The Pirates usually promote at least a few of their minor leaguers around the mid-point of the minor league season in June. Of course, this year, there have probably been more than the usual promotions even earlier than that, mostly among pitchers. The dumpster fire the Pirates call a pitching staff has created a considerable amount of upward suction. Still, there are probably at least a few more players in the system who’ve had good enough first halves to earn a ticket to a higher level. Here are some guesses about potential promotions. (Stats are through Monday’s games unless otherwise stated.)
GREENSBORO
Lolo Sanchez, OF: The Grasshoppers have several players repeating the level and they’re obvious candidates for mid-season moves, because they’ve had big seasons so far. Two of them, though — Rodolfo Castro and Mason Martin — have significant contact issues that might motivate the Pirates to hold them back longer. Castro in particular has slumped of late, batting just .156 so far in June. Lolo Sanchez, on the other hand, has an OPS of .852 and has improved his contact skills substantially: He’s striking out in only a tenth of his plate appearances. There isn’t currently an opening in the Bradenton outfield, but that could be fixed easily (see below).
Osvaldo Bido and Alex Manasa, RHPs: The Pirates have already promoted two of Greensboro’s original starters, but Bido and Manasa could be good candidates as well. Bido would be a particularly good candidate, because he signed at a later age than usual and will turn 24 in October. He had a few rough games in mid-May, but has pitched well his last two times out and is having a strong season overall, with a WHIP of 1.05 and BB/9 of 2.2. Manasa, a JuCo draftee, is only 21, which could be a reason for the Pirates to take it slower with him. But he’s already spent two seasons in short-season ball and has made significant strides this year, with even better control than Bido and a sharply improved K rate (from 5.2 per nine innings to 8.2).
Will Gardner and Yerry De Los Santos, RHPs: Both Gardner and De Los Santos joined the Grasshoppers partway into the season and, being relievers, neither has reached 15 IPs yet. Both have dominated so far, though, and the Pirates often promote relievers much more rapidly than starters. Gardner, though, was drafted as a college senior and is 23 now. De Los Santos missed two years and most of a third due to Tommy John surgery, but he’s still only 21, which may give Gardner a better chance of moving up. Gardner currently has a WHIP of 1.17 and K/9 of 11.9. De Los Santos’ figures, after last night, are an even more impressive 0.68 and 12.9.
BRADENTON
Robbie Glendinning, IF: Glendinning is one of the more surprising players in the system right now. After being drafted, he appeared likely to settle in as an organizational utility player, but he’s been hitting a ton so far. Due to injuries, he played briefly with Altoona to start the season and put up an .848 OPS. Since returning to the offense-stifling environs of the Florida State League, he’s raked at a .972 clip. He’ll be 24 in October, but as a native of Australia, it’s possible he just needed longer to catch up. There’s no obvious reason for him not to return to Altoona to see if his hitting so far is real. With Stephen Alemais out, the Curve don’t have any middle infielders who appear to be prospects.
Chris Sharpe, OF: If there’s one player in the system who deserves a June promotion, it’s Sharpe. He has an OPS of .855, good for third in a league where the norm is .668. (Glendinning would be leading the league, but he doesn’t have quite enough ABs.) He’s also cut his strikeout rate sharply while maintaining a solid walk rate. He’s also red hot now, with an OPS of 1.165 so far in ten June games. Having turned 23 a few days ago, Sharpe is a little old for a prospect at this level, so it’d be nice to see what he can do in AA. Altoona has only two real prospects in the outfield (Jared Oliva and Bligh Madris, both of whom are struggling), so there’s a readily available opening.
Aaron Shortridge, RHP: The Pirates have sometimes moved their more prominent college pitching draftees — Shortridge was a 4th round pick out of UCal Berkeley — up to AA at some point in their first full seasons if they’ve been doing well. Shortridge has had some ups and downs this year, but mostly ups. He has a 1.07 WHIP and is walking very few hitters. It’s hard to say when the Pirates might think he’s ready to move up, but Pedro Vasquez seems very likely to return to Indianapolis (see below) and that could create an opening.
ALTOONA
Hunter Owen, 3B: Owen is having a huge season for the Curve, with a 299/367/578 line through Tuesday, including 14 home runs. His BB:K ratio of 15:64 is a red flag, as is the fact that he’ll turn 26 shortly after the season ends, but it’d be nice to see if this might be a real breakout. Of course, he’s not going to be playing third at Indianapolis any time soon (unless Ke’Bryan Hayes is hurt, which may have happened last night), but he was originally an outfielder and could play there instead of J.B. Shuck and Trayvon Robinson.
Pedro Vasquez, RHP: Vasquez actually did get to Indianapolis briefly. His first start went badly, but his second one was outstanding. That just got him sent back to AA, where he has a 2.60 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. He’s still only 23 and, after a rough 2018 season, seems to have taken a step forward. With Mitch Keller bound for Pittsburgh, Vasquez may be headed back to AAA by the time you read this.
