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Morning Report: When Will the Pirates Start Looking For Help From Indianapolis?

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At this point if the Pirates decided to call up a rookie for the rest of the season, that player would have 100 days of service time for the remainder of the year. That’s somewhat significant, because it means that the Super Two window has passed. But I think it’s clear that the Pirates aren’t using that as a decision factor this year.

The team called up Austin Meadows in mid-May, and kept him up when they could have sent him down once Starling Marte returned. As a result, Meadows is on pace to become Super Two eligible following the 2020 season. If there was a player who the Pirates would want to hold back from Super Two status, it would be Meadows, as he’s the most likely to be an impact player in the majors, and would cost the most with the extra service time.

Nick Kingham is close. He’d have 122 days of service time if he came back up today, which puts him on the edge of where he might be Super Two eligible. The Pirates have called him up whenever there is a need in the rotation, but have treated him like the number six starting option, when he probably should be in the rotation at this point. The issue there is that they would need to replace Ivan Nova, who is pitching well lately, or Trevor Williams, who I think will get a longer leash, despite recent struggles.

As for the rest of the prospects in Indianapolis, there aren’t many guys who could come up and be a guaranteed upgrade to the team right now. The closest would probably be Kevin Newman, who has been hitting well in the minors, although not with a lot of power. Jordy Mercer hasn’t been great this year, ranking 21st out of 27 qualified shortstops in the majors. However, it’s hard to see Newman as an immediate upgrade over Mercer right away.

If the Pirates continue to struggle, and they’re not contenders by the time the trade deadline rolls around, then Newman should absolutely be called up, and should get most of the time as a starter, regardless of whether Mercer is still around.

Until that point, it would definitely make sense for the Pirates to cut ties with Sean Rodriguez and bring up a young player like Newman, even if it was only to ease him into the majors. Or they could cut back to 12 position players and create a spot for Kingham.

After the promotion of Jose Osuna this week, the two players who are most deserving of promotions are Kingham and Newman. I’d expect the Pirates to call both of them up by the end of the year, and to use them as injury replacement options until they fall out of contention.

There are some other players who could arrive this season, with a few potential bench players like Chris Bostick and Wyatt Mathisen putting up good numbers, and Kevin Kramer also looking like a guy who deserves a shot.

Super Two obviously isn’t playing a factor in when any of these guys arrive, as they’d be up by now if the Pirates felt they could help them win — as shown by Meadows, and by Kingham coming up as a constant injury replacement. I think the wave of prospects from Indianapolis will only come if the Pirates fall out of contention. That would obviously be disappointing to fans, but the silver lining would be that the Pirates would have a lot of interesting young players to watch the rest of the season, with a few potential starters for their future teams.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 2-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. The Pirates will send Joe Musgrove to the mound for his sixth start today. He allowed two runs over six innings against Arizona on June 11th. The Diamondbacks scheduled starter is right-hander Zack Greinke, who has a 3.90 ERA in 90 innings, with 95 strikeouts and a 1.17 WHIP. He gave up three runs over 6.1 innings against the Los Angeles Angels in his last start.

The minor league schedule includes a doubleheader for Altoona. Pedro Vasquez is starting one game and no one has been named yet for the second contest. JT Brubaker goes for Indianapolis tonight. He got knocked out of his last start after three innings due to a high pitch count and some poor defense behind him. Sixth round pick Michael Flynn gets his second start for Morgantown. He went two innings in his first game and gave up three runs in each inning. Colin Selby (16th round pick) makes his pro debut for Bristol. West Virginia starter Hunter Stratton allowed just one hit in his last start, but he also walked six batters. No starter has been named yet for Bradenton.

