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, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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3. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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4. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Pirates – In the Majors
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, Altoona – [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, Bradenton – [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 – [insert_php]
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25. Gage Hinsz, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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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, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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Chad Kuhl came into Monday night’s game on a stretch of three straight starts in which he allowed four earned runs. He finished Monday’s game with two runs on ten hits and no walks, with three strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He threw 91 pitches total, 58 for strikes. I could just say that his pitching line matched the performance, because it did. It just got there in a roundabout way. Kuhl was leaving his pitches up a lot and they led to some well hit outs and a lot of fly balls. In that sense, it wasn’t his typical stuff we saw earlier in the year. He was hitting 95 MPH consistently, throwing a lot of strikes with nice movement and a lot of foul balls, so there were some good signs too.
The reason I said he got those results in a roundabout way, is that there were five hits in this game against the extreme shift that Indianapolis uses. All five looked like easy outs off the bat and two would have been double plays, yet the fielders were well out of normal position. All of these were with right-handed batters up, so it’s not that extreme shift you usually see for lefties. Another hit was a hard grounder off the glove of shortstop Max Moroff and another was a ball that Adam Frazier misplayed badly in left field. So seven of the ten hits could have been prevented by normal defense. As I said though, Kuhl left his pitches up a lot and there were hard hit outs and batters just getting under pitches up in the zone.
So even if Kuhl received even semi-decent help on defense, allowing him to go longer and those runs don’t score, it still wouldn’t have been considered a strong outing, just a step in the right direction. He looked frustrated at times in his last couple starts and his control wasn’t as good, but his demeanor on the mound on Monday was what we saw early in the year when nothing bothered him. In that sense it was impressive because he had every reason to be frustrated this game, both with the defense and with his pitches getting too much of the zone.
Indianapolis won 7-5, with Josh Bell connecting on his 11th home run. Alen Hanson had three hits, including his fifth triple. He had an RBI and scored two runs. Austin Meadows came up empty in the hit column for the first time since late May, but he contributed an RBI, a run scored, a stolen base and some nice range in center field. Adam Frazier went 1-for-5 with an RBI, maintaining his lead in the International League batting race with a .333 average. Besides the bad misplay in left field mentioned above, he also got picked-off, which has been a huge problem recently. He is 17-for-32 in stolen bases this season, which doesn’t count multiple pick-offs. Max Moroff hit his tenth double and drew a walk. He has eight walks in his last seven games.
Dovydas Neverauskas picked up the save and was hitting 98 MPH on the radar gun. He recently hit 99 while still with Altoona.
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Altoona has off today.
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Bradenton is going to the playoffs…they just have to wait for the second half of the season to start and end first. They won 1-0 over Jupiter, behind a strong outing from Stephen Tarpley and a solo homer from Michael Suchy. Tarpley has been on a roll recently and it started with four shutout innings in a rain-shorted game two starts ago. He followed that up with one run over six innings in his last start. On Monday night, he threw six shutout innings, with three hits and two walks, striking out seven batters, which is a season high. He threw 61 of his 95 pitches for strikes and had a 5:4 GO/AO ratio. Tarpley now has a 3.69 ERA in eight starts, seeing that number drop from a 5.87 mark on June 1st. He also has a .243 BAA and a 1.21 WHIP, so his numbers are starting to fall closer in line to what we are used to seeing from him.
Michael Suchy’s home run was his second of the season and it came in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Marauders had just four hits in this game. Kevin Kramer hit his 12th double and drew a walk. Wyatt Mathisen went 1-for-3 in his second game back for a sore shoulder that shut him down in Spring Training. Jordan Luplow went 1-for-3, as his average continues to rise after a slow start.
Luis Heredia got his eighth save, though he had a little trouble throwing strikes in his scoreless inning. He had a strikeout and a walk, as well as two ground balls. He threw 17 pitches, nine for strikes. Heredia has an 0.64 ERA in 28 innings, with 22 strikeouts, an 0.93 WHIP and an impressive 2.65 GO/AO ratio.
Bradenton won the South division title, which will give them home field in the playoffs in September. They will either play the second half division winner, or if they also win the second half title too, then the team with the second best overall record in the division gets the other playoff spot.
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West Virginia is on their All-Star break until Thursday.
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MORGANTOWN, WV – In his first rehab start with the West Virginia Black Bears, Steven Brault pitched as well as anyone could have expected. He allowed a bloop single to the second batter of the night and then was perfect through his final eleven at-bats. His fourth inning stands out; he retired the side on two strikeouts and a flyout to center with only eleven pitches.
After the game, Brault said that he had all his pitches working, though the slider missed at times, and he “felt good especially in the fourth.” He will be making one more rehab start for the Black Bears on Saturday before rejoining Indianapolis.
While first-round pick Will Craig has gotten most of the press, Sandy Santos seems to be the prospect to watch in the early goings. A 6’3”, 180 lbs. center fielder, Santos fills the lead-off role in the Black Bear lineup and has performed well off-and-on in his four seasons in the Pirates system. Santos hit three solid line drives, one straight to the center fielder, one for a single, and one up the third baseline for a double, and was narrowly caught stealing on a pitchout.
Santos has had a history of strikeout troubles, which have prevented him from progressing to the next level, and he displayed that tendency again tonight. With a runner on second in the sixth and the Black Bears trailing by a run, Santos worked the count to full and then watched a strike catch the outside corner. This season, Santos is 10-for-15 with three strikeouts.
Will Craig looked unremarkable at the plate and had no chances in the field. He committed a costly base running error in the bottom of the seventh as the Black Bears began to rally. On a one-out bunt by Kevin Krause, Craig took off for home, and I highly doubt they had a suicide squeeze on with the 235-pound Craig on third. Craig froze and flopped back to third only to be tagged out. After the game, Krause admitted that he missed the call, which could explain Craig’s confusion on the base paths.
Krause continues to be a weak defensive catcher. He dropped eight third strikes, and on one occasion, he then hit the runner with the throw down to first. That runner eventually came around to score the Batavia Muckdogs’ only run.
However, Krause’s power seems to be intact after last year’s Tommy John surgery. In the bottom of the ninth, Jordan George laced a one-out triple to right-center. Hunter Owen, who drove in the only other Black Bear run of the game, hit a dribbler back to the pitcher, who botched the scoop. Krause then turned on a 2-0 fastball and drilled the pitch over the left field fence for the 4-1 Black Bears win. – Abigail Miskowiec
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The DSL Pirates won 5-3 over Yankees1 on Monday, getting some strong work from all three pitchers. The Yankees1 took an early lead due to some poor defense, which led to all three runs being unearned. Rodolfo Castro made a costly error in the first inning, leading to two runs. Christopher Perez’s throwing error in the second inning brought in another run. Starter Leandro Pina went five innings and allowed four hits, with none after the second inning. In fact, the Yankees1 had just one hit in the last seven innings, as Wilmer Contreras threw three shutout frames and Ramon Garcia pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
The game marked the season debut of Gabriel Brito, one of the top signings from the 2015 signing period. He was out with an injury, but returned behind the plate and singled in his only at-bat. Since it was his first game back, he only played three innings.
Larry Alcime collected his second base hit of the season and drove in his first two runs of his career. He is 2-for-32 with 14 strikeouts. Williams Calderon went 2-for-2 with a walk. Rodolfo Castro had his season-long hit streak snapped, but he extended his on base streak to nine games with a walk. Christopher Perez had a walk, a single, a stolen base and he scored two runs.
