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Morning Report: Nine All-Stars for Bradenton Marauders

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The Florida State League announced the 2017 All-Star team and it might be easier to mention which Bradenton players didn’t make the team. Nine players were elected to the squad, along with the Marauder coaching staff, who automatically go since they won the league title last year.

The representatives are pitchers Dario Agrazal, Mitch Keller, Jake Brentz, Seth McGarry and Yunior Montero. Among the position players, you have Logan Hill, Casey Hughston, Christian Kelley and Cole Tucker.

Most teams in the league will be well-represented because there are only 12 teams to choose from and 50 players in the All-Star game, so four players in the game is average per team. Nine is still a lot though, and the most ever for the Marauders.

Keller is of course the big prospect in the game. He probably won’t play in the game, but who knows if two weeks down the line, they might use that spot to get him one inning of work. That will obviously depend on how the back feels and what stage he is in during his return.

Cole Tucker is the big prospect who will play in the game. Usually the All-Star game is the point where we see promotions. He is relying on Kevin Newman to move first and Newman hasn’t been hitting at all this season, so two weeks might be too soon to think about him moving up, even if he hits like he should during that time. Tucker is currently hitting .276/.365/.429 in 50 games and leads the league with 27 steals.

Catcher Christian Kelley was rated at the back-end of our top 50, but he is sure to climb after continuing to show progress at the plate. Already known for solid defense, the bat now has him among the best in the league. He’s hitting .314/.419/.393 in 39 games.

Right-handed pitcher Dario Agrazal has had a strong season with a 3.08 ERA in a team-leading 61.1 innings. He has a 1.11 WHIP, a 1.96 GO/AO ratio and a 45:8 SO/BB ratio. He has gone at least six innings in eight of his ten starts.

Outfielder Logan Hill leads the league with 14 homers, 43 RBIs and 112 total bases, while ranking second with a .947 OPS. He was an obvious choice for the All-Star game.

Seth McGarry has put up phenomenal numbers in relief this season. He has a .100 BAA, an 0.56 WHIP and a 3.10 GO/AO ratio. When he isn’t getting grounders, he has struck out 22 batters in 21.1 innings.

Yunior Montero was having a strong season early on with a huge strikeout rate and a 0.00 ERA, but he ran into some trouble lately. The most damage came off of him at the end of his longest outing of the season, so you can give him some leeway there. His 4.61 ERA is high, but he also has 43 strikeouts in 27.1 innings, with a .225 BAA, so the strikeouts and strong start probably grabbed him the vote.

Jake Brentz was in the same category as Montero, pitching great early, then struggling recently. He has a 4.05 ERA in 20 innings, with 24 strikeouts. The ERA might be high, but he’s a lefty who can hit 100 MPH, so you want a pitcher like that in the All-Star game.

Outfielder Casey Hughston also made the team with his .257/.319/.456 slash line and strong defense in center field. He leads the league with six triples.

The one obvious snub, which is hard to fathom with nine All-Stars, is starter Pedro Vasquez. He is third in the league with his 1.97 ERA and fourth with a 1.06 WHIP. He has the best resume on the pitching staff, so it seems hard to believe they found five other pitchers on his own team for the game. Reliever Daniel Zamora also would have been a solid choice with his 0.79 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. While there are some above average hitters for the league who didn’t make it from the Marauders, I wouldn’t call any of them snubs.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton trails in their division by a half game with 16 games remaining in the first half.

West Virginia trails their division leader by 6.5 games, with 16 games left in the first half. They are in fifth place.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH

The Pirates were off on Thursday

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates were off on Thursday. The Pirates travel to New York for a three-game series against the Mets, which starts tonight. Gerrit Cole is scheduled to face Matt Harvey. Cole faced the Mets in Pittsburgh during his last start and allowed four runs on ten hits in five innings. Harvey faced the Pirates the day after Cole pitched. He went six innings, allowing one run on six hits. He has a 4.95 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in ten starts.

In the minors, Jameson Taillon will make his second rehab start, this time with Indianapolis. He started over the weekend in Altoona, throwing 47 pitches over three shutout innings, while striking out six batters. He won’t be on a specific pitch count or inning count, instead they will go by how he feels. I’d expect 4-5 innings, depending on performance of course. Our own Brian Peloza talked to Taillon last night about this start. That can be read here. Bradenton starter Taylor Hearn had a few rough outings before throwing seven shutout frames in his last start. He leads the team with 57 strikeouts. Altoona starter Yeudy Garcia had yet to go six innings in a start this season.

MLB: Pittsburgh (24-30) @ Mets (23-29) 7:10 PM
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (3.65 ERA, 14:55 BB/SO, 66.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (29-23) vs Gwinnett (27-25) 7:15 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (NR)

AA: Altoona (29-22) @ Bowie (28-26) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Yeudy Garcia (5.09 ERA, 19:35 BB/SO, 35.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (32-22) vs Ft Myers (25-29) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Taylor Hearn (4.34 ERA, 17:57 BB/SO, 45.2 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (24-26) @ Rome (31-23) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Matt Anderson (3.95 ERA, 13:45 BB/SO, 41.0 IP)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is some defense from the Bradenton game on Wednesday night. First up is All-Star Casey Hughston

Here’s Logan Ratledge

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

6/1: Gift Ngoepe optioned to Indianapolis

6/1: Brett McKinney assigned to Indianapolis

5/31: Anderson Feliz added to Indianapolis roster. Brett McKinney assigned to Morgantown.

5/30: Chris Stewart placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Elias Diaz.

5/30: Jackson Williams promoted to Indianapolis. Tomas Morales added to Altoona roster.

5/30: Trae Arbet added to West Virginia roster. Andrew Walker assigned to Morgantown.

5/28: Jameson Taillon assigned to Altoona on rehab.

5/27: Yunior Montero assigned to Bradenton. Danny Arribas assigned to Extended Spring Training.

5/27: Antonio Bastardo and Josh Lindblom assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

5/27: Andrew Walker assigned to West Virginia. Trae Arbet assigned to Morgantown.

5/26: Kevin Krause activated from disabled list. Mitch Keller placed on disabled list.

5/26: Eury Perez assigned to Morgantown.

5/25: Chris Harvey retired.

5/25: Gregory Polanco activated from the disabled list. Danny Ortiz optioned to Indianapolis.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Six former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including one who played for the best team in franchise history. The most recent player born on this date is infielder Chance Sanford, who played for the 1998 club. He was drafted by the Pirates in the tenth round in 1991 and didn’t sign. One year later, they signed him out of the 27th round. Darnell Coles played right field for the Pirates in 1987-88. He was part of two notable trades, coming to the Pirates in exchange for third baseman Jim Morrison and going from the Pirates to the Mariners for outfielder Glenn Wilson.

Also born on this date, Jeff Schulz, who was a minor member of the 1991 NL East champs. During his only season with the Pirates, he went 0-for-3 as a pinch-hitter. Infielder Gene Michael, who is well-known for his time with the Yankees, was signed by the Pirates as an amateur in 1959 and played for the 1966 club. The Pirates traded him to the Dodgers for Maury Wills. Tom Leahy, who played 24 games for the 1897 Pirates in a utility role, would be 148 today if modern medicine didn’t fail us.

Finally, Jack O’Connor, who caught 21 years in the big leagues, was born on this date in 1866. He was a member of two of the better clubs in franchise history, joining the team in 1900 and sticking around three years. His time with Pittsburgh did not end well. While the 1902 Pirates were busy winning their second straight NL title and putting together the best season in team history, O’Connor was released at the end of the year when the club found out he was trying to convince teammates to make the jump with him to the American League. You can read more on each player in the link above.

On this date in 1966, Vern Law shutout the Mets by a 6-0 score and also homered in the game. Willie Stargell batted eighth that day and homered and doubled. Donn Clendenon also homered. The homer by Law was his 11th and final one in his career. That is the record for Pirates pitchers. Here is the boxscore from that game.

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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