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Prospect Watch: Brandon Waddell Throws Six Shutout Innings in Opener of Eastern League Finals

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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, 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 Mid-Season Update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.

1. Mitch Keller, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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3. Shane Baz, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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5. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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6. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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7. Will Craig, 1B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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9. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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10. Calvin Mitchell, OF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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11. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Bristol – [insert_php]
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12Edgar Santana, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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13. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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14. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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15. Jordan Luplow, LF, Pirates – [insert_php]
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16. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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17. Max Kranick, RHP, Bristol – [insert_php]
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18. Steven Jennings, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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19. Adrian Valerio, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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20. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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21. Conner Uselton, OF, GCL Pirates – Disabled List

22. Max Moroff, INF, Pirates – [insert_php]
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23. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Pirates – [insert_php]
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24. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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25. Eduardo Vera, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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26. Logan Hill, LF, Altoona – [insert_php]
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27.  Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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28. Lolo Sanchez, CF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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29. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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30. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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P2 Top Performers

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Prospect-Watch-Indy

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Indianapolis finished with a 79-63 record. They lost in the first round of the playoffs 3-1 to Durham.

Prospect-Watch-Altoona-Curve

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TRENTON, NJ – Altoona took the opener of the Eastern League championship series win a 2-1 victory over Trenton on Tuesday night. Brandon Waddell came into the game with 13 shutout innings in the playoffs during his career. That included seven shutout innings on one hit last year for Altoona and six shutout innings on two hits while with Morgantown in 2015. He couldn’t match the hit totals from those games, but he managed to extended that shutout streak to 19 innings.

Waddell looked like he could have some trouble early on in this game. He allowed two singles with two outs in the first inning, one of them well hit, to put runners on the corners, before getting a strikeout to end the inning. In the second inning, he allowed another single, which was well struck into left field. Trenton picked up their third line drive single in the third inning, but that runner never advanced further than first base.

Early on, Waddell was going fastball heavy, doing a good job of getting strike one early. Just four of his first 33 pitches weren’t fastballs, as he went to his changeup on the last batter in the first, then mixed it in during the second inning. He didn’t break out the curve until the third inning and when he mixed his pitches better in the last three frames, then he had more success. Waddell retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced, allowing just a double, which wasn’t hit too hard, just well-placed in the gap and the batter hustled out the double, just beating a strong throw from Elvis Escobar.

He was throwing fastballs on the first pitch to every batter through four innings and Trenton wasn’t swinging. Then the first time he went off-speed on the first pitch, that just happened to be the first time they swung at the first pitch, resulting in the batter well out in front for a strike. Waddell threw 102 pitches, with 69 for strikes. He allowed five hits and no walks, with six strikeouts and a 9:3 GO/AO ratio.

Waddell gave way to Luis Heredia, who had an easy seventh inning with a 2-0 lead, before running into issues in the eighth. Heredia allowed two singles to start the inning. Those runners were sacrificed over for the first out. The next batter hit a chopper back to Heredia and it hit off his glove and died right behind the mound. That scored a run and put runners on the corners with one out. Tanner Anderson came out and got a grounder to third base, which was a contact play and it resulted in an easy out at home. The next batter grounded out to end the inning.

With Altoona up 2-1, Anderson struck out the lead-off batter in the ninth before giving up a grounder down the first base line into the corner for a double. The next batter grounded out to Jerrick Suiter at first base, before Anderson picked up another strikeout to end the game.

Altoona got on the board in the fifth inning, producing a run with two outs. Wyatt Mathisen walked, then was erased as Jordan George hit into a double play. Michael Suchy and Elvis Escobar each hit liners into center field, putting runners on the corners. Mitch Tolman then crushed a low liner right at the second baseman, who couldn’t field it. That scored Suchy with the first run of the game. The ball was hit very hard, so calling it a hit wasn’t a bad call, even if it was right at the fielder.

In the seventh, Jordan George singled on a bunt against the shift. He was replaced at first base by pinch-runner Casey Hughston, who got to second base on a walk to Michael Suchy. A passed ball moved both runners up, then Elvis Escobar singled into right field to score Hughston to make it 2-0. Escobar’s hit was a hard line drive that the right fielder got to quickly to keep Suchy from scoring.

** Pablo Reyes is playing shortstop in place of Cole Tucker and looked solid defensively at the spot, making some nice plays. He also hit the ball well in three of his five at-bats, but had nothing to show for it. Jerrick Suiter also played his usual solid defense at first base, while Jin-De Jhang did a nice job behind the plate blocking pitches.

** Game two is tomorrow night in Trenton with JT Brubaker on the mound. – John Dreker

Prospect-Watch-Bradenton

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Bradenton finished their season with a 70-62 record.

Prospect-Watch-WV-Power

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West Virginia finished their season with a 69-67 record.

Prospect-Watch-Morgantown

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Morgantown finished with a 40-35 record.

Prospect-Watch-Bristol
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Bristol finished their season with a 17-49 record.

Prospect-Watch-GCL

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The GCL Pirates finished their season with a 26-34 record.

Prospect-Watch-DSL

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The DSL Pirates finished with a 36-34 record.

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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