A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Max Moroff), 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 Mid-Season Update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Mitch Keller, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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3. Shane Baz, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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5. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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6. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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7. Will Craig, 1B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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9. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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10. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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11. Calvin Mitchell, OF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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12. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Bristol – [insert_php]
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13. Edgar Santana, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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14. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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15. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis– [insert_php]
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16. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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17. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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18. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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19. Max Kranick, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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20. Steven Jennings, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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21. Adrian Valerio, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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22. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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23. Conner Uselton, OF, GCL Pirates – Disabled List
24. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Pirates – [insert_php]
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25. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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26. Eduardo Vera, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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27. Logan Hill, LF, Altoona – [insert_php]
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28. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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29. Lolo Sanchez, CF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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30. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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Indianapolis was rained out on Sunday.
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TRENTON, NJ – Altoona lost 4-2 in extra innings on a walk-off homer, but today’s game story was the debut of Mitch Keller. He went six innings in his Double-A debut, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks, with four strikeouts. Keller looked great through the first four innings, working his fastball, which was 94-96 MPH on the stadium gun, but I was told by a couple people there that it is slow by two MPH. That’s where Keller was during his last three starts in Bradenton, so you would expect it to carry over six days later.
The only two base runners to reach against him in the first four innings were on a walk and a ball out in front of home plate that Jackson Williams called for, but would have been much easier for Keller. Williams even took the blame after the play, likely not thinking the ball was going to go as far as it did.
In the first inning, Keller had two strikeouts, with one on a fastball that was probably 98 MPH (96 on stadium gun) and another on a curveball. The second inning was a little longer, with 21 pitches, although it was just some long at-bats and nothing of note. The third inning was very quick, as the first batter popped up a bunt on the first pitch, the next batter hit one to center field, and then Keller fielded a ball right back to him for the third out. He needed just seven pitches total.
The fourth started with a strikeout on three pitches, all swinging strikes. That was followed by a liner to first base and a fly ball to center field, both on the first pitch. He got through the first four innings on 48 pitches, so it seemed like he could be in for an extended outing, but that was not the case.
The fifth inning, Keller looked like a different pitcher, although that was just by the results. The first 4-5 pitches of the inning were lower velocity and resulted in a couple hits, but the velocity quickly returned. Trenton put together four singles, three of them well hit and then another hard grounder up the middle. They brought home a run on a long sacrifice fly to left field, which was caught in foul territory. The final out of the inning was a long liner to right field that Michael Suchy caught at the wall. It was a lot of hard contact in the inning against Keller, more than the other five innings of his outing combined.
In the sixth, Keller walked two batters, nearly hitting one of them in the head, which actually turned into a foul ball when the batter threw his hands up as he ducked and the ball hit the bat first, then him. Besides the walks, he had three routine grounders in the inning to keep Trenton from putting up anymore runs.
It was a nice debut for Keller. He wasn’t dominating like we have seen at times with him, but the fastball velocity was there and the curve looked decent compared to normal for him. He hung a couple and missed badly with a couple others, but the rest were effective pitches. He didn’t throw many changeups and one ended up as a line drive to first base. He threw 88 pitches, with 53 strikes and posted a 7:5 GO/AO ratio.
Alex McRae was in the bullpen for this game and pitched two scoreless frames. He was followed by Luis Heredia for two shutout innings, then Cody Dickson served up the two-run walk-off homer.
The highlight on offense was a home run to right field by Jin-De Jhang, his third of the season. Cole Tucker tied the game up in the ninth on a sacrifice fly that scored Justin Maffei. Tucker went 1-for-4 in the game. Altoona had eight hits, with everyone except Michael Suchy collecting one hit. – John Dreker
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Bradenton split a doubleheader with Florida on Sunday, winning game one by a 5-1 score, before getting shutout in game two by a 5-0 score.
Game one included a strong bounce back game from Pedro Vasquez, who threw five shutout innings on three hits, three walks and two hit batters. He had five strikeouts on the night. His last appearance included him allowing nine earned runs, which is more than the next two worst outings combined for him this year. Vasquez now has a 2.91 ERA, which ranks fifth in the league. Daniel Zamora blew the save after Vasquez left, then got the win when the Marauders scored four runs in the top of the seventh.
Will Craig was a key hitter on offense, with a single, RBI, two walks and two runs scored. Mitchell Tolman had two hits, a walk and a run scored. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a single and a run scored. He also stole his 25th base. Christian Kelley drove in two runs with a single. Stephen Alemais had an RBI single and a walk.
