39 F
Pittsburgh

Prospect Watch: Kuhl Battles Through Adversity, While Keller Has Shortest Outing

Published:

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]
include_once (‘./p2-stats/stats_functions.php’);
display_top30(607192,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

2. Austin Meadows, CF, Altoona – [insert_php]
display_top30(640457,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

3. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
display_top30(605137,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

4. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
display_top30(592791,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

5. Alen Hanson, 2B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
display_top30(593700,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

6. Harold Ramirez, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
display_top30(623912,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

7. Reese McGuire, C, Altoona -[insert_php]
display_top30(624512,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

8. Elias Diaz, C, Pirates – Disabled List.

9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List

10. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
display_top30(663647,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

11. Kevin Newman, SS, Bradenton -[insert_php]
display_top30(621028,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

12. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
display_top30(650817,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

13. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – disabled list

 14. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
display_top30(605501,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

15.Cole Tucker, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
display_top30(657061,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

16. Chad Kuhl, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
display_top30(641771,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

17. Max Moroff, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
display_top30(621559,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

18. Mitch Keller, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
display_top30(656605,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

19. Clay Holmes, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
display_top30(605280,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

20. Willy Garcia, OF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
display_top30(591994,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

21. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
display_top30(663399,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

22. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
display_top30(621169,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

23. Barrett Barnes, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
display_top30(608627,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

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]
display_top30(624428,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

28. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
display_top30(596012,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

29. Jordan Luplow, OF/3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
display_top30(656669,’B’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

30. JT Brubaker, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
display_top30(664141,’P’,’20160521′);
[/insert_php]

P2 Top Performers

[insert_php]
display_topperf(‘20160521’);
[/insert_php]


Prospect-Watch-Indy

[expand title=”Box Score” tag=”span”]
[insert_php]
create_boxscore(‘20160521′,’ind’);
[/insert_php]
[/expand]

Chad Kuhl came into Saturday’s game leading the International League with an 0.91 ERA and an 0.78 WHIP. He also had a streak of 17 consecutive shutout innings to start the day. Kuhl had an easy time in the first against the top of the lineup, mixing his sinker and slider to get two ground outs to shortstop and a routine fly ball to center field. He worked fast and pounded the strike zone, going to two strikes on all three batters. He threw 14 pitches, 11 for strikes.

In the second inning, Nick Swisher grounded out weakly to first base on the first pitch. The next batter crushed a line drive right to Alen Hanson at second base on an 0-2 pitch. Two pitches later, the third batter of the inning hit a ball just over Kuhl’s head, which Gift Ngoepe played on one bounce for an easy out. This was a seven pitch inning.

In the third, Kuhl was given a 2-0 lead to work with and he got the first out on a ball that deflected off his glove right to Ngoepe, who made a nice throw to first base. The second out came on a 3-1 pitch, a fly ball to right field. The third batter reached on a soft liner to left field, the first runner of the game. The next batter hit a bloop single into shallow center field to put two runners on base. That was followed by a hard grounder to Ngoepe, who threw to Hanson, but he missed the second base bag. It was correctly ruled an error and it loaded the bases.

That led to a double smoked down the left field line that cleared the bases. Nick Swished hit a soft liner to Hanson to end the inning. Due to the error with two outs, none of the runs were earned runs, but that did end Kuhl’s consecutive scoreless streak at 19.2 innings. There were some hard hit balls this inning, and while he should have got out of it without any runs, it was still probably the worst inning for him this season due to the hard contact. Kuhl threw 27 pitches this inning, 15 for strikes.

It didn’t get any better to start the fourth inning. Kuhl also a solo homer to right field to make it 4-2. One pitch later, he got a foul ball to third base for the first out. The next batter hit what looked like a routine fly ball to left field, but Pedro Florimon looked like he never saw it because it landed about ten feet from him and he barely moved. It went down as a single. The inning ended quickly after that on an easy 6-4-3 double play. Kuhl was at 60 pitches at this point, 39 for strikes. His sinker didn’t have the usual velocity, sitting 91-93 MPH instead of 92-95, though his last pitch hit 94 MPH.

Kuhl started the fifth with his first strikeout. The next batter bounced out to shortstop for the second out. Kuhl picked up another strikeout (both looking) hitting 94 twice in the at-bat, before throwing a slider over the outside corner. This inning was more like what we have seen from him this season. Quick work, velocity was up and he pounded the lower half of the strike zone. He went 3-2 on the last batter, but all three balls were close pitches.

The sixth started with a grounder to shortstop. That was followed by a fly ball to center field off the bat of Swisher. The third batter was a lefty, who lined a double down the left field line. Kuhl jammed the next hitter with a 94 MPH fastball, which Florimon got a good jump on and caught in shallow left field. That put Kuhl at 90 pitches, 60 for strikes, and ended his night. The final line was one earned run on six hits, no walks and two strikeouts in six innings. He had a 9:4 GO/AO ratio.

Kuhl didn’t have his best start, yet he still put up a solid pitching line and without that error in the third, it may have looked a lot better. The velocity was down a little, but you like to see a guy end on 94 MPH with his 90th pitch. There were some solid hit balls, including some outs. In fact, four of the hits weren’t really hit that hard and the one was probably just lost in the lights. The change-up looked real good at the end of the game. The slider was hit or miss and has looked better.

