A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time or loses his prospect eligibility (Colin Moran, Nick Kingham, Edgar Santana, Kyle Crick, Max Moroff and Dovydas Neverauskas), 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 our updated 2018 Mid-Season Prospect Guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Mitch Keller, RHP, Indianapolis – 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
2. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Altoona – 1-for-3, BB
3. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – 0-for-4
4. Oneil Cruz, SS, West Virginia – DNP
5. Travis Swaggerty, CF, West Virginia – 1-for-4, 3B
6. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Indianapolis – 3-for-7, BB
7. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – 0-for-3, 2 BB
8. Calvin Mitchell, OF, West Virginia – 1-for-4
9. Luis Escobar, RHP, Altoona – DNP
10. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
11. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Altoona – 0-for-3, BB
12. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – DNP
13. Jason Martin, OF, Indianapolis – 0-for-3
14. Will Craig, 1B, Altoona – 0-for-4
15. Nick Burdi, RHP, Indianapolis – 0.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
16. Braxton Ashcraft, RHP, GCL Pirates – DNP
17. Travis MacGregor, RHP, West Virginia – DNP
18. Braeden Ogle, LHP, West Virginia – DNP
19. Lolo Sanchez, CF, West Virginia – 2-for-4
20. JT Brubaker, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
21. Jared Oliva, CF, Bradenton – DNP
22. Ji-Hwan Bae, SS, GCL Pirates – DNP
23. Cody Bolton, RHP, West Virginia – DNP
24. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Indianapolis – DNP
25. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – DNP
26. Stephen Alemais, 2B/SS, Altoona – DNP
27. Max Kranick, RHP, West Virginia – 5 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
28. Sherten Apostel, 3B, Bristol – DNP
29. Mason Martin, 1B, Bristol – DNP
30. Steven Jennings, RHP, Bristol – DNP
Indianapolis won 7-3 over Scranton/WB in the first game of a doubleheader.
Mitch Keller got the start and was throwing a gem until he got touched up a little in the sixth inning. Keller finished with six innings pitched, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk. He had seven strikeouts and threw 65 of 97 pitches for strikes. Prior to the sixth inning, he allowed two singles in the first inning and a walk in the third. Tanner Anderson finished the game off, allowing one run in his only inning.
Ryan Lavarnway went 4-for-4 with a double and he drove in two runs. He was also one of eight Indianapolis batters to draw a walk. Only Eric Wood didn’t walk and he had an RBI double. Kevin Kramer reached base four times on three singles and a walk. Max Moroff had two walks, a run scored and an RBI. Jose Osuna drove in two runs. Pablo Reyes had a triple, two walks and his tenth stolen base.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
In game two, Damien Magnifico got the start and threw two scoreless innings. He gave way to Nick Burdi, who returned from a left quad strain that had him out two weeks. He moved his rehab up from Altoona and ran into some trouble while pitching on a 20-pitch limit. Burdi gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits and no walks, with one strikeout. Steven Brault followed with 1.1 scoreless, then another rehab arm came out. AJ Schugel allowed one run over the final two innings, as Indianapolis lost 3-1.
Wyatt Mathisen homered for the only run. Jerrick Suiter hit a single, Pablo Reyes hit a double and Erich Weiss hit a triple. Indianapolis had four hits and got a team cycle. Jose Osuna walked for the only other base runner.
You can view the season preview here.
Altoona won 3-2 over New Hampshire.
James Marvel made his second Double-A start and this one was better than the first when he gave up two runs over 6.2 innings. Marvel allowed just one run on Wednesday night, throwing seven innings with four hits and a walk. He had five strikeouts, a 12:5 GO/AO ratio and he threw 64 of 92 pitches for strikes. Sean Keselica gave up a run in the eight on a hit and two walks, while recording two outs. Matt Eckelman finished out the eighth, keeping it a 3-2 score, then got the save with a scoreless ninth.
The Curve got on the board in the third inning on a solo homer from Jordan George, his fifth of the season. They added two more runs on a double by Jin-De Jhang. Singles by Ke’Bryan Hayes and Logan Hill were the only other hits for Altoona. Hayes also had a walk and scored a run.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bradenton lost 2-1 to Clearwater.
Domingo Robles made his second start for Bradenton, trying to bounce back from nine earned runs over 3.1 innings in his debut. His start on Wednesday couldn’t have been any different than last week. Robles tossed seven shutout innings on three hits and one walk, with four strikeouts and an 8:5 GO/AO ratio. Deivy Mendez allowed two runs in the eighth for the loss.
The Marauders scored their run in the fourth when Mitchell Tolman led off with a double, then scored one batter later on a Casey Hughston single. Not much happened after that besides Adrian Valerio being ejected from the game for arguing a strike call. I’ll note that when I posted this, the boxscore was wrong and will be updated. It says Tolman left in the fourth, but that didn’t happen. It was Valerio who left and Hunter Owen replaced him, with Brett Pope sliding over to shortstop . Basically, after the fourth, Tolman did what Owen is credited for at the plate and Owen did everything attributed to Valerio. On defense after the ejection, Valerio = Pope and Pope= Tolman (this might be fixed by the time you read it, but I’m leaving this just in case). Oh yeah, the Marauders had no walks and 15 strikeouts.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
West Virginia lost 5-2 to Columbia.
