37.9 F
Pittsburgh

Morning Report: The Pirates are Seeing Strong Defense from Three of Their Affiliates

Published:

The Pittsburgh Pirates have three teams in the minors right now that are doing an excellent job in the fielding department. Then you have the West Virginia Power.

Indianapolis ranks fourth in fielding in the International League. That shouldn’t be surprising because when you look at their players who have received the most playing time so far, there aren’t any names that standout as players who struggle in the field until you get down to Jose Osuna, who hasn’t been with the club for awhile. He actually positively contributed to their numbers with just one error. So basically, they are playing up to what we expected from them.

Altoona is the same. They have a bunch of players who are known for solid defense and being some of the best at their position. Christian Kelley, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cole Tucker and Stephen Alemais are all above average defenders. Even the backup catchers in Jin-De Jhang and Jackson Williams get praise for their defense. There are some weak spots in the outfield, but with the players they have there, you should expect a fine fielding team. They rank third in their league in fewest errors, fourth in fielding percentage.

Bradenton is first in everything in fielding in the Florida State League. You have some fairly solid to strong defenders on the club as well. Adrian Valerio and Alfredo Reyes make up a terrific double play combo whenever Reyes is at second base. Jason Delay and Arden Pabst are two strong defenders behind the plate. Casey Hughston is an outstanding outfielder and Jared Oliva has impressed in center field. So with that group, you have six players who are above average defenders. No one has done a poor job either, so just like with the other two clubs, they put together a strong defensive group and they haven’t disappointed.

Then we get to West Virginia, where they have committed more errors than either two of those clubs combined. They are the worst fielding team in their own 14-team league. When you look at the group, you can see why. Oneil Cruz is an experiment at shortstop after playing third base last year and it’s not working out early. Rodolfo Castro isn’t a strong fielder at any spot and he moves around. Mason Martin is learning first base full-time and he’s had some hiccups. Kyle Watson plays all over the infield and he has had trouble. Deon Stafford is still learning at catcher. Counting the catchers, they have 56 infield errors, or 63 if you’re also counting the seven by the pitchers.

As we have said before, it’s a young team, but it’s also not really a group that had any standout defensive players to begin with, so expectations weren’t high. Lolo Sanchez is a solid center field who is still learning, but has plus potential on defense. They just added Brett Pope and he’s a fantastic shortstop. He probably won’t get much time at shortstop though, so that’s just marginal help when an above average defender is playing out of position. I wouldn’t say that I expected the Power to be the worst team in their league, but there is a clear separation in their defense and every other team in the system. Most of those Power players aren’t prospects for their defense though, so that’s something else to keep in mind.

** Trae Arbet was released on Thursday. The 5th round pick in 2013 was having a very difficult time in High-A ball this year with a .390 OPS. He finished with a .633 OPS over six seasons in the system. He was a strong kid with a quick bat when he was drafted, who was done in by poor plate patience. In 253 games, he had a 37:280 BB/SO ratio. He had excellent raw power, but it led to just 13 total homers. Signed as a shortstop originally, he wasn’t much of a defender at second base and wasn’t fast either, so all of the potential value was in the bat. Jesse Medrano makes the jump from the GCL last year to High-A now, taking Arbet’s spot. You can read about Medrano here in a full profile I did over the winter.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton is in third place in their division, 4.5 games behind the leader with 24 games remaining in the first half.

West Virginia is in third place in their division, four games behind the leader with 24 games remaining in the first half. Their game last night was rained out and canceled since the two teams don’t meet again during the first half.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 5-4 to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon. They now return home to face the St Louis Cardinals for three games. The Pirates will send Joe Musgrove to the mound for his first start today. He made one start for Bradenton, one for Altoona and two for Indianapolis, pitching a total of 17.2 innings. The Cardinals scheduled starter is right-hander John Gant, who allowed three runs on four hits and two walks over 4.1 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in his last start. He has a 4.67 ERA in 17.1 innings, with 18 strikeouts and a 1.10 WHIP.

