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Prospect Watch: Holmes Labors Through Morning Start, Hayes and Polo Go Yard

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P2 Top 30

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 – Extended Spring Training

15.Cole Tucker, SS, West Virginia – Disabled List

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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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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P2 Top Performers

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Prospect-Watch-Indy

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Indianapolis has off today.

Prospect-Watch-Altoona-Curve

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Clay Holmes made his sixth start of the season on Thursday morning. He was coming off an outing in which he gave up six runs over 2.2 innings, so almost anything in this game would be an improvement. In the first inning, Holmes threw a lot of pitches, but got three soft grounders to get out of the inning with no damage. He issued a walk and hit a batter, working mostly with his fastballs. He tried a couple curves, hanging one, but the other one was real nice, and the batter just got a piece of it.

In the second, Holmes started with a walk. He struck out the next batter swinging on the curve. He then got a grounder to second base for the second out. Holmes got the third out on a terrific curve that broke from the middle of the plate to about a half foot inside and just above the shoes of a left-handed batter. Outstanding late movement on the pitch. Again he threw a lot of pitches, mostly missing to the left side of the plate with his fastball, which has a lot of run that way.

The third started with soft low liner that Holmes just missed catching, which bounced through to center field for a single. The second batter lined out to right field for the first out. Holmes struck out the next batter on a curve, while the runner from first stole second base. The next batter walked on five pitches, with Holmes stepping off a few times between pitches. It seemed like Jin-De Jhang and Holmes disagreed a lot of what to throw. The next batter got hit on the foot by an 0-2 pitch that was very similar to the curve that ended the second inning. The third inning was ended on a terrific diving play from Erich Weiss that saved at least one run.

In the fourth. the lead-off batter shot a ground ball single between Jose Osuna and Erich Weiss. Holmes then got a grounder to second base, with the batter just beating out a double play. After a stolen base, the next batter doubled to right field for the first Erie run. The next batter grounded out to shortstop, moving the runner to third with two outs. That was followed by a triple to the right-center gap on a fastball Holmes left over the middle of the plate. Erich Weiss made another nice play on a grounder to end the fourth.

The fifth started with a fly out to left field. The next batter doubled over the head of Stetson Allie, who took a bad route to the ball. After two good plays by Erich Weiss helped Holmes out of innings, Weiss booted as easy grounder to put runners on the corners. A soft grounder to shortstop went for the second out and brought home Erie’s third run. It also ended the day for Holmes, who was at 92 pitches. Frank Duncan came on and allowed an inherited runner to score. So Holmes was charged with four runs over 4.2 innings, but the last two runs were unearned due to the error by Weiss.

Holmes did some things right in this game and there was obviously some mistakes. He got a lot of soft contact and a decent amount of swing and misses. He had a 10:1 GO/AO ratio, which gives him a ridiculous 4.50 GO/AO ratio on the season. He also broke off some curves with terrific movement and the pitch was very good overall in this game. On the bad side, his fastball command wasn’t that good, which led to three walks, a hit batter and the one triple where he just threw one right down the middle. His high pitch count was a combo of control issues and a lot of foul balls.

Jin-De Jhang homered in the second inning, with a shot over the right field wall. One pitch earlier, he hit a ball just barely foul that was well over the right field wall. Usually when someone just misses a long homer, they don’t follow it up one pitch later with a homer. Erich Weiss homered as well, his third of the season. Those two hits accounted for both runs in the 5-2 loss.

Jhang, Weiss and Anderson Feliz each had two hits, while Austin Meadows had the only other Curve base hit. Altoona failed to draw a walk in the game and they didn’t have a single runner in scoring position all game. Meadows went 1-for-4, leaving him with a .184 average through nine games. Josh Smith pitched the last 1.2 innings and struck out four of the five batters he faced.

Prospect-Watch-Bradenton

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Bradenton won 4-3 in ten innings on Thursday night, as four bullpen arms combined to throw 7.1 shutout innings. After Luis Heredia pitched a scoreless top of the tenth, Pablo Reyes led off the bottom of the inning with his third walk. He moved to third base on a Jerrick Suiter single, setting up the ever popular walk-off wild pitch.

Colten Brewer started the game and lasted just 2.2 innings, giving up three runs and throwing 61 pitches. Jose Regalado followed with 2.1 scoreless innings, striking out four batters. Tate Scioneaux, who replaced Brandon Waddell on the roster, threw two shutout frames in his High-A debut. Miguel Rosario took care of the eighth and ninth, setting up Heredia for the win. Heredia now has an 0.66 ERA over 13.2 innings.

On offense, Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer each had two hits at the top of the lineup. Newman drove in a run, while Kramer scored a run. Newman has two or more hits in 11 of his 22 games, giving him a .348 average. Jordan Luplow had two hits as well, including his second homer of the season.

Elvis Escobar is 11-for-26 in his last seven games, raising his average to .256 after hitting .179 over his first 17 games. Jerrick Suiter is 11-for-21 in his last five games, raising his average to .244 after hitting .159 in his first 19 games.

Prospect-Watch-WV-Power

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Logan Sendelbach had a real strong start to his season, posting a 1.32 ERA and an 0.99 WHIP in his first five starts. Things got out of hand quickly in his sixth start on Thursday night. Sendelbach relies on his fastball, going to the pitch about 90% of the time in the three games I’ve watched. In the first two games, he fastball looked terrific, showing a nice downward plane, as he worked both sides of the plate down in the zone. On Thursday, the fastball control wasn’t there and the pitch got flat most of the time. When he did get the ball down, he was missing low. That led to seven runs in 2.1 innings, as five of Charleston’s seven hits went for extra bases. Sendelbach also walked three batters and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch.

This outing was reminiscent of the poor games he had with Bristol last year, where the fastball was flat and up in zone. According to the announcer, Sendelbach was sitting 88-90 during his outing. He can hit 93 MPH, but usually works in the 89-91 range. Until he starts throwing his off-speed pitches more, he will have to be almost perfect with his fastball to be successful.

Daniel Zamora followed him and looked great in his 3.1 innings of work. It helped that Charleston had a lineup full of lefties for the southpaw, because Zamora treats them unfairly. He threw about ten mid-70’s sweeping sliders that started between the lefties hip and shoulder and ended up on the outside part of the plate for strikes. He had lefties either swinging weakly, bailing on the pitch or standing there frozen. When he wasn’t throwing the slider, he kicked it up about 15 MPH and painted the inside corner with his 89-90 MPH fastball. He’s probably going to have trouble with right-handed hitters in the future, but he may have a future as a LOOGY.

Tito Polo and Ke’Bryan Hayes each hit their third home runs of the season, both solo shots in the 8-3 loss. Polo hit his on the second pitch of the game, While Hayes crushed his over the left field wall with one out in the third inning. Ryan Nagle had the only other extra-base hit, his seventh double of the season.

Casey Hughston broke a 1-for-40 streak in his second at-bat with a little bit of luck. He actually hit the ball hard right at the first baseman for an out later in the game, so you could say things evened out. Hughston bunted the ball in the his second trip to the plate and hit it a little too hard. It ended up just out of the reach of the pitcher, bouncing under his outstretched glove, then the third baseman lost the handle as he tried to make the throw. Both players would have got the out had they fielded it, but the third baseman had a tougher play. Hughston had a 1-for-43 slump last year, but started hitting the ball better once he finally got on the board, so perhaps this hit will help him out.

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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