A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. Note that this list doesn’t include players currently in the majors. If a player is in the majors, he will be removed, 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 (Nick Kingham, Jacob Taylor), 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 30 active prospects on the list. Rankings are from the mid-season update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List
3. Austin Meadows, CF, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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4. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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5. Alen Hanson, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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6. Reese McGuire, C, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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7. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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8. Harold Ramirez, OF, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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9. Cole Tucker, SS, West Virginia – Disabled List
10. Kevin Newman, SS, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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11. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, GCL -[insert_php]
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12. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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13. Clay Holmes, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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14. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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15. Max Moroff, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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16. Barrett Barnes, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
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17. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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18. Trey Supak, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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19. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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20. Adam Frazier, SS, Altoona -[insert_php]
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21. Willy Garcia, OF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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22. Steven Brault, LHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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23. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Morgantown -[insert_php]
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24. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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25. Adrian Valerio, SS, GCL -[insert_php]
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26. Connor Joe, 1B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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27. John Holdzkom, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List
28. Jordan Luplow, 3B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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29. Casey Hughston, OF, Morgantown -[insert_php]
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30. Billy Roth, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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Keon Broxton had his 34-game on base streak snapped, as Indianapolis lost 4-2 on Wednesday afternoon. During the streak, which began back on July 3rd, Broxton hit .317/.423/.512, with 15 extra-base hits, 23 walks and 15 stolen bases. He reached base a total of 63 times during that stretch. Willy Garcia had a nine-game hit streak snapped with an 0-for-4 game.
Alen Hanson went 1-for-3 with a walk, and he stole his 30th base of the season. It’s the third time that he has reached 30 steals in a season. His career best is 35 in 2012. Josh Bell had a single in four trips to the plate. He is 11-for-43 in 11 games for Indianapolis. He has reached base in each of the last seven games.
Chris Volstad started and looked real good through four innings, allowing just one hit and no walks. Things fell apart after that, as he finished with four runs on six hits and a walk in his last 2.1 innings. He had not allowed more than three earned runs in a start since June 1st.
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Last week, Chad Kuhl was skipped in the rotation to give him a bit of a break. He already had 122.1 innings and was coming off a poor outing, so they took a chance to give the 22-year-old a breather. He was limited in this game, throwing 68 pitches over five innings. Kuhl gave up one run on three hits and two walks, with the only run scoring on a solo homer in the first inning. He has a 2.76 ERA, which ranks him seventh in the Eastern League.
The Curve recorded five runs on six hits and five walks, getting some help from the opposing defense that led to three unearned runs. Mel Rojas Jr. went 0-for-2, but he walked twice, scored a run and picked up an RBI. Erich Weiss had two hits, a walk and scored a run. Jose Osuna picked up his 13th double for Altoona and scored twice. He had 12 doubles with Bradenton earlier this year. Adam Frazier has gone 5-for-29 in his last seven games and his average had dropped 18 points during that stretch. He is 11 plate appearances short of qualifying for the league leaders and has an 18 point lead over the current leader, so Frazier should take over as the league leader later this week if he plays everyday.
Max Moroff has not had a good August. He was in contention for the batting title coming into the month, but his average dropped to .299 after this game. He is hitting .139 this month and he’s struck out at least once in each of his last 12 games. Moroff also committed his 14th error of the season.
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Game One: In game one of the doubleheader, Tyler Eppler pitched a gem, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings. He allowed four hits, a walk and struck out three, while recorded ten outs on ground balls. Eppler’s GO/AO ratio was 0.78 coming into this game, so this was one of the better performances he’s had as far as keeping the ball on the ground. His stats have been average this year, as he did make the jump over Low-A ball this season, but he did it after missing the first couple months with a shoulder injury. Eppler lowered his ERA to 3.77 in this game and he has now thrown 45.1 innings this season.
