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Morning Report: Adrian Valerio’s Up and Down Season Continues

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In Spring Training this year, one of the early things we noticed was how well Adrian Valerio was hitting. He has always been noticed more for his slick defense, but the bat really stood out. During his first three seasons of pro ball, he showed signs of offense, but also would get into prolonged slumps. He celebrated his 20th birthday on March 13th by hitting a home run and a double, then days later he was out with a broken hand after he was hit by a pitch.

It was a tough break (literally) because the early signs pointed to him having a big year. It would be a season that included him skipping Morgantown and going right from Bristol to West Virginia, where he would be two years younger than any other position player. The tough season hasn’t been much better since, but he continued to hit despite the obstacles.

Valerio spent some time playing games in Extended Spring Training before joining West Virginia and it was like he didn’t miss a day. He was immediately hitting well, just like he was before the injury. It also looked like he would still be able to get in a significant amount of time with West Virginia, joining the team for their 36th game of the season.

He made his regular season debut on May 14th and took five games to adjust to the pitching that was better than what he was seeing down at Pirate City. From May 20th until June 1st, Valerio hit .459 in ten games, with a 1.109 OPS. On June 1st, his hot streak was halted by a freak play.

On a ball hit to first baseman Albert Baur with a runner on first, Baur stepped on first for the out, then fired down to second base. The runner was sliding in the path of the ball and it deflected off of him and hit Valerio in the face, right under his left eye. While it wasn’t as bad as his first injury, it kept him out for 12 days and came while he was tearing the cover off of the ball.

After he returned on June 13th, Valerio took four games before his hitting got back on track. He was getting under a lot of pitches instead of driving them, but it ended up being a very short slump. From June 17th until July 22nd, he batted .312, with an .838 OPS, showing a bit of power in the middle of that stretch by hitting four homers over three days. Abigail Miskowiec did a write-up on the improvements he was making both offensively and defensively during that time.

Unfortunately for  Valerio, those improvements will be put on hold again. On Friday, he homered and doubled, then on Saturday the injury bug bit for a third time. The first two were just freak occurrences from a thrown ball, but this one happened after he fielded a grounder and ran to second base for a force out, where he hurt his ankle, which landed him on the DL again.

We don’t know how much time he will miss this time with an injury. When I asked about it Saturday night, they still needed to wait to evaluate it, but it was at least bad enough that they knew right away that he wouldn’t play for the next week. This is just more missed time for someone who has been having a breakout season, yet he has played just 49 regular season games. Even if he missed the minimum amount of time, the season will have just 36 games left when he returns, but that’s being as optimistic as possible.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 13-3 to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates now begin a three-game series in San Francisco, where they will send Gerrit Cole to the mound tonight for his 21st start. Cole has a 4.45 ERA in ten road starts. He allowed seven runs over 5.1 innings against the Giants on June 30th. The Giants will counter with righty Matt Cain, who has a 5.49 ERA in 96.2 innings, with 58 strikeouts and a 1.67 WHIP. He did not face the Pirates when these two teams met earlier in the season.

In the minors, Nick Kingham starts for Indianapolis. After a 3.00 ERA in May, Kingham saw that shoot up to 6.23 in June and he currently sits and 5.87 this month. Pedro Vasquez ranks first in the FSL with a 2.31 ERA. He also ranks second with a 1.07 WHIP and fifth with 101.1 innings, just 5.2 IP behind the league leader. Oddy Nunez has an ERA under 3.00 in each of the last three months. Sixth round draft pick Cody Bolton makes his third pro start today in the GCL. Over his first two outings, he has allowed one run on three hits, with one walk and five strikeouts in five innings. Travis MacGregor will go for Bristol tonight. He has a 4.43 ERA through six starts. Scooter Hightower is the likely starter for Morgantown.