MLB: Pittsburgh (36-39) vs Diamondbacks (42-33) 4:05 PM
Probable starter: Joe Musgrove (3.68 ERA, 29:6 SO/BB, 29.1 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (39-32) vs Durham (40-31) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (3.35 ERA, 28:24 SO/BB, 40.1 IP)

AA: Altoona (35-32) @ Erie (32-39) 4:35 PM DH (season preview)
Probable starter: Pedro Vasquez (5.77 ERA, 26:12 SO/BB, 39.0 IP) and TBD

High-A: Bradenton (35-32) vs Fort Myers (30-40) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD (0.00 ERA, 0:0 SO/BB, 0.0 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (39-29) @ Hickory (30-40) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Hunter Stratton (6.25 ERA, 42.22 SO/BB, 40.1 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (4-4) vs State College (3-5) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Michael Flynn (27.00 ERA, 3:0 SO/BB, 2.0 IP)

Rookie: Bristol (2-2) vs Elizabethton (4-0) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Colin Selby (0.00 ERA, 0:0 SO/BB, 0.0 IP)

GCL: Pirates (1-4) vs Yankees East 10:00 AM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates1 (8-10) vs Rays2 10:30 AM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates2 (7-11) vs Giants 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

From Indianapolis a few days ago, Jung Ho Kang hits a two-run single up the middle.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

6/22: Pirates sign Braxton Ashcraft and Connor Kaiser.

6/22: Francisco Cervelli placed on disabled list. Jacob Stallings recalled from Indianapolis.

6/22: Arden Pabst promoted to Indianapolis. Blake Cederlind promoted to Bradenton.

6/22: Travis MacGregor assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

6/22: Fernando Villegas activated from Morgantown restricted list. Assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/21: Fabricio Macias activated from West Virginia restricted list. Assigned to Morgantown.

6/21: Pirates sign Kyle Mottice and Steven Kraft.

6/21: Tyler Eppler activated from temporary inactive list.

6/21: Cody Smith assigned to Morgantown from GCL Pirates

6/20: Corey Dickerson placed on Family Medical Emergency Leave list. Adam Frazier recalled.

6/20: Jackson Williams placed on Indianapolis disabled list.

6/20: Pirates sign three draft picks

6/20: Pirates sign Matt Morrow and Pat Dorrian

6/20: Enny Romero assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

6/18: Richard Rodriguez activated from disabled list. Dovydas Neverauskas optioned to Indianapolis

6/18: Pirates recall Jose Osuna. Jacob Stallings optioned to Indianapolis.

6/16: Tyler Eppler placed on Temporary Inactive List.

6/15: Jung Ho Kang assigned to Indianapolis.

6/15: Pirates sign Travis Swaggerty

6/14: Pirates release Luis Cadet and Jess Amedee.

6/14: Pirates sign Antonio Gonzalez.

6/13: Pirates sign Enrique Santana, Bladimir Susana and Domingo Gonzalez.

6/13: Pirates sign nine draft picks.

6/13: Oddy Nunez activated from the disabled list. Jess Amedee assigned to Bristol.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note. Both players were pitchers, Ken Jungels (1942) and Bill Harris, who pitched for the Pirates from 1931 until 1934. Harris was used mainly in relief for the Pirates, starting 22 times and coming out of the bullpen 61 times. He had a 3.45 ERA in 276.2 innings. He didn’t have a great Major League career, but if you throw in his minor league stats, he had 281 career wins.

On this date in 1956, the Pirates sent second baseman Curt Roberts and pitcher Jack McMahan to the Kansas City A’s in exchange for second baseman Spook Jacobs. This trade did almost nothing for the Pirates, as Jacobs started 11 games and struggled with the bat. That got him a demotion to the minors, which opened a spot for minor league second baseman Bill Mazeroski to make his Major League debut.

On this date in 1909, the Pirates won 3-1 over the Cardinals to push their record to 39-13 on the season, the best record in baseball. In the last 100 games of that season, which was every game after June 23rd, Pittsburgh went 71-29. That was also the best record in baseball over that time. Hall of Fame pitcher Vic Willis threw a complete game against the Cardinals and Honus Wagner had two walks and two hits, including a double that drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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