I mentioned in last night’s Prospect Watch just how bad the Bristol Pirates have been on defense this season. Last night was their 42nd game of the season and they committed their 87th error. You’re going to have worse defense as you go lower in the system, that’s part of the reason those players are at lower levels. That being said, Bristol is putting up defense that would be near the bottom in the Dominican Summer League.
Bristol has made 13 more errors than the second worst team in the Appalachian League, and that team is having a really bad season. Bristol has made more errors than Indianapolis, Altoona and Bradenton. Those are teams that had played 65-70 more games.
Since I saw how bad Bristol is at defense, I thought I’d look at how the other teams in the system rank among their own leagues. These are numbers going into last night’s action.
Indianapolis ranks right in the middle of their league in errors in fielding percentage, placing seventh in errors and tied for sixth in fielding in their 14-team league.
Altoona ranks tied for third in fielding percentages and tied for fourth in errors in a 12-team league.
Bradenton is the best fielding team in the system and in their league and it’s really not even close. They have 16 fewer errors than the next best team in their league and they have put together a .985 fielding percentage, five points better than the second best. It’s also five points better than Indianapolis, the second best fielding team in the system.
West Virginia surprised me a little. I have seen some awful defense this year from the team, mostly at second base and third base, as well as behind the plate when Arden Pabst isn’t catching. They rank fourth in their 14-team league in both fielding percentage and errors.
Morgantown leads their league in fielding percentage and they are two errors behind the best team in that category. They also lead the league with only two passed balls, an impressively low total at this point.
The GCL Pirates haven’t been good defensively. They haven’t been as bad as Bristol, but they lead the GCL in errors (made two more yesterday) and they have the second worst fielding percentage. They do lead the league in assists, so that’s something I guess.
The DSL Pirates rank 27th in fielding percentage and 28th in errors. Sounds very bad, but there are 40 teams in the league, so it could be worse. They’re better than Bristol too, which really shouldn’t happen.
** I added the Playoff Push section back today so you can follow all of the possible playoff teams in one section. I’ll expand it a little more as the end of the minor league season gets closer, because some leagues have wild card teams and other scenarios (see below). For now, the Playoff Push is just the division standings, except for the Pirates, where I included the wild card as well. For those who don’t know, the Morning Report runs until the last playoff game in the minors. As long as one team has a game scheduled that day, there will be a Morning Report.
As for playoff scenarios outside of just winning the division, and feel free to save these for future reference. The International League (Indianapolis) has one wild card team. The Eastern League (Altoona) takes two playoff teams from each division. The Florida State League (Bradenton) and South Atlantic League (West Virginia) both have first and second half winners. If the same team wins both halves, then the team with the second best record gets the second playoff spot.
The New York-Penn League (Morgantown) has one wild card spot. The top two teams in each division make the playoffs in the Appalachian League (Bristol). That’s something to remember for the future because Bristol is so bad, they could finish sixth in a five-team division this year. The Gulf Coast League has crazy rules where just the four division winners are the playoff teams. The Dominican Summer League has five division winners and one wild card spot.
PLAYOFF PUSH
The Pirates trail in their division by 4.5 games. They are 9.5 games back for the second wild card spot.
Indianapolis is in first place, with a 1/2 game lead. Their season ends September 4th.
Altoona is in second place, a 1/2 game behind. Their season ends September 4th.
Bradenton is in third place, 1.5 games behind. Their season ends September 3rd.
West Virginia is in fifth place, 2.5 games out of first. Their season ends September 4th.
Morgantown is in second place, a 1/2 game back. Their season ends September 7th.
Bristol is in last place, 18 games back. Their season ends August 31st.
The GCL Pirates are in third place, seven games behind. Their season ends September 2nd.
The DSL Pirates are in fourth place, 3.5 games back. Their season ends August 26th.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 10-6 over the San Diego Padres on Friday night. The Pirates will send Gerrit Cole to the mound tonight for his 23rd start. He faced the Padres last week and allowed one run over seven innings. Cole put up a 2.25 ERA in five July starts. The Padres will counter with 25-year-old right-hander Dinelson Lamet, who has a 5.62 ERA in 57.2 innings, with 75 strikeouts and a 1.25 WHIP. He faced the Pirates last week and allowed two runs over six innings.
