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Morning Report: Altoona’s Pitching Staff is Leading the Way

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Yesterday we took a look at the hitting for each affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tonight we look at the pitching and I’ll give some perspective for each team first before looking at the numbers.

Indianapolis has a few young pitchers by Triple-A standards and some prospects. Their average age is 26.1 years old, which is the sixth youngest and below the 26.7 league average. As a group, they rank eighth out of 14 teams with a 3.68 ERA, fourth with a 1.23 WHIP and 12th in strikeouts with 138. They have hit more batters than anyone and allowed the second fewest homers.

Altoona has a few prospects as well, just not as highly rated as Indianapolis. The average age of Curve pitchers is 24.1, which is slightly younger than league average. and it ranks them as the fifth youngest team in the 12-team Eastern League. Altoona has a 2.99 ERA, good for second in the league. Their 1.24 WHIP is best in the league and they rank right in the middle with 138 strikeouts, same total as Indianapolis. The WHIP, strikeouts, homers and hit batters are all nearly the same as Indianapolis, but the ERA is clearly a lot better. The International League averages slightly fewer runs per game too (4.20 to 4.28) so it’s an interesting comparison between the two affiliates.

Bradenton has three of the top pitching prospects in the system, all in their rotation. The other two starters are also young for the league, so it’s no surprise that they are the fourth youngest team, and at 22.3 years old, well below the 23.0 league average. The Marauders are sixth out of 12 teams with their 3.44 ERA. They rank third with a 1.17 WHIP and they are tenth with 161 strikeouts. They lead the league in hit batters, yet they are near the bottom in walks (see: Pitching Inside: The Pirates Way)

West Virginia’s average age is 21.9 years old, just below the age of the Bradenton staff and just above the average age (21.8) of the South Atlantic League. Their 3.32 ERA in sixth in the 14-team SAL, though I’d point out a slightly large 20 point different between them and seventh place. The average league ERA in 3.54 this year. The Power are tied for third with a 1.18 WHIP and sixth with 179 strikeouts. That’s despite Luis Escobar providing a league-leading 41 strikeouts on his own. You’ll notice an increase in strikeouts as you get lower in the farm system.

So early on, you basically have some average results across the board. Altoona is keeping runs off the board, especially with their strong bullpen, while the other three clubs are near the middle in most categories. The average age is what you like to see for the first three clubs and West Virginia is about average. They don’t have the prospect status of the other club, but a bunch of their non-Luis Escobar pitchers qualify as interesting arms.

** My favorite part of the Morning Report is the prospect status watch after every Tyler Glasnow start. We start today with Glasnow, who is the third best prospect for the Pirates and the closest to losing both his prospect status and his place in our top 50 list. With 3.1 innings last night, Glasnow now has 14.2 innings this season. He is 12.1 innings away from passing 50 innings pitched, which would knock him off the list. I’m guessing that he needs to make three more starts to reach that mark. The Pirates have said that he’s going to continue to keep learning in the majors despite the results, so I’d imagine he will make (at least) his next three starts in the majors.

Sticking with pitchers, Trevor Williams pitched four innings on Monday, giving him nine on the season. That puts him at 21.2 innings in his career, or 28.2 innings away from crossing 50 IP. Williams is a reliever so he could also lose it with 20 more appearances, though as a long reliever, the innings will likely come first. The Pirates added Johnny Barbato to the big league roster and he came to Pittsburgh with 13 innings and 13 appearances already. He hasn’t pitched yet and I’m guessing he might not stick around long enough to lose his prospect status, at least not this stint in the majors.

As for the hitters, Jose Osuna got four at-bats last night, giving him 19 with the Pirates. You need 131 at-bats to lose the prospect status as a hitter, so if he sticks in the majors, he will be part of quite a few more of these updates. He will likely pass Alen Hanson in at-bats as they chase that 131 mark. Hanson got his 46th MLB at-bat on Wednesday night, so he too will be around for awhile. Finally, Gift Ngoepe made his MLB debut at got two at-bats last night. He will probably go down when Adam Frazier returns next week, so he may only see one more update before then.

