A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Trevor Williams, Alen Hanson, Jose Osuna), or loses his prospect eligibility, he will be removed from this list. 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 more active prospects on the list. Rankings are from the 2017 Prospect Guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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3. Kevin Newman, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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6. Will Craig, 3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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10. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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11. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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12. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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13. Max Kranick, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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14. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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15. Edgar Santana, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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16. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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17. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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18. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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19. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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20. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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21. Stephen Alemais, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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22. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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23. Travis MacGregor, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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24. Barrett Barnes, LF, Extended Spring Training -[insert_php]
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25. Max Moroff, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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26. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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27. J.T. Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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28. Chris Bostick, INF/OF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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29. Connor Joe, 3B, Altoona – [insert_php]
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30. Pat Light, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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INDIANAPOLIS – The stretch of Indianapolis starting pitchers having their best starts while I’m in town continued tonight, as Drew Hutchison pitched six innings, giving up just one run in the 4-1 win. Hutchison showed better control tonight than in some of his previous outings, walking a season-low one batter.
There were times when the control started to falter, but Hutchison was able to get things back on track. That hasn’t always been the case this year. He doesn’t show over-powering stuff, sitting mostly in the 90-91 MPH range with his fastball. His off-speed stuff is effective, but he needs to get ahead with the fastball in order to make those pitches work. He likes to work on the outer edges of the plate with his off-speed stuff, which can get hitters to chase when he’s ahead, but can put him further behind when they lay off, since he’s got small room for error with that approach.
Edgar Santana helped the bullpen out by going three innings tonight, extending his scoreless innings streak to 17.2 innings. He did walk two batters on the night, and if there’s one thing that might be holding him back from the big leagues, it’s control. His regular control isn’t a major issue, but sometimes he tends to over-throw and put a lot into his pitches, and can get a bit wild, when his regular stuff is good enough. That said, I don’t really think he has much to work on at this level.
Max Moroff and Chris Bostick returned to the lineup tonight, and both played a big role in the offense. Bostick went 4-for-5 with two doubles, and after the game, Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett said that Bostick didn’t look like he was being challenged at this level. Moroff, who turned 24 today, celebrated his birthday with a two run homer, his ninth of the year, marking a new season high. Eric Wood also got in on the action with two doubles and a walk, including one hard hit shot that one hopped the deep center field wall, and might have been an easy home run in other Triple-A parks. – Tim Williams
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Altoona lost 7-5 on Saturday night, as Montana DuRapau blew the save by allowing three runs in the top of the ninth inning. Alex McRae had a so-so start, though it was poor compared to the rest of his season. He came into the game with a 1.96 ERA. That went up to 2.47 after this game, but he still managed to go seven innings and leave with a 5-4 lead. McRae allowed eight hits, two walks and threw two wild pitches. He maintained his high ground ball rate, posting a 9:4 GO/AO ratio in this start. DuRapau threw a scoreless eighth before allowing three runs on three hits and a hit batter in the ninth.
On offense, the big hitters kept up their strong start to the season. Kevin Kramer extended his season-long on base streak to 30 games with a first inning RBI single. He would add his 12th double later in the game. Edwin Espinal connected on his third home run, a three-run shot in the first inning. Kramer is now hitting .360, while Espinal has a .343 average. Elvis Escobar, Kevin Newman and Jerrick Suiter each had two hits.
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Gage Hinsz made his first start in 11 days and he had to wait an extra two hours before the game started. Rain pushed back the beginning of the game, but it didn’t seem to affect Hinsz at the start. He had a nice first inning, which included two base runners, but he also got four ground balls, one of which found a hole for a single. He also hit the first batter of the game.
The second and third innings were even better. Both quick innings, even though he allowed two more ground ball singles. Every ball put into play in the first three innings was on the ground, except one routine fly ball to shallow left field. It was three innings in which he did a great job of throwing strikes and getting soft contact.
In the fourth inning, he got three more grounders, and again, one of them found a hole. With two outs, Hinsz walked his first batter, then things fell apart. It looked like he would get out of the inning on a shallow, high fly ball to left field. Ke’Bryan Hayes went back on the ball and it appeared that he called off left fielder Logan Hill. The ball ended up dropping right behind Hayes, possibly off of his glove, and right in front of Hill, who backed off of the play. If Hill took charge, it was an easy catch for him. It was charged as a hit and allowed a run to score. That was followed by a long home run to left field, before Hinsz could get the final out.
So while the pitching line says four runs over four innings, that is extremely misleading. If a routine fly ball is caught, he comes back out for the fifth inning and wouldn’t have allowed an earned run up to that point. The home run he allowed was crushed off of a fastball down the middle, but that at-bat only happened due to the misplay. Hinsz was getting all soft contact before the homer and was showing normal velocity (94-96 MPH), so it appears the shoulder is healthy. His only strikeout of the night came right after the homer.
One day after Bradenton put up 20 runs, they smacked Palm Beach around again in a 12-4 win. Casey Hughston had the big hit with a three-run homer on a long drive to center field. It was his second homer of the season. Will Craig, Logan Ratledge and Christian Kelley each drove in two runs. Ratledge had three hits, scored twice and drew a walk. Craig had a walk and two hits, including his eight double of the season, which was a drive to straight away center field that hit off the bottom of the wall. Kelley had four hits and a walk, while scoring two runs. He raised his average to .330 through 27 games played.
Ke’Bryan Hayes had two hits, a walk and scored three runs. Cole Tucker had the night off after his career night on Friday. The Marauders actually wasted a lot of scoring opportunities in this game, going 6-for-25 with runners in scoring position. They also left 14 runners on base.
Dario Agrazal pitched a quick inning of relief, getting some work in between starts. Due to an off-day, he is going to have ten days between starts, so this allowed him to get some throwing in during a game. Yunior Montero got the win after two scoreless innings. He lowered his ERA to 1.47 through 18.1 innings. He somehow didn’t record a strikeout, despite averaging just over two strikeouts per inning prior to this game.
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Luis Escobar had one of his worst career outings in his last start. He went 3.1 innings, allowing seven runs on three hits and seven walks. For someone who had six walks total in his first five starts, it was a huge disappointment. Escobar only allowed two runs over four innings on Saturday night, but it was barely better than his last outing. Escobar threw 80 pitches total, with only 39 strikes. That resulted in five walks, to go along with four hits and two wild pitches.
After a strong start, Escobar has really dropped off in performance. He had 41 strikeouts in his first 22.1 innings. In his last three starts combined, he has nine strikeouts over 12.1 innings, failing to go more than five innings in any of those games. Abigail Miskowiec took a look at Escobar’s uneven season earlier this week.
West Virginia lost this game 6-1, as they collected just four hits. Albert Baur doubled home Ty Moore in the third inning with the only run. Trae Arbet, who has played third base the last two games, collected his eighth double. He had never played third base before Thursday’s game. Arden Pabst was the only Power player to reach base twice. He had a single and a walk. Stephen Alemais went 0-for-4 and made his fifth error, which resulted in an unearned run charged to Mike Wallace. Dylan Prohoroff threw a scoreless ninth inning.