Game two lacked any real highlights for Bradenton. They had four hits, with doubles from Will Craig and Ty Moore. The double was Craig’s 26th of the season. Ke’Bryan Hayes and John Bormann each had singles. The Marauders didn’t draw a walk and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Starter Logan Sendelbach got knocked out early, with four runs over the first two innings. Miguel Rosario and Jess Amedee each followed him with two innings.
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CHARLESTON, WV – I had a chance to see Angel German make his debut today, which was one of the highlights of this trip to West Virginia. The Pirates acquired German as the second piece in the Tony Watson trade, although to be honest, after my first view of Oneil Cruz, I think any other player in the deal was an added bonus.
German was a bit shaky, admitting to me after the game that he was nervous and trying to impress in his organizational debut. That led to him loading the bases, finishing the job with his first of two walks, and then walking in a run. After a visit to the mound, he settled down and struck out two of the next three batters, getting out of the jam with only one run allowed.
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German obviously has some control issues, although I think they were exaggerated today with him making his debut. He also has easy velocity, pumping in several 96-97 MPH fastballs throughout the inning, while also touching 98. He looks like your typical live arm in the lower levels, and it will be interesting to see what he can become in the Pirates’ system.
The other highlight today was getting to see Eduardo Vera pitch. This time last year, I had Vera as future organizational depth, and a guy who would top out as a low-level reliever. He entered Spring Training this year sitting low-to-mid 90s with his fastball, touching 95, and has gotten up to 96 and 97 as this year has gone on. He wasn’t that high today, which is understandable since he has 100.2 innings, doubling his total combined innings since 2013. Vera was still impressive.
The most impressive thing about Vera was that he got through seven innings with seven strikeouts on just 74 pitches. He was cruising through the first few innings, striking out the side in the first, and adding three more strikeouts in his next two frames. The only damage he gave up was a solo homer in the fifth inning. He did a good job of working off his fastball, elevating the pitch with two strikes, and mixing in his curve and change, which have both seen improvements as the year has gone on.
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West Virginia got their offense started when Victor Fernandez hit a two RBI triple in the bottom of the fifth, showing off his speed on the hit to the left-center gap. He scored on a double by Adrian Valerio, who has been impressive at the plate this series. Arden Pabst later added a solo homer, and Clark Eagan went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, giving West Virginia all of the offense they needed. – Tim Williams
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Morgantown won 3-2 over Batavia behind starter Gavin Wallace and the best relievers on the staff. Wallace allowed one unearned run over five innings, giving up just three hits. He didn’t record a single walk or strikeout in the game. On 67 pitches, he threw 44 strikes and had a 7:6 GO/AO ratio. After Shane Kemp allowed a run in his only inning, the Black Bears went to Joel Cesar for two scoreless frames and Matt Seelinger to finish the game off. Cesar dropped his ERA to 1.06 through 17 innings, while Seelinger now has an 0.56 ERA through his first 16 innings.
The offense had just five hits, but one of them was a two-run homer from Jose Barraza in the fourth inning. It was his second homer of the season. Chris Sharpe had a nice day out of the lead-off spot, going 2-for-3 with a walk and his fifth double. He also scored a run and stole his fourth base. Tristan Gray had an RBI single in the first inning which scored Sharpe with the first run of the game for Morgantown.
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Bristol clinched a losing record on Sunday, with 24 games left in their 68-game schedule. While they lost 4-2, there was a nice positive to take away from the outing. Braeden Ogle threw five strong innings, giving up just one unearned run on four hits, with no walks, five strikeouts and a 7:3 GO/AO ratio. The only run scored due to a two-base error on shortstop Melvin Jimenez, with the run being brought home on a sacrifice fly.
I talked to Ogle after the game and he had this to say about his success on Sunday night:
“Felt like I utilized my off-speed well today and complemented it with a good fastball that I was locating pretty well”
The Pirates have limited Ogle recently to monitor his innings. He threw a lot during Spring Training and Extended Spring Training, so they shortened his last two outings instead of skipping him in the rotation. He threw 68 pitches in this game, with 46 going for strikes. In 38 innings this season, he has a 3.55 ERA.
Yondry Contreras didn’t play today, so his seven-game hit streak in still active. Edison Lantigua remained out. We will have an update on him tomorrow night, as Tim Williams gets to cover Bristol for the next five days. At least their rotation has a lot of interesting arms. Oh yeah, they committed three more errors leading to three unearned runs.
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The GCL Pirates are off on Sundays
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The DSL Pirates are off on Sundays