This count went from three to six in a hurry, and Dovydas Neverauskas just missed being included too.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs by a 6-5 score on Wednesday night. The Pirates are off today, as they travel to Miami for three against the Marlins. On Friday night, Jameson Taillon will make his fifth start of the season against 26-year-old left-hander Andrew Conley, who has a 3.00 ERA in 18 innings.

In the minors, Indianapolis will play a doubleheader today. Tyler Eppler makes his fourth start and he’s allowed a total of two runs over 17 innings. Clay Holmes is on the schedule for game two, but it’s possible someone else makes the start so two pitchers in the rotation don’t go on the same day. Holmes threw six shutout innings in his last start. Altoona has off today. Gage Hinsz tries to bounce back from his last start where he allowed six runs over 1.1 innings.

MLB: Pittsburgh (9-12) @ Marlins (10-9) 7:05 PM 4/28
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (2.13 ERA, 10:20 BB/SO, 25.1 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (5-12) @ Pawtucket (7-9) 12:05 PM DH (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (1.06 ERA, 1:11 BB/SO, 17.0 IP) and Clay Holmes (5.06 ERA, 7:11 BB/SO, 10.2 IP)

AA: Altoona (11-8) vs Harrisburg (9-9) 6:00 PM 4/28 (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (2.76 ERA, 5:14 BB/SO, 16.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (11-9) @ Ft Myers (9-11) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (10.64 ERA, 6:7 BB/SO, 11.0 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (9-12) @ Rome (14-6) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Matt Anderson (5.29 ERA, 10:15 BB/SO, 17.0 IP)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is the first home run of the season from Kevin Newman, which he hit on Tuesday night.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

4/26: Pirates recall Gift Ngoepe. Dovydas Neverauskas optioned to Indianapolis.

4/25: Hector Garcia placed on disabled list. Mike Wallace added to West Virginia roster.

4/25: Jerrick Suiter added to Bradenton roster. Trace Tam Sing assigned to Extended Spring Training.

4/25: Antonio Bastardo placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Johnny Barbato.

4/24: Adam Frazier placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Dovydas Neverauskas.

4/20: Chris Diaz assigned to Altoona

4/19: Brett McKinney assigned to Extended Spring Training. Johnny Barbato added to Indianapolis roster.

4/18: Starling Marte suspended 80 games by MLB. Pirates recall Jose Osuna

4/18: Brandon Waddell placed on disabled list

4/18: Joey Terdoslavich added to Indianapolis roster

4/18: Pedro Vasquez added to Bradenton roster. Julio Eusebio assigned to Extended Spring Training

4/17: Pirates acquire Johnny Barbato from New York Yankees. Barbato optioned to Indianapolis.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

One former Pittsburgh Pirates player born on this date, pitcher Paul Miller, who played for the Pirates from 1991 until 1993. He was a member of two playoff teams, though he never pitched in the postseason. Miller was drafted in the 53rd round and was one of the rare players drafted that late to make the majors. He played parts of three seasons, yet only got into a total of ten games. He threw 26.1 innings and had a 4.10 ERA.

On April 27, 1993, the Pirates beat the Braves by a 6-2 score in 11 innings and pitcher Tim Wakefield threw a staggering total of 172 pitches in the game. He pitched into the 11th and needed Paul Wagner to help him close out the game.

Exactly 100 years earlier, the Pirates opened up their season at home against Cy Young and lost 7-2 in front of a crowd of almost 5,000 fans. You can find descriptions of each game in the link above, along with the 1893 lineup, each of whom has a link to their bio under their name.

101 years ago today, the Pirates and Reds were rained out at Forbes Field, which benefited both teams. The game was set to begin at 3:30 PM and the Reds arrived into town via train at 3:00 PM. The Pirates had multiple injuries and illnesses and were set to play with Otto Knabe, who wasn’t under contract yet, Jimmy Smith, who played just one game up to that point, and possibly a pitcher in the outfield. Roster limits were 21 players at that time, and the Pirates had to release pitcher Harry Moran earlier that day to get down to the limit. Moran never played for the Pirates, though he was around for the first two weeks of the season.

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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