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Morning Report: Putting Mason Martin’s GCL Season Into Historical Perspective

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Mason Martin goes into the final three games of the GCL season with a 1.083 OPS. That gives him a nice 112 point cushion over the second best in the league. Just in general, you should know that an OPS that high is a great number, regardless of the league. It might be even more impressive if you put it into perspective though. I looked at the league leaders in the GCL for OPS and the highest since 2005 (which is as far back as they go on MiLB) is 1.059 by Michael Burgess in 2007. He was an early round pick that season, taken in the compensation round after the first round.

I then decided to dig deeper to find someone who finished with a higher OPS, since it wasn’t just enough to look over the last 13 seasons. You have to go back to 2000 to find someone who did better. In fact, two players did better that season. One was Tony Blanco, who made the majors in 2005, before making a living overseas for awhile. He was still  playing this winter in the Dominican, so he made quite the career for himself, even if he isn’t well-known in the United States. Blanco finished with a 1.110 OPS during his season in the GCL.

The other player might be a familiar name to most of you. A 1999 third round pick, who was repeating the level in 2000 and put up a 1.143 OPS before being promoted late to the Appalachian League. He also played first base for the Pirates at the end of the 2013 season. That would be Justin Morneau and that’s not bad company to be in when you’re talking about the best GCL stats over the last 18 seasons.

It’s not just the last 18 seasons though. If you want to find a third player who had a higher OPS than Martin among the league leaders in the GCL, well, you can’t. His 1.083 OPS, would rank him third all time in league history. I went back to 1966 and the top three, with enough plate appearances to qualify for league leaders, are:

1. Justin Morneau, 2000, 1.143 OPS

2. Tony Blanco, 2000, 1.110 OPS

3. Mason Martin, 2017, 1.083 OPS

How is that for putting his GCL season into perspective? Oh yeah, he’s also still one away from holding the Pirates home run record on his own. At worst, he will end up tied for the record with a former MLB player in Walter Young. Three more games to go…

I’ll also point out that, assuming all three games are played, Martin needs seven plate appearances to remain on the leader board. He just squeaked onto the list on Saturday, then dropped off Monday when he didn’t play. He returned to the list after Tuesday’s game, having the exact amount needed at the time. Right now he is one plate appearance over the minimum. If the Pirates play all three games (meaning no rain outs), then he needs to get at least seven plate appearances to lead the league in OPS.

** West Virginia won both games of a doubleheader yesterday, then combined with a loss from first place Hickory, the Power moved into a tie for first place. Greensboro is also right there one game back in the division, so it’s going to go right down to the wire. There is a good chance that Greensboro will finish with the best overall record in the division, while the two teams ahead of them right now finished fourth and sixth during the first half. In fact, Hickory has a 63-72 record on the season and they could make the playoffs over the best overall team. That’s one of the quirks of having a split schedule decide the playoffs. In the other division, the best two overall teams are the two teams likely to meet in the playoffs, which is what you would expect.

PLAYOFF PUSH

The Pirates trail in their division by ten games. They are 9.5 games back for the second wild card spot.

Indianapolis won their division

Altoona clinched a playoff berth. They lead their division by one game with five games remaining. The division winner gets home field advantage.

Bradenton has been eliminated from the playoffs

West Virginia is tied for first place. Their season ends September 4th.

Morgantown is in third place, 4.5 games back. Their season ends September 7th.

Bristol has been eliminated from the playoffs.

The GCL Pirates have been eliminated from the playoffs.

The DSL season is over.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 17-3 to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. The Pirates are off today. They will open up a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds at home on Friday night.

In the minors, Nick Kingham goes for Indianapolis tonight, trying to bounce back from a very tough start. Five days ago, he allowed eight runs on eight hits and a walk over 3.2 innings. In his previous six starts combined, he surrendered a total of six runs over 45.1 innings. The interesting part is that those six starts came after he allowed eight runs over four innings. Brandon Waddell goes for Altoona tonight. He has allowed one run over his last 11.2 innings, covering two starts. Bradenton begins their final series of the season tonight. Bristol plays their final game tonight. The DSL season is over.

MLB: Pittsburgh (63-71) vs Reds (56-77) 7:05 PM 9/1
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (3.99 ERA, 40:154 BB/SO, 167.0 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (76-61) @ Louisville (54-83) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Nick Kingham (3.99 ERA, 28:87 BB/SO, 108.1 IP)

AA: Altoona (71-64) @ Richmond (60-75) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Brandon Waddell (3.66 ERA, 26:50 BB/SO, 59.0 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (67-61) @ Charlotte (68-63) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

Low-A: West Virginia (66-65) @ Lakewood (69-66) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Stephan Meyer (2.73 ERA, 14:21 BB/SO, 33.0 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (35-33) @ Auburn (27-40) 7:05 PM (season preview)

Rookie: Bristol (16-49) vs Burlington (29-38) 7:00 PM

GCL: Pirates (25-32) vs Tigers East (13-44) 12:00 PM

DSL: Pirates (36-34) (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is Austin Coley recording his eighth strikeout of the night. He pitched seven scoreless innings on Tuesday, as Altoona clinched their playoff spot.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

8/29: Mikell Granberry promoted to Bristol. Jason Delay promoted to Morgantown.

8/29: Brent Gibbs placed on disabled list. Raul Hernandez promoted to West Virginia.

8/29: Daniel Zamora promoted to Altoona.

8/28: Adam Frazier placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Dovydas Neverauskas.

8/28: Johnny Barbato optioned to Indianapolis. Jordan Luplow recalled.

8/28: Hunter Owen assigned to Morgantown.

8/27: Casey Sadler promoted to Indianapolis.

8/27: Barrett Barnes assigned to Indianapolis.

8/26: Francisco Cervelli placed on the disabled list. Elias Diaz recalled from  Indianapolis.

8/25: Francisco Cervelli activated from the disabled list. Elias Diaz optioned to Indianapolis.

8/23: Edgar Santana optioned to Indianapolis. Pirates select the contract of Angel Sanchez.

8/23: Cody Dickson promoted to Indianapolis.

8/23: Gage Hinsz placed on disabled list.

8/23: Braeden Ogle placed on the disabled list.

8/23: Arden Pabst placed on disabled list. Henrry Rosario promoted from Bristol to West Virginia.

8/22: Joaquin Benoit and George Kontos placed on disabled list.

8/22: Dovydas Neverauskas optioned to Indianapolis. Steven Brault, Edgar Santana and Johnny Barbato recalled from Indianapolis.

8/22: Hunter Owen and Jason Stoffel assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Eight former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus six trades of note. Everything was covered in the link at the beginning here, so with so much to mention, I’ll just list all the transactions and players and you can view the link if you so choose.

The Trades:

2011: Outfield Matt Diaz sent to Braves for Eliecer Cardenas.

1997: Shortstop Shawon Dunston acquired from the Cubs.

1985: Bill Madlock sent to Dodgers for R.J. Reynolds, Sid Bream and Cecil Espy.

1981: Pirates acquired second baseman Johnny Ray and two players to be named later from the Astros for Phil Garner.

1968: Relief pitcher Elroy Face sold to Detroit Tigers.

1953: Johnny Lindell sold to Philadelphia Phillies.

Players born on this date:

Morris Madden, 1988-89 pitcher.

Ramon Hernandez, lefty reliever from 1971 until 1976.

Roy Berres, catcher from 1937 until 1940.

Syd Smith, 1914-15 catcher.

Wally Rehg, 1912 outfielder.

Monte Cross, 1894-95 shortstop.

Red Ehret, 1892-94 pitcher. Red was involved in one of the most colorful baseball trades of all-time when he was sent to the Browns for pitcher Pink Hawley.

Duke Farrell, 1892 OF/3B.

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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