One thing I noticed is that there wasn’t good separation in his velocity throughout the game. His slowest pitch all game was 84 MPH, the fast was ten MPH more, but he probably only hit those two numbers 6-7 times total. The other 83-84 pitches were mostly 87-92, so even though his pitches break differently, the batters weren’t seeing a big difference in velocity. When he’s usually hitting 93-95 MPH all game, he’s getting batters out in front more on the off-speed pitches, which leads to more swing and misses. There weren’t many swinging strikes in this game.

Not his best effort (not really close the way he has pitched all season) but he was still in attack mode and didn’t let the costly error or soft hits bother him. He was also around the zone all game, yet still threw inside effectively with the sinker that runs in on right-handed batters, backing them off the plate. You like to see a pitcher battle well through some adversity and without their best stuff, and he did that tonight.

This game got ugly after Kuhl left, with Indianapolis committing four errors in the last three innings. They ended up losing 7-3 and just one of those seven runs was earned. They scored runs on solo homers from Danny Ortiz and Max Moroff, the fourth homer of the season from each of them. The other run scored when Adam Frazier singled home Jacob Stallings in the second inning. Moroff, Frazier and Ortiz each had two hits in the game, including the sixth double of the season from Ortiz.

Frazier has been doing a terrific job of getting on base, but he was picked off of second base after his RBI single in the second. That has been a big issue for him this year, as most of his caught stealing have been when he left early and the pitcher throws behind him. He’s 12-for-20 in steals, plus two pick-offs. He’s never been huge on stolen bases (or a high success rate) despite above average speed. He’s been running a lot more this year, which isn’t a bad idea considering the work he needs in that area. Frazier has the speed to steal bases, just needs to get better at reading pitchers. Indianapolis as a team is barely above 50% in stolen bases success, going 35-for-68 so far, plus a lot of pick-offs that are not in that total.

 

Prospect-Watch-Altoona-Curve

[expand title=”Box Score” tag=”span”]
[insert_php]
create_boxscore(‘20160521′,’alt’);
[/insert_php]
[/expand]

Altoona was rained out. They will play a doubleheader tomorrow at 4:00 PM.

Prospect-Watch-Bradenton

[expand title=”Box Score” tag=”span”]
[insert_php]
create_boxscore(‘20160521′,’bra’);
[/insert_php]
[/expand]

Bradenton lost 3-1 to Dunedin on Saturday night, falling behind early and never putting anything together on offense. Colten Brewer got the start after pitching in relief during his last outing. His last start was ten days ago and he pitched one inning since, but that didn’t stop manager Michael Ryan from pushing him to 95 pitches through 4.1 innings. Brewer gave up three runs on five hits and four walks, striking out eight batters, which is a season high. Junior Lopez and Henry Hirsch followed him and combined for seven strikeouts, giving them a total of 15 in the game.

The Marauders managed five singles and five walks on offense, going 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Kevin Newman is usually good for two hits or a couple walks these days, but he came up empty in four trips to the plate. Jerrick Suiter reached base three times on a hit and two walks, scoring the only run for Bradenton. That run scored on two walks, followed by two straight wild pitches. Elvis Escobar had two hits, while Kevin Kramer had a single and a walk. He has reached base at least once in each of his last 16 games.

 

Prospect-Watch-WV-Power

[expand title=”Box Score” tag=”span”]
[insert_php]
create_boxscore(‘20160521′,’wva’);
[/insert_php]
[/expand]

Mitch Keller didn’t have his best start on Saturday, but he may have had a decent excuse. His start was originally scheduled for Friday, then rain pushed it back to today. They planned to start the game at 5:05 PM tonight, but that start time got pushed back twice. When Keller came out for the first, he was immediately in trouble and allowed two runs in the inning, while running up his pitch count. While both of the runs were earned in the first, the inning was extended by a ball hit to Cole Tucker, who couldn’t record an out, resulting in a fielder’s choice. That was followed by a Ke’Bryan Hayes fielding error.

After the first inning, Keller settled down and threw three shutout frames. His pitch count was already up to 75 at that point, ending his day. It was the first time he failed to go five innings all season. He didn’t walk anyone and 53 of those 75 pitches went for strikes, so the control was good, even if it resulted in six hits. He had a 5:2 GO/AO ratio, well above his 0.92 GO/AO ratio coming into the game. Keller’s league leading 1.10 ERA to begin the day, went up 30 points by the time he was done.

On the other side of the field, Hickory’s Dillon Tate couldn’t even get out of the second inning. The fourth overall pick from last year’s draft gave up seven earned runs in 1.2 innings. With two top pitchers well off their game, you have to figure the multiple delays and possibly field conditions, played part in their struggles.

West Virginia won this game by a 9-4 score. Seven of those runs came in the second inning as they were stocking up on doubles. Ryan Nagle hit his ninth double, and that was followed by the seventh doubles of the season from both Mitchell Tolman and Carlos Munoz. Tito Polo drove in two runs with his sixth double, then later in the game added another RBI double. He also stole his 11th base of the season. Munoz had two hits in the game and drove in four runs. Danny Arribas had two hits, reaching base safely for the 11th straight game.

Tanner Anderson followed Keller with three scoreless innings, striking out four batters and throwing just 32 pitches total. Seth McGarry gave up two runs in the ninth inning.

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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles