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, 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 2016 prospect guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
We’re working on a solution for the PHP stat codes not working in the app.
1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Altoona – [insert_php]
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3. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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4. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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5. Alen Hanson, 2B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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6. Harold Ramirez, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
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7. Reese McGuire, C, Altoona -[insert_php]
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8. Elias Diaz, C, Pirates – Disabled List.
9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List
10. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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11. Kevin Newman, SS, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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12. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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13. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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14. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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15.Cole Tucker, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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16. Chad Kuhl, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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17. Max Moroff, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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18. Mitch Keller, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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19. Clay Holmes, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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20. Willy Garcia, OF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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21. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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22. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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23. Barrett Barnes, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
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24. Trevor Williams, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List
25. Gage Hinsz, RHP – Extended Spring Training
26. Adrian Valerio, SS – Extended Spring Training
27. Adam Frazier, INF/OF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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28. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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29. Jordan Luplow, OF/3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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30. JT Brubaker, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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Frank Duncan was called up to Indianapolis to make 1-2 starts in place of Steven Brault, but he had an outing on Friday night that might make it hard to send him back to Altoona when Trevor Williams returns to the rotation to take Brault’s spot. In six shutout innings, the only runner he allowed was a third inning single. He struck out five batters and had an 8:3 GO/AO ratio. Duncan needed just 68 pitches, with 48 going for strikes. He was pitching well for Altoona before being promoted, posting a 1.31 ERA and an outstanding 3.67 GO/AO ratio in 20.2 innings, with 20 strikeouts.
The three relievers that followed Duncan had a lot more trouble with the Scranton/WB hitters, giving up four runs on four hits and two walks over two innings. Guido Knudson took the loss and Rob Scahill was credited with a blown save.
Indianapolis didn’t have much luck at the plate, with 11 strikeouts and a 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Gift Ngoepe led off the third inning with his sixth double. After Alen Hanson bunted him over to third base, Adam Frazier brought him home with a single. Indianapolis didn’t have another hit in the game until Hanson singled in the eighth inning. He got to second base on an error and scored on a Jason Rogers single.
Ngoepe has produced in three straight games, yet he still extended his strikeout streak to all 24 games this season, going down at least once each game and 41 times total. Going back to last season, he is at 29 games in a row with a strikeout.
Josh Bell had two walks in this game. Willy Garcia walked for the third straight game and 13th time this season. He has shown better patience, but it also looks like pitchers are trying to get him chasing and purposely not throwing strikes. I’ve seen a few times recently where a pitcher was pounding the strike zone, then Garcia comes up and sees nothing but breaking balls outside the zone. That’s the scouting report on him, but if he isn’t chasing those pitches, then he will get his share of walks until pitchers start throwing him strikes.
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Tyler Eppler started on Friday night against Richmond, the third time he has faced them this season. In the previous two games combined, he has allowed two runs over 13 innings. Eppler had an easy first inning, though it finished better than it started. The first batter bunted back to Eppler. That was followed by a shallow fly to left field. He left three fastballs up in the zone early, but there was no damage. The next batter struck out swinging, with Eppler throwing two very nice slurves to get the quick out. He threw just eight pitches, six for strikes.
In the second inning, Eppler was up again in the zone, which resulted in a fly out to left field for the first out, but that was the end of his luck. The next batter lined a single to center field. That was followed by another single lined to left field one pitch later. When you’re up in the zone, it’s eventually going to end up in some hard hits. The next hitter grounded out to Erich Weiss, with a force out at second resulting in the second out and runners on the corners. On a 2-1 pitch in the dirt that got about two feet away from Reese McGuire, the runner from first tried to move up and was gunned down on a great play from the young catcher. Eppler threw 19 pitches, 11 for strikes.
Eppler started the third with a walk on a 3-2 pitch that looked really good. Reese McGuire actually popped up to make the throw to third so they could throw it around the diamond and it looked like he had good reason to do that. That was followed by two pop-ups, one to McGuire and one to Eric Wood at third base. One pitch later, he got a grounder to second base for the final out. It was a quick inning after the walk, with the last three hitters seeing four pitches total. Eppler threw a couple nice change-ups in this inning and his fastball was at 92 MPH (the only reading announced to this point). He’s usually 92-94 with the fastball.
In the fourth, Eppler got a grounder to shortstop for a quick first out. Then Eppler gave up two hard hits, one of the left field wall, then a grounder that got by Erich Weiss, which brought in the run. The next ball was hit well too, coming up just short of the warning track in right-center field. That was followed by another hard single to right field, which Harold Ramirez over ran, allowing the runner to score all the way from first base. The next batter grounded out weakly to second base. Eppler didn’t throw a lot of pitches, but Richmond was putting everything into play and really squaring up the ball. He was at 47 pitches total, 31 for strikes.