Edwin Espinal had the big hit in this game, a solo shot in the fourth inning. It was his fifth homer of the season and he has now driven in 48 runs. The Marauders scored in the first with back-to-back singles from Austin Meadows and Harold Ramirez. They pulled off a double steal with Jordan Steranka up, the 18th steal of the season for both of them. Steranka then brought home Meadows with an RBI ground out. The hits by Meadows, Ramirez and Espinal were the only hits of the game for Bradenton.
Game Two: The Marauders won 5-3, collecting ten hits in this game. Starter Felipe Gonzalez only lasted 1.2 innings, but three relievers combined to give up one run over the last 5.1 innings. Harold Ramirez went 2-for-3 with a walk and he drove in the first run of the game. Austin Meadows had a hit and scored a run. Edwin Espinal hit his 21st double and walked twice. Jin-De Jhang went 2-for-3 with a walk, giving him a .308 average. He is fifth in the league in average, five points ahead of Meadows. Wyatt Mathisen also had two hits and a walk. He hit his tenth double of the season.
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The Power got three runs in the third inning and another two in the eighth to win 5-2 on Wednesday afternoon. Colten Brewer got the start and gave up two runs over six innings for the win. It wasn’t his best outing, as he put ten runners on base, but he limited the damage and he had a 9:2 GO/AO ratio, to go along with four strikeouts.
Michael Suchy, Jerrick Suiter, Tyler Filliben and Tito Polo all had two hits in this game. Polo hit a solo homer in the third inning, his second home run of the season. That was the only extra-base hit for West Virginia. They had ten singles, with five of them coming with runners in scoring position, which led to four runs being scored. Suchy raised his average to .293 and drove in his 65th run of the season.
Jordan Luplow had a single and a walk, extending his hit streak to 11 games. Connor Joe had a single and scored a run. He is still hitting .247 with no power, but he has 36 walks and 26 strikeouts, so he is showing a good eye and making contact. Kevin Newman went 0-for-4 with a HBP, leaving him 2-for-13 in his first three games at the level.
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Bret Helton came into this game with a 6.06 ERA in his first nine pro starts. The ninth round pick had his longest outing and he did pretty good despite some poor defense behind him. Helton gave up one earned run over 5.2 innings, allowing three hits and two walks. He only struck out two batters, but he recorded ten outs on grounders.
Morgantown committed five errors in this game, including two from Mitchell Tolman, who has had some trouble adjusting to second base. He won the college Gold Glove at third base, which is very impressive considering they only give out one for all of Division I. He moved to second base to fill in for the injured Kevin Kramer and he’s now made four errors in six games. Tolman has been hitting well, batting .400 in his last ten games. He collected his eighth double of the season, which was the only extra-base hit for the Black Bears.
Logan Hill lost his ten-game hit streak and 14-game on base streak in this game. Christian Kelley had a single, two walks and scored the only run. Casey Hughston won the Player of the Week last week, but he’s now 1-for-15 in his last four games, striking out seven times.
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Game One: This was the completion of the start by Trey Supak on Monday. He was able to face just four batters before a downpour caused the game to be suspended. After another day of rain on Tuesday, this game resumed with Gage Hinsz on the mound. This was like a start for him, but he came in with runners on base and didn’t handle the different situation well. Three runs scored in the first before he could get two outs, with two of those runs changed to Supak. Hinsz settled down and finished off with four shutout innings, so he ended up allowing just one earned run in his 4.2 innings.
It’s tough to knock him for that first inning, since he never starts an inning with runners already on base. Outside of that frame, this was actually a really good outing for Hinsz. He now has a 4.81 ERA after some tough starts at the beginning when he was still building up his pitch count. In his last three games, he has allowed four earned runs over 14.2 innings.
Bristol put ten runs on the board, with four of those coming on Monday in the first inning. Trae Arbet and Erik Lunde each drove in three runs. Arbet had two doubles and scored twice. He has 14 doubles and a .328 average. Nick Buckner had two hits, drove in two runs and scored twice. He has reached base in ten straight games.
