Every week we have live reports from all over the system, while I provide additional views of the minors via MiLB.tv, which included Indianapolis, Altoona and West Virginia this week. We also had live coverage from those same three teams in the past week. All of these reports are combined, and used each week to highlight the top performers during that time span. This week we have an even split between hitters and pitchers, though the hitters really stand out. As noted below, Brian Peloza has some of the recaps for Indianapolis players, while Sean McCool took some of the Altoona players. Here are the top guys this week, and the rundown on their performances:
HITTERS
Josh Bell – The power has finally come around for Josh Bell from both sides of the plate. He had a 1.377 OPS last week, with three home runs. That gives him ten on the season, to go along with a .319 average, 34 walks and 16 doubles. His hitting has been weak from the right side during his career, but he has a .981 OPS against lefties. He also has a .900 mark against right-handed pitchers. The only thing keeping him down at this point is a spot in the lineup for the Pirates. They mentioned about a month ago that outfield could still be an option for him, but that seems unrealistic with his speed, arm and the amount of time it’s been since he has played the position. He’s also a much better first baseman than he was at the end of the 2015 season. While he still has flaws, such as going for grounders right at the second baseman and making poor decisions on bunt plays, he is good enough at the spot now to step in if the Pirates need him. With the improvements he has shown this season, the longer the Pirates wait to call him up, the better the glove they are getting at first base. The bat is ready though.
Rodolfo Castro – We don’t often include DSL players here because they usually fall short of the plate appearance minimum and not many who do make the cut and perform well, are actual prospects. It’s a league where non-prospects often outperform prospects because there could be 5-6 years difference in their age. Castro is here because he had a 1.489 OPS and he’s the youngest player in the entire system. He turned 17 less than a month ago. The Pirates signed him for $150,000 last July and the report we got from Ben Badler couldn’t look more wrong at this time (it’s very early, things can change). He was supposed to be a strong glove with a bat that needs work. Instead, he’s hitting .517 in his first eight games and he has made seven errors. The report I got a few days ago from down there said that his batting hasn’t been a fluke and he’s been hitting the ball well since last month during the DSL Spring Training. He obviously can’t keep up the early pace, but once the defense comes around, he gives you someone interesting to follow down in the Dominican the rest of the way.
Pedro Florimon – The utility player made highlights at the plate and in the field. Florimon hit .400 in five games last week. But Pawtucket may not want to see him again — Florimon hit .500 against that team in a three-game sweep. He added four RBIs in the week and also had an assist in left field against Pawtucket, throwing out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double. While he’s not an everyday starter, Florimon is a valuable player for the Indians. Especially if he is hitting well, which he’s doing right now with a .333 batting average over his past ten games, and that stretch dates back to June 7. Florimon has played at shortstop, second base, third base, centerfield, and leftfield. He’s made just one error in the 40 games that he’s played. His playing time may start to become more frequent, as he started in all but one game last week. – Brian Peloza
Adam Frazier – Frazier has been terrific at getting on base this season, leading the league with a .339 average. He also has 14 doubles and four triples, though his extra-base hits are more hustle related rather than any sign of power. He uses the whole field and has the speed to beat out infield singles. Frazier has also got better at reading the bat off the bat in the outfield, getting better jumps and taking better routes. His speed helps him make up for any mistakes. His arm in the outfield is very weak, so that will never be a tool, but if he can cover a lot of ground, then he will have value as a fielder. He has only played eight games in the infield this year and only one at shortstop. He played there in the low minors, but his range and arm are more suited for second base, where he is at least average. Besides the outfield work needed, Frazier has been horrible at stealing bases this year. He either leaves too soon and pitchers throw behind him, or he leaves too late. This weekend, a catcher had to backhand a ball in the dirt and still threw out Frazier by a good ten feet. His speed is too good for that to happen, so he will continue to work on his running and outfield play before he gets his shot in the majors.