Max Kranick got the start and he gave up four runs (three earned) over five innings, on nine hits and a walk. He picked up seven strikeouts, giving him 69 strikeouts in 69 innings this season. Joel Cesar followed and gave up one run on a solo homer. It was the only runner he allowed over four innings and he struck out five batters.
Travis Swaggerty, Connor Kaiser and Luke Mangieri each made their West Virginia debut. Swaggerty tripled in his first at-bat, then went 0-for-3 the rest of the night. Kaiser was 0-for-3 and Mangieri singled home a run. Lolo Sanchez had two hits. Deon Stafford and Dylan Busby each doubled in the fifth for the first Power run.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Morgantown won 2-0 over Batavia.
Nicholas Economos (pictured up top) got the start and had a career night, throwing six shutout innings. He allowed two hits, one walk and struck out a career high nine batters. He set a career best in strikeouts with seven last Wednesday, so that mark lasted all of one week. It helped that Batavia is one of the worst team in the league, but it was still an impressive outing. The two reliever who followed nearly struck out the lineup over the final three innings. Francis Del Orbe had five strikeouts in two frames, and Logan Stoelke struck out the side in the ninth.
Daniel Amaral and Edison Lantigua both hit solo homers for the only two runs in the game. It was the fourth of the season for Amaral and second for Lantigua. Amaral also singled and picked up his 18th stolen base. Fabricio Macias doubled and Grant Koch walked three times.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bristol had off on Wednesday
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
The GCL Pirates
Santiago Florez got the start today and yesterday we found out some interesting information on the 6’5″, 18-year-old from Colombia. MLB Pipeline put him in their top 30 Pirates prospects yesterday after the Baz trade. I thought it was an odd inclusion with everything I knew about Florez, who is someone who I thought had a lot of potential.
In that write-up I noted that he threw low-90s and added stamina this year. What I didn’t know that sometime since mid-June, he has started to hit 96 MPH. When I read that yesterday I didn’t believe it because I’ve received at least six updates on him since April of last year, none higher than sitting 91-92 MPH. Sure he touched higher, but until I confirmed it with multiple people at Pirate City yesterday, I believed that maybe he hit 96 once and the potential was there. Apparently, he hits 96 MPH often enough that you could include it in his fastball range. He still has control issues to overcome, but he turned 18 in May. When I said he was a name to remember for the future, I certainly didn’t mean seven weeks later.
On Wednesday, Florez cruised through two innings, before allowing two runs on four hits in the third, which ended his day. In three innings, he gave up two runs on five hits and one walk, with four strikeouts. Hai-Cheng Gong followed with an impressive outing, throwing four shutout innings. His previous long outing was 3.1 innings. Saul de la Cruz tossed two shutout innings to finish things off.
Almost everyone had big days on offense. Samuel Inoa put this game well out of reach with a ninth inning grand slam, his third homer of the season. Jack Herman, who was leading the GCL in hitting coming into the day, went 2-for-6 and drove in two runs. His lead was cut to nine points over the second place hitter (.366 vs .357). The current third place hitter isn’t in the league anymore and won’t have enough plate appearances to qualify for league leaders, so the next batter Herman has to worry about needs to make up 24 points in nine games.
Pat Dorrian and Matt Morrow each had three hits, three runs scored and an RBI. Morrow had the bigger day, also adding two walks. Steven Kraft had a single, double and drove in two runs. Francisco Acuna had two singles, a double, two runs scored and an RBI.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
The DSL Pirates1 lost 9-5 to the Red Sox2.
Arlinthon De Dios got the start and allowed five runs (two earned) over 3.2 innings, with six hits, two walks and three strikeouts. Oscar Echarry was out next and he gave up one run in 1.1 innings. Wilger Camacho threw three shutout frames before Miguel Peralta surrendered three runs in the ninth.
Carlos Arroyo went 2-for-3 with two walks and a run scored. Juan Pie had a double, walk, run scored and an RBI. He’s batting .273 through 52 games, with 12 doubles, eight triples, two homers and 30 walks. Emilson Rosado hit his tenth double and drove in his 29th run. Rayvi Rodriguez had a double, triple, RBI and two runs scored.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
The DSL Pirates2 won 4-1 over the Tigers2
Mario Garcia had an impressive start and Luis Peralta finished the game off strong. Garcia went six innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk, with seven strikeouts. That gives him a 2.23 ERA in 40.1 innings, with 37 strikeouts. Peralta faced one batter over the minimum in three innings, and that one extra was only due to an error. He struck out four batters and had a 3:1 GO/AO ratio.
The Pirates got a lot of help on offense due to five errors from the Tigers2. Mariano Dotel had the only RBI for the Pirates. He also hit a single, a double and scored a run. Angel Basabe went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts. He collected his eighth double and scored a run. Eduar Ramirez had a single and a walk. Tilsaimy Melfor had a single, run scored and a stolen base.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview for both teams here.
