With the All-Star game being played tonight, now is a good time to look at the All-Stars around the farm system. I did this same thing last year at this time. Those results can be found below. This isn’t a prospect list and that wasn’t taken into account when making the picks. I only used the four full-season clubs because the other levels haven’t played enough games yet.
Here’s last year’s list, compiled on July 10, 2017:
C – Christian Kelley
1B – Will Craig
2B – Kevin Kramer
SS – Cole Tucker
3B – Eric Wood
OF – Jordan Luplow
OF – Logan Hill
OF – Christopher Bostick
LHP – Steven Brault
RHP – Pedro Vasquez
Reliever – Tate Scioneaux
Here’s the 2018 list, with a brief explanation of why they were picked. Stats through July 15th:
Catcher: Arden Pabst – While there are many obvious choices for this All-Star team, Pabst is running away with his position. He just recently moved up to Altoona after combining strong defense and hitting at Bradenton. He’s batting .287/.321/.508 in 49 games and he’s thrown out 48% of base runners.
First Base: Will Craig – This was basically a toss up between Craig and Albert Baur, who has a slightly higher OPS, but Craig leads the system in homers (13) and his RBI total (65) is well above second place. He’s also scored ten more runs than Baur, which helps his case when picking an All-Star team. This was the closest spot, though left-handed pitchers took just as long to decide between.
Second Base: Kevin Kramer – He’s seen some time at third base and shortstop this year, which I was going to knock off some points for, but he’s well out ahead of the rest of the options at second base. On the season, Kramer is hitting .277/.337/.473 in 84 games, with 22 doubles, three triples and 11 homers.
Third Base: Ke’Bryan Hayes – This was a fairly easy choice because no one else has really played third base full-time this year around the system (Hunter Owen is the closest with 57 games). Despite no competition, Hayes is hitting .293/.361/.454 in 74 games, with nine steals and some of the best defense at any position in the system. So he didn’t just back into this spot, he’s putting up big numbers too.
Shortstop: Oneil Cruz – Trust me, I knocked him for the defense, but his hitting is so far out in front of the others that he got this spot. Even with a recent slide the last week or so, he’s hitting .289/.347/.485 in 84 games, with 18 doubles, seven triples, 11 homers and ten stolen bases.
Outfield: Jason Martin – He’s been the best player in the system so far this season, so of course he makes the All-Star team. Martin is hitting .322/.383/.513 through 81 games while playing fine defense in center field. He has also continued to play well after moving up a level.
Outfield: Jordan Luplow – Luplow is in the majors now, but before he got called up, he was the best hitter at Indianapolis. He has a .297/.382/.487 slash line in 77 games, with 33 extra-base hits. He got to those numbers despite a .511 OPS in April.
Outfield: Jared Oliva – He’s been doing it all this season with a .286/.373/.468 slash line in 81 games, with 28 steals in 34 attempts and outstanding defense in center field. When you add in the defense and value he adds on the bases, he isn’t far behind Martin for the top spot.
Left-Handed Pitcher: Cam Vieaux – This was another extremely close one, with Taylor Hearn being right there with Vieaux for the best pitcher so far this season. The reason I went with Vieaux is that he has thrown 13.2 more innings. Simple as that. They both have a 1.09 WHIP. Vieaux has a 3.25 ERA, Hearn is 3.35, so that’s basically a wash. Hearn has a better strikeout rate and a better BAA, while Vieaux has a much lower walk rate, so I used the innings difference as the deciding factor.
Right-Handed Pitcher: Tyler Eppler – Eppler’s 3.06 ERA as a starter is the lowest in the system for anyone with at least 55 innings. He also has the eighth most strikeouts (81) and seventh most innings (94) in the system.
Reliever: Beau Sulser – Sulser has quietly piled up nice relief stats this year, earning himself a spot in The 21 yesterday with 5.1 shutout innings last week on one hit and no walks. That gave him a 2.13 ERA in 38 innings, with 38 strikeouts, a .213 BAA and an 0.82 WHIP, which is the best in the system.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates were off yesterday. They are now on the All-Star break. They resume play on Friday in Cincinnati for a three-game series against the Reds. Jameson Taillon will get the start that night.
The minor league schedule includes Alex McRae going for Indianapolis. He has allowed three earned runs over his last three starts combined, totaling 19.1 innings. Altoona has Eduardo Vera listed, but it could be the first start for Luis Escobar, who was promoted yesterday. Escobar was scheduled to pitch today for Bradenton, but Evan Piechota now takes his place. West Virginia has an early afternoon start time and the GCL Pirates start two hours earlier than usual. Bristol has off today, as do the DSL Pirates1 but not the Pirates2. Morgantown stopped listing starters and they haven’t been using the same five in a row, so today could be 18th round pick Mike LoPresti.
MLB: Pittsburgh (48-49) @ Reds (43-53) 7:10 PM 7/20
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (3.91 ERA, 103:30 SO/BB, 106.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (50-42) @ Gwinnett (41-52) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (4.47 ERA, 84:40 SO/BB, 90.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (48-42) vs Bowie (41-51) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Eduardo Vera (5.49 ERA, 23:9 SO/BB, 41.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (46-44) vs Jupiter (49-44) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Evan Piechota (6.14 ERA, 7:5 SO/BB, 14.2 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (49-41) vs Delmarva (51-41) 12:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Hunter Stratton (5.56 ERA, 57:31 SO/BB, 56.2 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (11-19) vs State College (11-19) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD (0.00 ERA, 0:0 SO/BB, 0.0 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (12-14) vs Burlington (6-21) 7:00 PM 7/18 (season preview)
Probable starter: Shane Baz (4.50 ERA, 26:11 SO/BB, 24.0 IP)
GCL: Pirates (8-13) vs Blue Jays 10:00 AM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates1 (18-20) vs Indians/Brewers 10:30 AM 7/18 (season preview)
DSL: Pirates2 (14-21) vs Royals2 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
From Morgantown’s game in Staten Island, Mike Gretler (10th round pick) hits an RBI double to the gap
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
7/16: Nick Burdi assigned to Bradenton on rehab.
7/16: Eric Wood placed on disabled list. Alfredo Reyes promoted to Indianapolis.
7/16: Pedro Vasquez placed on disabled list. Luis Escobar promoted to Altoona.
7/16: Jake Brentz activated from Bradenton disabled list.
7/16: Christopher Bostick assigned to GCL on rehab.
7/15: Pirates sign Alexander Mojica
7/15: Austin Meadows optioned to Indianapolis. Pirates recall Tanner Anderson
7/15: Clay Holmes optioned to Indianapolis
7/14: Austin Coley activated from Altoona disabled list.
7/14: Bo Schultz placed on Indianapolis disabled list. Jackson Williams activated from DL.
7/14: Pirates place Francisco Cervelli on DL. Recall Jacob Stallings and Clay Holmes.
7/11: Ardent Pabst promoted to Altoona. John Bormann assigned to Bradenton.
7/11: Mitch Keller and Clay Holmes assigned to Indianapolis. Sean Rodriguez assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
7/10: Joe Musgrove activated from disabled list. Alex McRae optioned to Indianapolis.
7/10: Jackson Williams placed on disabled list.
7/10: Mitch Keller assigned to Bradenton.
7/9: Sean Rodriguez assigned to Bradenton on rehab.
7/8: Francisco Cervelli activated from disabled list. Jacob Stallings optioned to Indianapolis.
7/7: Pirates activate Michael Feliz, recall Alex McRae from Indianapolis. Dovydas Neverauskas and Josh Smoker optioned to Indianapolis.
7/7: Pirates released Felix Vinicio, Pablo Santana and Carlos Garcia.
7/6: John O’Reilly assigned to Bristol. Sent back to GCL on 7/7, back to Bristol on 7/8 (really happened)
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note and a recap of a very long game. We start with the players, beginning with the most recent first. They are: Brian Rogers, who pitched for the 2006-07 Pirates, outfielder Jerry Lynch, who had two stints with the team. He was around from 1954 until 1956, then again from 1963 until 1966. He hit .263 with 45 homers in 544 games for the Pirates. Also two pitchers from the 19th century, Chummy Gray (1899) and Jim Handiboe, who pitched for the franchise in 1886, the year before they moved from the American Association to the National League.
On this date in 1998, the Pirates traded pitcher Esteban Loaiza to the Texas Rangers for pitcher Todd Van Poppel and second baseman Warren Morris. This deal looked great short-term, as Morris finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1999, but he quickly dropped off and was released just three years later. Van Poppel pitched poorly for the Pirates, while Loaiza eventually became an All-Star pitcher, though that was after his time with Texas ended.
On this date in 1914, the Pirates and Giants played 21 innings at Forbes Field. The Pirates ended up losing 3-1 with starter Babe Adams getting the loss and Giants’ starter Rube Marquard picking up the win. That’s right, a 21 inning game and only two pitchers were used. You can read a full recap from this game in the link above. Here is the boxscore from that game. Perhaps even more interesting is that the Pirates played doubleheaders the day before and the day after this game.