The minor league schedule includes Nick Kingham’s return to Indianapolis…again. This is his third tour with Indianapolis this season and his sixth start. He also made three starts with the Pirates and one in Altoona, which was just to keep him on schedule on a day Indianapolis had off. Brandon Waddell starts for Altoona, coming off of six shutout innings in his last outing. He is second in the Eastern League with a 1.66 ERA. Cody Bolton, who was the sixth round pick last year, makes his first full-season start today with West Virginia. His start was rained out as predicted in yesterday’s Morning Report, an article which has more info on Bolton. He’s the first Pirates prep pitcher to go to low-A ball the year after he was drafted since Jameson Taillon did it back in 2011. Cam Vieaux gets the start for Bradenton, flipping spots in the rotation with Luis Escobar, who started yesterday’s game. Vieaux allowed one run over six innings in his last start and last time he faced today’s opponent (Jupiter) he surrendered two runs over six innings.

MLB: Pittsburgh (27-22) vs Cardinals (26-21) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Joe Musgrove (0.00 ERA, 0:0 SO/BB, 0.0 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (24-20) vs Charlotte (17-28) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Nick  Kingham (2.20 ERA, 30:10 SO/BB, 28.2 IP)

AA: Altoona (21-21) @ Harrisburg (21-23) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Brandon Waddell (1.66 ERA, 41:14 SO/BB, 48.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (24-20) vs Jupiter (28-17) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (3.89 ERA, 35:13 SO/BB, 44.0 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (24-19) vs Kannapolis (29-15) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cody Bolton (0.00 ERA, 0:0 SO/BB, 0.0 IP)

HIGHLIGHTS

From The Pirates on late Wednesday night, the go ahead triple from Josh Harrison

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

5/24: Trae Arbet released. Jesse Medrano added to Bradenton roster.

5/23: JT Brubaker assigned to Altoona.

5/22: Jesus Liranzo promoted to Indianapolis.  Jackson Williams assigned to Morgantown.

5/22: Tyler Jones released.

5/21: David Lee retired.

5/21: JT Brubaker activated from Temporary Inactive List

5/21: Cody Bolton added to West Virginia roster. Dylan Busby placed on disabled list.

5/20: Pirates activate Josh Harrison from DL. Nick Kingham optioned to Indianapolis.

5/19: Pirates recall Nick Kingham. Max Moroff optioned to Indianapolis.

5/19: Sean Keselica added to Altoona roster.

5/19: Brett Pope added to West Virginia roster.

5/18: Travis MacGregor and Joel Cesar placed on disabled list. Max Kranick added to West Virginia roster.

5/18: Pirates recall Austin Meadows. Starling Marte placed on the disabled list.

5/17: JT Brubaker placed on temporary inactive list. Jackson Williams added to Indianapolis.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including 2006 first round pick Brad Lincoln, who turns 33 today. Among the former players, we have first baseman Randall Simon (2003-04), outfielder William Pennyfeather (1992-94), first baseman Jim Marshall (1962) and pitcher John Hofford, who played for the franchise in 1885-86, before the Pirates were called the Pirates (Alleghenys) and before they moved to the National League, which happened in 1887.

On this date in 1954, the Pirates traded outfielder Cal Abrams to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Dick Littlefield. The Orioles got one good season out of Abrams, while Littlefield pitched well for the Pirates in 1954, a season in which they lost 101 games. He struggled the next season, then was part of a deal that brought Bill Virdon to Pittsburgh.

On this date in 1935, the Pittsburgh Pirates won 11-7 over the Boston Braves, but an aging slugger for Boston was the big story. That day, Babe Ruth hit the last three homers of his Major League career. The last homer he hit left Forbes Field over the right field roof, making him the first player to ever accomplish that feat. Here is the boxscore from that game. Bartolo Colon did not take part in that game for the Braves.

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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles