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 – Disabled List
12. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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13. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List
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 – [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, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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Indianapolis had their double header postponed due to rain. They will play two seven inning games on Sunday evening starting at 4:05 p.m.
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ALTOONA, PA – Tyler Eppler retired the first 13 batters he faced before allowing a soft bloop single to left field in the fifth inning. He began with a ten pitch first inning then did one better in the second with a nine pitch inning. Through his first four innings altogether, he threw 43 pitches and worked extremely efficiently.
In the fifth inning, Eppler recorded an easy fly out for the first out, then he gave up the bloop to left – the first baserunner of the night for Binghamton. Eppler got the next batter to ground out with one pitch, but Binghamton batters followed by doubling and tripling in consecutive at-bats to score two runs against him. He induced a ground out to the shortstop to end the inning.
Eppler induced three straight groundouts in the sixth inning on only seven pitches, and he only allowed a seeing-eye ground ball single in between some easy outs in the seventh.
Altogether, Eppler threw 90 pitches with 68 of them being strikes. Often times you would see Reese McGuire set up his glove almost to the ground – keeping Eppler down in the zone. He got quite a few calls in the bottom and inner half of the strike zone, and he got ahead of the count often, leading to soft contact against him in pitcher’s counts. His troubles came when he worked out of the stretch in the fifth inning, and he elevated the ball – missing his spot – on each of the hits given up in that inning.
His fastball was regularly between 93-94 MPH, and he worked off of the inside fastball to get batters to swing at his breaking pitches.
Even though Eppler was handed the loss tonight, he looked in control and was very effective all night long minus two batters in the fifth. It showed how it only takes one or two misses into the strike zone to bite you, even when you are rolling right along. He dominated the opposition otherwise, and it was a much needed start for Eppler after giving up 13 earned runs in eight innings during his last two starts.
Brett McKinney worked a quick eighth, while Edgar Santana allowed one run in the ninth. Santana could’ve cleaned up a leadoff infield single (a ball that went off of his back) by rolling a double play on a grounder back to him, but he bobbled the ball and was only able to get one out. Two batters later, Binghamton scored on an RBI single to right field.
Offensively, the Curve were pretty much shut down all night long. The night began promising with Austin Meadows hitting his fifth triple in four games in the first inning. He ripped the pitch back up the middle over the center fielder’s head and was thinking triple right out of the gate. Meadows slid in easily for the triple, but he was stranded at third base in the inning. Otherwise, Reese McGuire hit a ground ball down the right field line for a double, and that was pretty much all the closer Altoona got tonight. -Sean McCool
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By the stat line, Yeudy Garcia struggled again with his fastball command, which has been the story of his season. Garcia threw four innings, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks. The two runs actually both came on solo homers. Garcia threw 83 pitches, with 48 strikes. This marks another outing where his pitch count has averaged over 20 pitches per inning. It’s also another outing where his strikeout rate is over a strikeout per inning.
The reason for these two things is that Garcia isn’t commanding his fastball this year, and is relying heavily on his slider. That will get some strikeouts, but also leads to an elevated hit count and more walks as he pitches from behind with a secondary pitch. I wrote about the mystery surrounding this problem earlier in the week. It doesn’t look like a solution was found tonight.
The Bradenton offense helped him out, with a big boost from Kevin Kramer. The second baseman went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer, and a walk. It was the third homer of the year for the 2015 second round pick. Cole Tucker picked up a pair of hits, continuing to hit well since being moved up to Bradenton. Taylor Gushue also continued his hot hitting of late, going 2-for-5 with a double. He’s batting .297 in 37 at-bats, with two doubles and three homers in his last ten games.
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Bret Helton got off to a bad start this year, posting a 4.67 ERA in 17.1 innings over his first four starts in April. From there, he continued to show improvements, with a 3.77 ERA in 28.2 innings in May, while giving up three earned runs in 16 innings over his final three starts. Tonight he continued that run, giving up two earned runs in 6.2 innings of work.
The upside isn’t huge with Helton. He’s a pitch-to-contact guy who doesn’t have a great strikeout pitch. The interesting thing is that he’s also not getting a lot of ground balls lately, with more fly outs than ground outs tonight. He’s got the upside of a reliever in the long-term, although the Pirates see him as one of their better arms in the lower levels, so he’ll remain a starter, especially with numbers like he’s been putting up lately.
Helton didn’t get much help from the offense. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a big day, going 4-for-4, and accounting for half of the hits on the night for West Virginia. The Power offense didn’t draw any walks, which is unusual for a team that has players with some of the highest walk rates in the system.
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The DSL Pirates opened up their season with a 9-5 loss. They had an early 5-0 lead, then starter Sergio Cubilete had control issues and failed to retire any of the first five batters in the third inning. He walked four, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter before being removed. Reliever Angel Martinez took the loss in his debut, allowing four run, though only one was earned. The defense committed three errors, with two of them coming from players who switched positions, both middle infielders playing elsewhere.
The offense was led by 17-year-old shortstop Rodolfo Castro, who had a single, double, scored once and drove in a run during his pro debut. Jeremias Portorreal had an RBI double. Johan De Jesus had two hits and an RBI. He missed all of last season due to a PED suspension. From the third inning until the beginning of the ninth, the Pirates had 17 batters retired in a row. You can view the DSL season preview here.