Austin Meadows – What more can we say about Austin Meadows? After dominating Double-A pitching for the past month, he was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday night while on a 24-game hitting streak and 29-game on-base streak. He quickly kept things going for Indy, going 3-for-4 with a triple on Saturday and hitting his first Triple-A homer on Sunday. While on the hitting streak, Meadows has hit .408 with an OPS of 1.306. He has at least one extra base hit in 21 of those 26 games while on the streak as well, hitting to both gaps for multiple doubles and triples and display great pull power over the fence. He closed the book on his Double-A career with an OPS of 1.000 exactly. His defense has been spectacular, and he has displayed all of the tools necessary to be considered one the best best prospects in the game. Could I go on more about Meadows? Probably. But, I think you get the picture. –Sean McCool
Carlos Munoz – Munoz has made a few of these Top Performer lists, yet he still has a .679 OPS on the season. He has been wildly inconsistent, which is odd for him. He usually starts off the season on fire and slows down as the year wears on. He played well during winter ball in Mexico this off-season against much older competition, so his struggles in Low-A ball are a bit mystifying. While the power isn’t there this season with 13 doubles and three homers, he still draws his share of walks and he’s tough to strike out. Munoz went 7-for-18 with four walks in his last five games, so the All-Star break starting today couldn’t have come at a worse time for him.
Kevin Newman – Newman started his week off strong just by showing up in the lineup 19 days after he was hit in the eye by a pitch. He had a four-hit game for Bradenton, then finished his week in Altoona. He currently holds a 37 point lead in the FSL batting race, though he will drop off the leaderboard soon due to a lack of plate appearances. On the year, he is hitting .358/.418/.480 in 43 games. In 173 at-bats, he has just 15 strikeouts. Newman could be a possibility for a mid-season promotion to Pittsburgh next year, though that will depend on how his defense looks at the time. He’s not flashy at shortstop, but he makes a most of the plays he should. His line drive approach to all fields, with gap power and the ability to make contact, means he has a good chance to continue to succeed at the plate. You would like to see more stolen bases from him, as his speed is above average, but he’s attempted just five steals all season. Other than that, he just needs to continue to improve at shortstop and then we should see him in Pittsburgh once he is ready.
Jose Osuna – Osuna slumped some in May, but he has recently turned it up a notch, especially this past week where he went 11-for-21 for a .524 AVG and an OPS of 1.161. This included a stretch this past weekend where Osuna reached base in seven straight plate appearances. He hasn’t been hitting for a ton of power lately, but the hand-eye coordination and quick hands are there. I took note of one single in particular on Saturday where Osuna poked one through the right side of the infield on a hit-and-run, perfectly executed past where the defender was moving away from. Curve Manager Joey Cora has been concerned about his lack of hitting with RISP, though, as he hit Osuna leadoff one game this past week just to see how he does. They obviously think a lot of the player and are doing whatever they can to get – and keep – him going offensively. Of note, Osuna had been playing much more in the outfield recently, presumably in preparation of Austin Meadows being promoted. He played left field for the second this season on Sunday. –SM
Mitchell Tolman – Tolman put up a .932 OPS last week to end the first half of his season with a .275/.363/.389 slash line. He has 31 walks and 30 strikeouts, improving slightly in both of those categories from his impressive numbers last year with Morgantown. While his defense still needs work at second base, moving there after playing third base during college, he has also been more sure-handed in the field this year. He committed six errors last season in 163 innings at second base for Morgantown. He has six this season in 489 innings. As a major college player in Low-A the year after he was drafted, the stats are just average for Tolman. What’s good to see is that he has shown improvements each month. The upside is still probably a utility fielder, who can play both second base and third base. If he continues to move up the system, the Pirates might add other positions to help his versatility.
Eric Wood – Wood had a .927 OPS last week, pushed by two home runs. The second homer gave him seven on the season, setting a new career-high. He has an identical .237 average to what he put up last year with Altoona and the OBP is six points lower, but his slugging has gone for .305 last year to .441 this season. Wood already had more extra-base hits in half as many plate appearances as he had in 2015. Besides the added power, he has also improved tremendously on defense, with a .945 fielding percentage, more than 30 points higher than his career mark coming into the season. He’s only 23, so there is still a chance he could make it to the majors as a bench player, especially if he can hit for a higher average while maintaining the power.