MLB: Pittsburgh (49-50) @ Giants (38-62) 10:15 PM
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (4.18 ERA, 27:108 BB/SO, 120.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (55-45) vs Rochester (58-42) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Nick Kingham (5.16 ERA, 22:58 BB/SO, 59.1 IP)

AA: Altoona (50-48) @ Reading (54-43) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.10 ERA, 25:76 BB/SO, 98.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (55-41) vs Clearwater (52-46) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Pedro Vasquez (2.31 ERA, 21:79 BB/SO, 101.1 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (44-51) vs Lexington (48-49) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Oddy Nunez (3.25 ERA, 22:69 BB/SO, 80.1 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (20-12) vs Batavia (11-21) 7:05 PM  (season preview)
Probable Starter: TBD

Rookie: Bristol (8-23) vs Bluefield (20-10) 7:00 PM

GCL: Pirates (9-14) vs Yankees West (11-10) 12:00 PM

DSL: Pirates (24-18) vs Cubs1 (21-20) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is a nice catch from Logan Hill on Thursday night. Luckily for him, he is extremely slow, so the impact was minimal and the injury only cost him a few innings that night, plus he sat out Friday. He returned Saturday and hit his second home run for Altoona.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

7/23: Adrian Valerio placed on disabled list. Andrew Walker assigned to West Virginia.

7/22: Gregory Polanco placed on the disabled list. Steven Brault recalled from Indianapolis.

7/22: Hector Garcia assigned to Morgantown on rehab.

7/21: Adonis Pichardo assigned to GCL Pirates from Bristol. Ryan Valdes, Hector Quinones and Will Reed promoted to Bristol.

7/20: Kevin Newman promoted to Indianapolis. Anderson Feliz and Jackson Williams assigned to Altoona.

7/20: Tomas Morales placed on disabled list.

7/20: Cole Tucker promoted to Altoona. Logan Ratledge assigned to Bradenton.

7/20: Stephen Alemais promoted to Bradenton.

7/20: Pirates release Zane Chavez

7/19: Brandon Waddell and Conner Joe assigned to Morgantown on rehab.

7/18: Starling Marte activated from restricted list. Phil Gosselin optioned to Indianapolis.

7/18: Hunter Owen placed on disabled list. Nick King promoted to West Virginia.

7/15: Taylor Hearn placed on disabled list.

7/15: Cody Dickson activated from Altoona disabled list.

7/15: Raul Hernandez promoted to Morgantown.

7/15: Brandon Waddell assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

7/14: Brent Gibbs placed on disabled list. Yoel Gonzalez added to West Virginia roster.

7/14: Will Reed assigned to GCL Pirates.

7/14: Montana DuRapau promoted to Indianapolis.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a game of note from the 1901 season. Besides Barry Bonds, who has a bio linked above, there have been three other Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date.

Joe Oliver caught for the 1999 Pirates. He was mentioned here yesterday, when the Pirates traded away Jose Guillen as part of a four-player deal to acquire Oliver from the Devil Rays. The trade was made necessary by the season-ending injury to Jason Kendall. In 45 games for the Pirates, Oliver hit .201 and drove in 13 runs.

Preston Ward was a utility player for the Pirates from 1953 until 1956. He played first base, third base and right field while in Pittsburgh, hitting .240 in 305 games. Ward came to the Pirates from the Cubs in the ten-player deal that sent Ralph Kiner to Chicago, which is one of the biggest deals in team history.

Joe Schultz Sr, infielder for the 1916 Pirates. He hit .260 in 77 games for the Pirates and saw playing time at five different positions. Schultz is one of the rare father-son combos in team history, as his son played for Pittsburgh from 1939 until 1941. You can make his family connection with the Pirates even more rare, as his cousin was outfielder Hans Lobert, who was the member of the 1903 NL champs. Schultz Sr also had another cousin named Frank Lobert, who played in the majors and lived in Pittsburgh, but never played for his hometown team.

Finally, we have something from the 1901 season that you rarely see. The Pirates that year won their first NL pennant and on July 24th, they beat the Reds by an 11-2 score at home. What was interesting about that game was the fact the Pirates scored all eight innings they came to the plate. You can read a recap of the game in the link above.

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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