Game Two: Scooter Hightower pitched great and he got strong support from the Bristol batters, as the Pirates took both games of the doubleheader. Hightower struck out seven batters in five innings and gave up just one run. It’s the second time he’s recorded seven strikeouts, one short of his best output, which came in his last outing. He has 41 strikeouts in 37 innings this year.
Bristol put eight runs on the board in the fifth inning. John Bormann drove in three runs and Jordan George had three hits, including two doubles. Everyone had a hit or walk except Edgar Figueroa and he ended up with two runs and an RBI. Bealyn Chourio had three hits and scored two runs. Erik Lunde had a hit and two walks. Julio de la Cruz had a hit in this game, extending his hit streak to 12 games. He has been on base in 21 straight games and has hits in 20 of those contests.
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This turned out to be a disappointing game very quickly. What looked like a great opportunity for a young player who has been through a lot, turned into a very short outing. Yunior Montero got the start today, his first since he threw five shutout innings back on May 29,2011. It’s a long story, so here is a link to an article I wrote last year and I’ll briefly summarize it here. Montero originally signed in 2009, but his contract was voided. He got a lot better while waiting for MLB to verify his age and the Pirates signed him in 2011 for $185,000, which was 4x what he got the first time. He started one game, hit 94 MPH with his fastball and threw five shutout innings. Then MLB stepped in again and shut him down, voiding his contract a second time. The Pirates had to re-sign him in 2013 and he never got to pitch again until last year in the GCL.
Montero has been pitching well in extended relief outings recently, so the Pirates moved him into the rotation today and he gave up four hits and two walks in the first before being pulled. Tough outing that was four years in the making. You should definitely check out the link if you want to read the whole story on Montero.
Pirates got some great relief work following Montero’s departure. Jose Batista inherited a bases loaded jam and got out of the inning without further damage. He then threw another five shutout innings before giving way to Mister Luciano, who threw three scoreless innings of his own.
The offense had no luck against 21-year-old starter Carlos Indriago, who had an 0.92 ERA by the end of his outing. Once the relievers came in, the Pirates were able to put a couple runs on the board, but not enough. Victor Fernandez went 2-for-4 and stole three bases, making him 14-for-14 on the season in stolen bases. Ke’Bryan Hayes saw his 12-game on base streak snapped, but Sam Kennelly had no trouble getting on base in this one, with two singles and two walks in four plate appearances. Adrian Valerio had a single and scored a run. He has a six-game hitting streak.
After hitting .452 in June, Raul Siri is 15-for-91(.165) in his last 27 games. He was one of the best hitters in the DSL last year, not just on the Pirates. Siri tied the league record with 25 doubles and he had a .955 OPS. Even with his terrific start this year, his season OPS dropped below .675 in this game.
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The DSL Pirates dropped to 24-39 with 7-6 loss on Wednesday, with some very bad defense accounting for five unearned runs. The Pirates made a total of eight errors, with six different players contributing. Pitcher Miguel Hernandez gave up three runs over his five innings, though none of the runs were earned. Three Pirates’ pitchers combined for just one strikeout, while their own batters went down on strikes nine times. Eddy Vizcaino went 2-for-4, with a triple and an RBI. He is 10-for-28 in his last 11 games and in 45 games this year, he has 21 walks and 12 strikeouts. Catcher Gabriel Brito picked up his 18th RBI in his 25th game. Rudy Guzman had a hit and scored two runs. He is 8-for-22 in his last five games, with seven runs scored.
Two of the errors were from shortstop Cristopher Perez. He was a six-figure signing last July and has struggled in every aspect of the game. His OPS is below .500 in 40 games and he has now committed 23 errors in 32 games at shortstop. Perez was actually signed a year after he was eligible and he turned 18 last week. He is still young for the league, but he has a long way to go before his stats match the bonus.