PITCHERS
Tanner Anderson – Anderson has been terrific this year in relief and then he got forced into a spot start this week and ended up throwing six shutout innings. As a 23-year-old reliever in Low-A, there usually isn’t much upside. Anderson though, he has been very efficient with his pitches, leading to very quick outs and allowing him to pitch further into games than most relievers on limited pitch counts. He had a five inning out early this year in which he threw 38 pitches. With a high leg kick in the Bronson Arroyo mold, Anderson keeps the ball down in the zone and gets a ton of ground balls, living by the motto of getting outs on three pitches or less. In 45.1 innings this year, he has a 1.79 ERA, a .179 BAA, an 0.86 WHIP and a 2.92 GO/AO ratio.
Wilfredo Boscan – He needed a good outing and had one. Boscan was shelled in his first start since Pittsburgh sent him back to Indianapolis. He allowed seven runs and 10 hits in just 1.2 innings on June 9. Indians manager Dean Treanor said Boscan simply could not stop that second inning from getting out of control, while he may also have struggled with being sent back down. Whatever the case, Boscan put that behind him in his lone start last week, against Pawtucket on June 16. He didn’t allow a run and scattered four hits over six innings. He did a good job of mixing speeds up with his breaking ball, which led to his success against Pawtucket. The Pawtucket’s lineup only had one top-20 prospect — Deven Marrero — and he went 2-for-3. But this was a solid outing for Boscan, who did not walk anybody and threw 58 of his 82 pitches for a strike. The future for Boscan is still likely in the bullpen. He pitched well in that role with the Pirates. And it appeared he was going to be in the Indianapolis bullpen, based on a conversation with Treanor about a week ago or so. Boscan did make one relief appearance, which was sandwiched between his last two starts. But with all of the recent roster moves, Boscan may find himself as a starter again for the immediate future. He’s the scheduled starter on Tuesday, though that start could very well come for the Pirates as it’s listed as TBD now and he seems like the most likely option. – BP
Frank Duncan – With the Indians’ pitching staff in seemingly constant flux lately, Duncan gave them two solid outings last week. He’s not a flashy prospect, but has been consistent during his time in Indianapolis. He’s worked at least five innings in all but one of his seven starts. He pitched a Triple-A career high 6.2 innings at Charlotte on Sunday. He threw a season-high 98 pitches, 14 more than any other outing this season. Indians manager Dean Treanor has said that Duncan’s breaking ball plays, and he’s shown that his last two outings. Duncan had nine groundouts and just one flyout in his six inning outing against Pawtucket on June 14. Duncan had ten groundouts and four flyouts against Charlotte on Sunday. Treanor said he is looking to build up Duncan’s work load in a conservative manner. While the bullpen was stretched on Sunday, Duncan’s outing may show he’s getting closer to being able to handle a bigger workload. – BP
Tyler Eppler – Eppler’s numbers looked good for the week, but the actual scouting report would be mixed at best from his two starts. He pitched 10 2/3 innings in two starts and allowed only two earned runs, but he ran into trouble in both starts. On Tuesday, Eppler was cruising along before scuffling in the fifth inning. He threw 33 pitches in that fifth and left with runners aboard, but his relief came in and got him out of the jam. On Sunday, Eppler struggled early with his command, but he recovered to throw a decent game. His fastball command has been spotty – on one game and off the next – but his breaking pitches have looked good recently. On Sunday, both his changeup and curveball were extremely effective. The “slurve” has some really nice action and has been used as a swing-and-miss pitch. His fastball does have some nice late break to it, and it is most effective when pitching inside. –SM
Yeudy Garcia – Garcia is having a season very similar to Tyler Glasnow’s year. He’s getting strong results with a lot of strikeouts, but the way he is doing it won’t work at the higher levels. This week, Garcia threw 5.1 shutout innings. He has allowed three earned runs or less in every outing this season, and he’s allowed three earned runs total in his last five starts. Nothing has changed from the early season struggles, except his fastball has increased slightly in velocity, closer to where it was last year when he was sitting 93-95, hitting 96-97 MPH. Garcia has walked three batters in each of his last five games. In four of those games, he couldn’t make it through six innings. In fact, he’s only reached the six inning mark twice this season and never surpassed it. That’s despite the fact his pitch count is now raised to 95 per game. He has struck out a season-high six batters in a game, nine times this year. Oddly enough, he’s only had more than six strikeouts once in his three years (ten last August), hitting that magic six number 14 times.
