Over the last two days, we looked at the leaders in numerous offensive and pitching categories for each affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Today we look to see where the batters rank among the leaders in their respective leagues. I looked at 11 hitting categories and listed every player in the top ten in each category.
Indianapolis
Average: Jose Osuna, .359 (2nd), Jacob Stallings, .312 (7th) Christopher Bostick, .307 (10th)
Runs: Kevin Kramer, 19 (tied 2nd)
Hits: Kramer, 31 (tied 5th)
Doubles: Osuna, 12 (tied 1st), Eric Wood, 11 (3rd), Bostick, 9 (tied fourth)
Triples: Bostick, Jordan Luplow, Erich Weiss, 3 (tied 1st)
RBI: Osuna, 18 (tied 5th)
OBP: Osuna, .409 (7th)
Slugging: Osuna, .628 (1st)
OPS: Osuna, 1.037 (1st)
Altoona
Average: Jason Martin, .304 (tied 9th)
Doubles: Cole Tucker, 7 (tied 8th)
Triples: Martin, 4 (tied 1st), Elvis Escobar, Ke’Bryan Hayes, 2 (tied 7th)
RBI: Will Craig, 17 (tied 7th)
Slugging: Martin, .554 (8th)
OPS: Martin, .917 (9th)
Strikeouts: Logan Hill, 39 (4th)
Bradenton
Average: Albert Baur, .337 (5th)
Doubles: Adrian Valerio, 7 (tied 9th)
Triples: Hunter Owen, Jared Oliva, 2 (tied 6th)
HR: Baur, Bligh Madris, 4 (tied 8th)
SB: Tyler Gaffney, Alfredo Reyes, 8 (tied 5th)
Slugging: Baur, .511 (9th)
Strikeouts: Owen, 35 (tied 8th)
West Virginia
Average: Calvin Mitchell, .310 (tied 9th)
Runs: Chris Sharpe, 21 (7th)
Hits: Mitchell, 36 (tied 2nd)
Doubles: Mitchell, 8 (tied 8th)
Triples: Mitchell, Oneil Cruz, 3 (tied 5th)
HR: Cruz, 5 (tied 6th)
RBI: Mitchell, 22 (tied 5th), Cruz, 21 (tied 9th)
OPS: Mitchell, .878 (10th)
Strikeouts: Cruz, 38 (tied 8th), Mason Martin, Kyle Watson, 37 (tied 10th)
Just in case you think I didn’t include walks on purpose, I didn’t. There wasn’t a single Pirate in the top ten in any league. The leader around the system is Oneil Cruz with 14 and that put him just outside the top ten in the South Atlantic League. The four affiliates had five walks total yesterday in four games, with one being an intentional walk and one coming from Nick Kingham.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Chicago White Sox by a 6-5 score on Wednesday afternoon. The Pirates have off today as they return home to play the San Francisco Giants this weekend. They will send Jameson Taillon to the mound on Friday night. The Giants will counter with left-handed pitcher Andrew Suarez, who has a 3.06 ERA in 17.2 innings over three starts, with 18 strikeouts and an 0.96 WHIP. He threw 5.1 shutout innings in his last start.
The minor league schedule includes Tyler Eppler making his seventh start. He has gone six innings and struck out five batters in each of his last three outings. Altoona starter Taylor Hearn allowed four runs over six innings in his last start while striking out nine batters. Luis Escobar goes for Bradenton, trying to bounce back from his second four inning outing this year. He allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in his last start. Domingo Robles starts for West Virginia, coming off of an outing in which he allowed three runs on nine hits in six innings. His previous start was cut short due to four errors in the first inning, which led to seven unearned runs.
MLB: Pittsburgh (21-16) vs Giants (19-18) 7:05 PM 5/11
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (4.42 ERA, 30:11 SO/BB, 36.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (15-15) @ Louisville (11-18) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (2.64 ERA, 29:8 SO/BB, 30.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (16-14) @ Reading (11-18) 6:45 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Taylor Hearn (5.81 ERA, 29:10 SO/BB, 26.1 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (19-14) vs Palm Beach (18-14) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Luis Escobar (3.86 ERA, 25:10 SO/BB, 30.1 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (18-13) @ Hagerstown (10-22) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Domingo Robles (9.39 ERA, 28:5 SO/BB, 27.0 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
From Altoona on Tuesday, a nice defensive play by Cole Tucker up the middle.
Also from Tuesday, Casey Sadler with his eighth strikeout
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
5/9: Brett McKinney placed on the Indianapolis disabled list
5/8: Pirates recall Jose Osuna
5/7: Nick Kingham optioned to Indianapolis
5/7: Sam Street released
5/7: Wyatt Mathisen promoted to Indianapolis. Logan Ratledge assigned to Altoona.
5/5: Braeden Ogle placed on West Virginia disabled list. Gavin Wallace activated from DL.
5/4: Pedro Vasquez promoted to Altoona. Sean Keselica assigned to Morgantown.
5/1: Joe Musgrove assigned to Bradenton on rehab.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, and one trade of note, plus a little baseball history about the cities where the Pirates’ top two minor league teams play. Three of the players had brief careers with the team, including outfielder Tony Alvarez (2002, 04), pitcher Pete Schourek (1999) and infielder Al Rubeling (1943-44). The other was pitcher Russ Bauers, who played for the Pirates from 1936 until 1941. His career was derailed by multiple arm injuries, so after winning 13 games in both 1937 and 1938, Bauers seemed like he would win more than 31 games in his career, but that’s where he ended. In his six seasons with the Pirates, he had a 3.53 ERA over 553.2 innings.
On this date in 1989, the Pirates traded infielder Ken Oberkfell to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for pitcher Roger Samuels. This ended up being a one-sided trade, as Oberkfell hit .319 the rest of the way, while Samuels pitched 3.2 unsuccessful innings with the Pirates, which marked the end of his big league career.
Not many people know that Altoona was once a Major League city back in 1884. For that one season, there was a league called the Union Association, which competed with the National League and the American Association to try to win over fans. The Union Association folded after one season and Altoona has only hosted minor league teams since then, including the Pirates Double-A squad since 1999.
Indianapolis has had multiple Major League teams in their history, but none since 1914 when the Federal League shutdown. Their first NL club played in 1878 and the first win in franchise history was on May 10th. Altoona’s first win was on May 10th as well, exactly six years later, and both teams won their first game while they were home. Indianapolis was called the Blues, while Altoona was known as the Mountain Citys.
