With the month of June wrapping up last night and the four full-season teams now about 80 games into their seasons, we take a look at the hitting and pitching leaders on each team. For Average, OBP, slugging and OPS I used used a minimum of 120 plate appearances (roughly 1.5 per game). For ERA and WHIP, I used a 40 innings. You’ll notice a handful of players who are no longer with the team they are listed with below.
INDIANAPOLIS
Average: Jason Rogers, .289
OBP: Max Moroff, .385
Slugging: Moroff, .569
HR: Moroff, 13
SB: Eury Perez, 17
IP: Steven Brault and Drew Hutchison, 88.1
ERA: Brault, 2.04
WHIP: Brault, 1.12
SO: Brault, 83
ALTOONA
Average: Jerrick Suiter, .302
OBP: Wyatt Mathisen, .385
Slugging: Jordan Luplow, .535
HR: Luplow, 16
SB: Pablo Reyes, 8
IP: Alex McRae, 88
ERA: Sean Keselica, 1.93
WHIP: Tate Scioneaux, 0.90
SO: JT Brubaker, 60
BRADENTON
Average: Kevin Krause, .313
OBP: Krause, .402
Slugging: Krause, .548
HR: Logan Hill, 16
SB: Cole Tucker, 28
IP: Dario Agrazal, 80.1
ERA: Pedro Vasquez, 2.21
WHIP: Mitch Keller, 0.84
SO: Taylor Hearn, 80
WEST VIRGINIA
Average: Adrian Valerio, .294
OBP: Hunter Owen, .384
Slugging: Valerio, .487
HR: Owen, 9
SB: Alexis Bastardo, 11
IP: Luis Escobar, 71.2
ERA: Matt Frawley, 1.49
WHIP: Frawley, 0.76
SO: Escobar, 97
I almost raised the cut-off because a few of the leaders just made the minimum plate appearances/innings, like Adrian Valerio and Kevin Krause, plus Matt Frawley, who was traded away just over two weeks ago. I decided to just leave it and put these words you are now reading. I thought it was interesting that both Altoona and Bradenton had four different pitchers for the four categories. Mitch Keller with 44 innings is another player who just qualified.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 13-5 to the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. The Pirates will now send Chad Kuhl to the mound to make his 16th start of the season. He allowed four runs over five innings in his last start. At home this year, Kuhl has a 7.36 ERA in eight games, compared to 3.96 on the road. The Giants will counter with lefty Matt Moore, who has a 6.04 ERA in 89.1 innings, with 76 strikeouts and a 1.61 WHIP.
In the minors, Tyler Glasnow makes his fourth start for Indianapolis. He was outstanding in his last outing, throwing seven shutout innings with 12 strikeouts. Gage Hinsz has allowed one run over 11.2 innings in his last two starts combined. Oddy Nunez has a 1.01 WHIP, which would rank him seventh in the league if he wasn’t a handful of innings short of qualifying. In his first two starts for Morgantown, Ike Schlabach has nine strikeouts and no walks in nine innings. He was pushed back a day in the rotation, with Gavin Wallace picking up his first start yesterday. Hunter Stratton is schedule to make his second start for Bristol and Opening Day starter Roger Santana, should get the ball for the GCL Pirates.
MLB: Pittsburgh (37-43) vs Giants (31-51) 4:05 PM
Probable starter: Chad Kuhl (5.58 ERA, 28:59 BB/SO, 69.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (45-35) vs Louisville (32-48) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (1.50 ERA, 10:31 BB/SO, 18.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (40-37) @ Erie (38-41) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (3.58 ERA, 21:50 BB/SO, 88.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (42-33) vs Florida (29-45) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (6.20 ERA, 22:39 BB/SO, 61.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (34-41) vs Hickory (31-46) 6:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Oddy Nunez (3.45 ERA, 15:51 BB/SO, 57.1 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (7-4) vs Williamsport (5-6) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Ike Schlabach (3.00 ERA, 0:9 BB/SO, 9.0 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (3-6) @ Bluefield (4-5) 7:00 PM
GCL: Pirates (2-3) vs Tigers West (3-2) 10:00 AM
DSL: Pirates (14-10) vs Astros Orange (10-14) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is the last out from Mitch Keller’s four perfect innings on Thursday night
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
6/30: Logan Hill promoted to Altoona. Jordan Luplow promoted to Indianapolis. Alexis Bastardo promoted to Bradenton. Julio Eusebio promoted to West Virginia.
6/30: Connor Joe placed on disabled list.
6/30: Jason Rogers released.
6/29: Yeudy Garcia assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
6/29: Brandon Cumpton promoted to Altoona.
6/29: Mitch Keller activated from the disabled list.
6/28: Nelson Jorge and Raul Hernandez promoted to Bristol. Eumir Sepulveda and Adonis Pichardo assigned to GCL Pirates from Bristol.
6/28: Daniel Arribas released. John Bormann assigned to Bradenton.
6/28: Angel Vasquez promoted from DSL Pirates to GCL Pirates.
6/27: Antonio Bastardo activated from disabled list. Jacob Stallings optioned to Indianapolis.
6/26: Ty Moore promoted to Bradenton. Garrett Brown promoted to West Virginia
6/25: Logan Ratledge promoted to Altoona.
6/25: Ryan Nagle promoted to West Virginia.
6/25: Matt Diorio and Huascar Fuentes assigned to Bristol from Morgantown.
6/25: Victor Ngoepe, Felix Vinicio, Jose Delgado, Nelson Jorge and Brian Sousa assigned from Bristol to GCL Pirates
6/24: Cole Tucker activated from disabled list.
6/24: Dario Agrazal placed on disabled list. Cody Dickson assigned to Altoona.
6/24: Geoff Hartlieb promoted to Bradenton. Andrew Potter promoted to West Virginia.
6/23: Jake Brentz promoted to Altoona.
6/23: Samuel Reyes promoted to GCL Pirates.
6/22: Francisco Cervelli placed on the disabled list. Jacob Stallings Recalled
6/22: Evan Piechota, Chris McDonald, Nelson Jorge, Jhoan Herrera and Luis Perez transferred from Morgantown to Bristol.
6/22: Justin Maffei and Anderson Feliz assigned to Indianapolis. Austin Meadows and Gift Ngoepe placed on disabled list.
6/22: John Bormann assigned to Indianapolis.
6/22: Pirates sign five draft picks.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note. Starting with the players, we have pitcher Al Tate (1946), pitcher Frank Barrett (1950) and outfielder Fritz Scheeren (1914-15). Barrett has an interesting note to his career stats. They have been officially wrong for at least the last 40 years. Sometime between his last game and the printing of the 1976 baseball encyclopedia, his stats got changed to what they read now. He actually pitched a little less with the Pirates and gave up a run less. In this article from 2012, I broke down where the changes were made. The current stats give him a 4.15 ERA, but he actually had a 2.45 ERA during his brief stay in Pittsburgh.
On this date in 1921, the Pirates traded pitcher Elmer Ponder to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for outfielder Dave Robertson. The Pirates were hardly using Ponder and Robertson was struggling with Chicago, so both players got a chance for more playing time with their new team. Robertson put on a show at the plate with Pittsburgh, hitting .322 the rest of the way and he drove in 48 runs in 60 games. Ponder got hit around in Chicago, so short-term, it looked like a great deal. Robertson, who won two home run crowns earlier in his career, decided to hold out in Spring Training the next year and the move backfired. The Pirates released him and he later signed with the Giants, but had a tough season, and one that would be his last in the majors.