Tyler Glasnow – Glasnow is rated #1 in the system for a reason. He threw six no-hit innings on Friday night and he did it with almost no fastball control the entire game. In his previous start, he got knocked out after 4.2 innings due to a high pitch count. That game included a run of five consecutive strikeouts in which he looked phenomenal, working his 94-96 MPH fastball from a 6’8″ frame down in the zone. He mixed it with a plus curveball and those five hitters had no chance. Then that command disappeared the rest of the game. His game on Friday didn’t have any run like that, it didn’t even have the feel of a dominating game at any point, other than a quick first inning. His control was poor the entire game, leading to six walks. But at the end of the day, they got six no-hit innings from him. The reason he hasn’t made 2-3 starts in the majors already despite the Super 2 deadline passing at least two weeks ago, is that he is getting impatient Triple-A hitters to chase fastballs out of the zone frequently. He’s walking too many batters already, yet he’s still getting help from hitters that he won’t see half as often in the majors. Once he shows improved command, he will be in the majors. He may also come up sooner than that if the Pirates keep losing, just to get him as much experience as possible before the 2017 season, when he is expected to be a big part of the rotation.
Clay Holmes – Clay Holmes had one start this past week, and it was an effective one, pitching six shutout innings while striking out nine total. His nine strikeouts are second to only one other time when he struck out ten batters in 2013 while pitching for West Virginia. Holmes got six ground balls to only three balls in the air tonight on top of the strikeouts, and all of his pitches were working well. He threw about 50/50 two-seamers to four-seamers tonight, with the two-seam fastball getting quite a few swings and misses. His curveball showed good depth and was noticeably getting a lot of swings, as well. Overall, it was a great comeback outing for Holmes, who allowed seven earned runs in 4.1 IP in his last time out before then. – SM
Mitch Keller – Keller just barely made this list this week, beating out Colten Brewer by the slightest of margins (57 to 56 game scores). Keller gave up two runs on four hits and a walk in five innings, striking out seven batters. That was a nice rebound from the four runs he allowed in five innings during his previous start. Prior to that start, he was skipped in the rotation to keep his innings down. The Pirates also did that with Jameson Taillon and Clay Holmes and it seemed to hurt them their first game back, before they both rebounded for strong starts during their second game. Keller showed the same type of improvements in his second game back. The rest of the way, he will probably be somewhat limited, as he is already at 67 innings this year and Pirates tend to cap young pitchers off around 120 innings in their first year of full-season ball. Keller is starting tomorrow’s SAL All-Star game. He goes into the game first in WHIP (0.81), sixth in ERA (2.42) and sixth with 76 strikeouts.
James Marvel – After missing the entire 2015 season in both college and pros due to Tommy John surgery, Marvel pitched brilliantly in his first official game with the Pirates. On Saturday with Morgantown, he threw six shutout innings, giving up two hits, no walks, and he struck out five batters. He also had a 9:1 GO/AO ratio. That last part is typical of what we saw while he was in Extended Spring Training (EST). Marvel works down in the zone and gets a lot of ground balls for quick outs. He needed just 64 pitches to get through his outing on Saturday. When he’s on, that’s what you should expect from him. Quick, efficient innings, a low walk total and a handful of strikeouts, while keeping the ball on the ground. Since he is returning from Tommy John surgery, I wouldn’t expect a huge workload from him this season. Short-season starters usually make 16 starts and throw around 80 innings, so since he was already stretched out in EST putting in regular innings, he will probably fall short of both of those numbers.
Stephen Tarpley – Tarpley got a late start to the 2016 season due to an oblique injury late in Spring Training. He built back up to five innings in EST and then came back on May 10th and had some issues with his pitch count in his first four starts back. In his fifth start on June 1st, Tarpley allowed five runs on eight hits in four innings, getting knocked out early. In two games since then, he has turned things around. He threw four shutout innings in his next game, which was suspended in the fifth inning due to rain, cutting short his outing. On Monday, he gave up just one run over six innings. The most important part about the last two games is that he didn’t walk any batters. He had ten walks in his first 23 innings this year. That followed 25 walks in 116 innings last year, so something was amiss early with his control. He’s now looking more like the pitcher we saw last year, which got him rated as the 14th best prospect in our 2016 Prospect Guide
