton is off until Monday due to the Florida State League All-Star break.

Prospect-Watch-WV-Power

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West Virginia won 6-1 and got strong pitching from Oddy Nunez, who extended himself to a career-high 85 pitches in this game. Nunez threw 4.2 shutout innings and was clearly tired at the end, as he went 13 pitches above his previous high. He was a reliever his first two seasons, so even 72 pitches was a big total for him compared to prior seasons. Nunez walked two in the final inning before being removed, so his final line included one hit and four walks. He has made 12 starts now and six of them have been him allowing two of fewer hits. He struck out five batters and had an 8:0 GO/AO ratio.

Ty Moore had three hits in this game and Hunter Owen drove in three runs on a single and a sacrifice fly. Alexis Bastardo had two hits and his 11th stolen base. Albert Baur hit his 12th double. Adrian Valerio had a single, walk, run scored, RBI and a sacrifice bunt. Trae Arbet is hitting .109/.176/.152 in June after an 0-for-4 in this game.

Brent Gibbs broke a recent hot streak by going 0-for-4 in this game. He has been starting over Arden Pabst, who is the superior defensive catcher, because Gibbs went 13-for-31 in his last eight games. While it’s a nice run, he still has a 1:24 BB/SO ratio in 19 games, so that clearly needs work.

Prospect-Watch-DSL

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The DSL Pirates lost 4-1 to the best team in the DSL, the 11-1 Dodgers2 club. Osvaldo Bido made his third start and allowed a run in the second inning, then he was removed after putting the first two runners on in the fourth inning. Both runners scored off reliever Luis Arrieta, though a throwing error by first baseman Ronaldo Paulino helped the runs score. A double off of Arrieta allowed another run to score, giving the Dodgers2 all they would need.

On offense, this game marked the return of catching prospect Samuel Inoa. He left the game on June 7th after being hit by a pitch in the face, which resulted in an overnight stay in the hospital. He wasn’t able to catch this game, serving as the DH instead. Inoa had two of the team’s five hits, including his first triple. Paulino had two hits and John Lantigua had a single and a walk. Emison Soto stole his fifth base and also picked up an outfield assist.

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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