In the minors, Tyler Glasnow makes his tenth start for Indianapolis tonight. He has not allowed more than two runs in any of his first nine outings and he has struck out at least 11 batters in five of those games. Brandon Waddell makes his second start for Altoona since coming back from his second forearm strain. He went five innings on Monday, allowing two runs. Luis Escobar leads the South Atlantic League in strikeouts and the player in second place was just promoted, giving him some cushion for that lead. Travis MacGregor goes for Bristol tonight. He set a career high with six innings pitched in his last start. Max Kranick makes his season debut down in the GCL today. He was supposed to throw three innings on Monday, but that got turned into a sim game due to rain. He is scheduled for four innings today.
MLB: Pittsburgh (53-56) vs Padres (48-60) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (3.97 ERA, 33:120 BB/SO, 133.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (60-52) @ Louisville (44-67) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (1.46 ERA, 24:85 BB/SO, 55.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (57-53) @ Trenton (74-36) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Brandon Waddell (4.41 ERA, 16:31 BB/SO, 32.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (60-47) @ Florida (38-64) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD
Low-A: West Virginia (50-57) vs Delmarva (49-59) 6:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Luis Escobar (3.82 ERA, 43:125 BB/SO, 99.0 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (26-18) @ Batavia (15-27) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Scooter Hightower (2.86 ERA, 4:42 BB/SO, 44.0 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (9-33) @ Kingsport (17-24) 6:30 PM
GCL: Pirates (12-23) vs Blue Jays (24-11) 10:00 AM
DSL: Pirates (28-25) vs Astros Orange (19-31) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is Wyatt Mathisen picking up his fifth hit of the night on Thursday.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
8/4: Mitch Keller promoted to Altoona. Jerrick Suiter placed on the temporarily inactive list.
8/4: Michael de la Cruz assigned to GCL Pirates
8/4: James Marvel promoted to Bradenton. Oddy Nunez activated from West Virginia disabled list.
8/3: Angel German and Oneil Cruz added to West Virginia roster. Jordan Jess promoted to Bradenton. Nick King assigned to Morgantown.
8/3: Eury Perez traded to Miami Marlins for cash.
8/2: Gregory Polanco activated from disabled list. Jordan Luplow optioned to Indianapolis.
8/2: Wade LeBlanc placed on Bereavement List. Dovydas Neverauskas recalled from Indianapolis.
8/1: Oddy Nunez and Blake Cederlind placed on disabled list. Oneil Cruz and Angel German assigned to West Virginia.
8/1: Adrian Valerio activated from disabled list.
8/1: Stephan Meyer assigned to West Virginia. Hector Quinones assigned to Bristol.
7/31: Tony Watson traded to Los Angeles Dodgers for Oneil Cruz and Angel German
7/31: Seth McGarry traded to Philadelphia Phillies for Joaquin Benoit and cash
7/31: Brandon Waddell activated from disabled list. Miguel Rosario assigned to Bradenton
7/28: Jordan Luplow promoted to Pittsburgh Pirates. Edwin Espinal promoted to Indianapolis. Jordan George promoted to Altoona.
7/28: Austin Meadows assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
7/27: Logan Hill placed on disabled list. Justin Maffei assigned to Altoona.
7/27: Steven Brault optioned to Indianapolis.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note and a first in baseball history that involved the Pirates. First the trade and on this date in 1980, the Pirates sent two minor leaguers to the San Diego Padres for infielder Kurt Bevacqua and pitcher Mark Lee. The Pirates got 25.1 innings out of Lee and 51 games from Bevacqua, but they gave up Luis Salazar, who ended up spending 13 years and 1,302 games in the majors.
The players born on this date include 2009 outfielder Eric Hinske, 2007 pitcher John Wasdin, 1980 pinch-hitter Bernie Carbo and 1971-73 pitcher Nelson Briles, who threw a complete game shutout over the Orioles in game five of the 1971 World Series. He won 36 games in his three years with the Pirates and had a 2.98 ERA. After the 1973 season, Briles was traded to the Royals in a deal that included Kurt Bevacqua making his first trip to Pittsburgh.
On this date in 1921, Harold Arlin announced the first radio broadcast of a baseball game over the radio. On KDKA, he called the 8-5 win by the Pirates over the Phillies at Forbes Field. The game lasted 1:57 and the Pirates went down 4-2 early, before reliever Jimmy Zinn came in and allowed one unearned run over six innings for the win. Philadelphia’s Cy Williams hit the only home run that day and Pirates’ right fielder Possum Whitted scored three runs. You can view the boxscore here.