Facing the pitcher in the fifth, Eppler got him looking on an outside fastball. The next batter grounded out to third base. He jammed the next hitter, getting a weak pop out to second base. This was an easy 11-pitch inning, eight for strikes.
The sixth started with a hard two-hopper to second base, which Weiss made a nice play on for the first out. Two pitches later, he got a deep fly out to center field for the second out. On the seventh pitch of the inning, a curve was sent out to right field for the final out. Two hard hit balls in the inning, but they were right at fielders for a very easy inning.
Eppler began the seventh with a grounder to second base. The next batter fouled off some tough slurves before striking out on a slurve in the dirt. Eppler broke a streak of ten straight retired by issuing a walk. Just like his first walk, this one looked like it could have went the other way on a couple pitches. The next batter hit a routine grounder to shortstop to end the inning. Through seven frames, Eppler threw 86 pitches, 56 for strikes.
The final line was one earned run over seven innings, with five hits, two walks and three strikeouts. Eppler had his off-speed pitches working this game, but he wasn’t commanding the fastball. It could have been worse, but a few hard hit balls were right at fielders. That has happened a lot with Eppler and his fastball. He hasn’t been good at keeping it down in a few of his starts, but he has still been able to get strong results. He finished with a nice 9:5 GO/AO ratio. You have to like the results, and if he can do a better job of keeping his fastball down, then you can expect him to continue to put up strong numbers.
It looked like Altoona was going to lose this game, down 2-1 in the ninth and Ray Black on the mound, the owner of a triple digit fastball. He immediately gave up a double to Austin Meadows, which was followed two batters later by Reese McGuire, who brought home Meadows with a double of his own. McGuire was picked off second, so then it seemed like extra innings were coming up. After the McGuire out, Eric Wood, Barrett Barnes and Chris Diaz all walked. That was followed by a pinch-hit single from Stetson Allie, then an RBI single from Harold Ramirez to make it 5-2, which was the final score.
Meadows had a nice game, collecting two hits and a sacrifice fly. He also stole his third base of the season. Barrett Barnes had an even better game with three singles and a walk in four trips to the plate. Harold Ramirez had three hits, including his fifth double. He is 11-for-23 in his last five games.
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Bradenton had their hitting shoes on during Friday night’s game in Palm Beach. They put 13 runs on the board on 19 hits. Kevin Newman, Chase Simpson and Taylor Gushue each had four hits in this game. Jerrick Suiter added three base hits. The first five batters in the lineup each scored two runs. Simpson, Gushue and Jordan Luplow each drove in two runs. Bradenton was also helped by four errors, leading to four unearned runs.
Newman is now hitting .371 and he has 15 multi-hit games already this season, in just 28 games played. This was his first four-hit game as a pro. Simpson had two doubles, giving him seven on the year. Gushue hit his sixth double. Kevin Kramer also added a double, his third of the season. The strange part about the offense is that the bottom three hitters in the order, Elvis Escobar, Connor Joe and Jeff Roy, combined to go 0-for-13 in the game. Joe struck out two times, putting him only three strikeouts behind last year’s total, despite having 241 less plate appearances.
On the pitching side, Austin Coley had his best outing of the season, allowing one run on two hits and one walk in six innings. His pitch count numbers suggest that he didn’t have the best control, with 45 strikes and 40 balls. Coley still kept runs off the board, lowering his ERA to 4.08 in 35.1 innings. That number is skewed by his first two starts in which he allowed nine earned runs over eight inning. In the five starts since, he’s given up seven runs in 27.1 innings. Coley had a nice 8:4 GO/AO ratio in this game.
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West Virginia got beat by poor starting pitching and some bad defense, losing 4-1 to Lakewood. Bret Helton started and he was done after three innings, giving up four runs (two earned). He allowed four hits, walked two batters and hit two batters. His short outing led to one of the better outings all season, not just for a reliever. Tanner Anderson followed Helton with five shutout innings on only 37 pitches. He allowed two hits and struck out four batters, making quick work of the 16 batters he faced. He had a 9:1 GO/AO ratio. Anderson has a 1.13 ERA in 24 innings over nine appearances this season.
The offense wasn’t any better than the starting pitching or defense, which committed three errors. The Power had four hits all night, scoring their only run in the second inning on a Casey Hughston double, followed by a Danny Arribas single. After they scored in the second, eight straight Power were retired until Arribas added his second single to lead-off the fifth inning. He stole second base, but got no further. He was the last runner to get into scoring position for West Virginia.
Cole Tucker took his first game off since rejoining the Power. Ke’Bryan Hayes is in a 2-for-16 skid, which has seen his average drop to .304 through 28 games. He also committed his fourth error of the season.