Blake Cederlind and Beau Sulser, RHPs, and Blake Weiman, LHP: The Pirates’ bullpen is currently employing a revolving set of about half a dozen relievers who are doing little more than throwing batting practice. What’s more, the front office has made it clear that they’re not going to spend a dime to address the issue (can’t expect them to compete with big-revenue teams like the Tampa Bay Rays, who made a serious run at Craig Kimbrel). So it seems like a good idea to get a look at the AAA level at any reliever who’s shown the ability to get through an inning without massive carnage. Cederlind (1.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP), Sulser (1.27 ERA, 0.96 WHIP) and Weiman (1.96 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 11.8 K/9) have all been good to outstanding at Altoona. Cederlind has had some control issues and Sulser doesn’t miss a lot of bats, while Weiman has been very strong all around, so he probably has the best case to move up.
INDIANAPOLIS
I’m not going to get into players like Cole Tucker, Jason Martin, Kevin Kramer and Will Craig because folks are quite familiar with all of them. But two pitchers could conceivably help out in the fairly short term with the Pirates’ disastrous pitching situation.
Luis Escobar, RHP: After getting moved to relief and demoted to Bradenton to start the season, Escobar suddenly seems to be reviving his prospect status as a starter in AAA. It may have been a temporary move at first, but he’s extended past five innings now and had another strong start last night. Escobar has only thrown 24.2 IP in AAA, but he’s allowed just 12 hits and 11 walks, and struck out 24. He could be a short-term option in the bullpen or a slightly longer-term one for the rotation, and he’s already on the 40-man roster.
Jake Brentz, LHP: Last year Brentz was still throwing in the upper-90s with no control at all. The result was a disastrous season that included a demotion from Altoona to Bradenton. This year he’s ramped down the velocity and found the strike zone. He won a quick promotion to AAA and, in 16.2 IP there has given up just ten hits and three walks, while fanning 23. You’d normally like to see him get a bit more time in AAA and he’d have to be added to the 40-man roster. Considering the horrendous performances the Pirates are getting from numerous relievers, though, and their unwillingness to spend any money, they might as well give Brentz a look now.
PLAYOFF PUSH
Altoona is in second place in their division, seven games back with eight games remaining in the first half.
Bradenton was eliminated from the first half playoffs. For some unannounced reason, the first half is only 66 games and the second half is 74. By my math, that’s not half.
Greensboro was eliminated from the first half playoffs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 7-5 to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night. The Pirates will send out Mitch Keller for his second start. His only big league start consisted of six runs in the first inning, followed by three shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds on May 27th. He had seven strikeouts that night. His last minor league game was 13 strikeouts over five shutout innings on Friday. The Braves will counter with 21-year-old right-hander Mike Soroka, who has a 1.38 ERA in 65.1 innings, with 57 strikeouts and an 0.97 WHIP. He has thrown shutout ball twice in ten starts. Given up one earned run in seven of his starts, and he allowed three earned runs over 6.2 innings against the Detroit Tigers on June 1st.
The minor league schedule includes the morning completion of a suspended game in Bradenton, followed by a start from Max Kranick. The Marauders lead the suspended game 1-0 in the third. The second game will be seven innings long. Kranick has gone at least six innings in each of his last four starts, posting a 2.73 ERA during that stretch. He had a 5.50 ERA through his first eight starts, though he had a 2.91 ERA at the end of April. Kranick had three games to start May in which he allowed 14 runs in 12.2 innings. Indianapolis will send out Cam Vieaux, who gave up just one run over five innings in his last start, but he has walked 11 batters in 15 innings since being promoted to Triple-A. Greensboro’s Alex Manasa has not allowed more than three earned runs in a start this season. He’s making his 13th start tonight. In his last start, Altoona’s Sean Brady allowed five runs on ten hits in six innings. That broke a stretch of three starts with a total of five runs over 19.2 innings.
MLB: Pittsburgh (30-36) @ Braves (38-29) 7:20 PM
Probable starter: Mitch Keller (13.50 ERA, 7:2 SO/BB, 4.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (35-27) vs Buffalo (28-34) 1:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (4.80 ERA, 12:11 SO/BB, 15.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (31-30) vs Portland (21-39) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Sean Brady (4.91 ERA 20:8 SO/BB, 36.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (35-28) @ Charlotte (33-30) 10:30 AM (season preview)
Probable starter: Max Kranick (4.30 ERA, 48:21 SO/BB, 60.2 IP)
Low-A: Greensboro (41-24) vs Hickory (39-23) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex Manasa (3.31 ERA, 64:14 SO/BB, 70.2 IP)
DSL: Pirates1 (5-4) vs Cubs1 (3-6) 10:30 AM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates2 (7-2) vs Mariners (4-5) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
From Indianapolis, the third home run of the season from Ke’Bryan Hayes
BuT hE cAn'T hIt TrIpLe-A pItChInG.#rOlLtRiBe pic.twitter.com/hY2S8xenQf
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) June 10, 2019
Pedro Vasquez has three straight shutout performances. Here’s a strikeout pitch from his last game, one of eight strikeouts on the day
Make it
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
6/11: Pirates sign six draft picks.
6/11: Dovydas Neverauskas recalled from Indianapolis. Alex McRae optioned to Indianapolis
6/11: Cody Bolton activated from injured list. Hunter Stratton added from Extended Spring Training. Dean Lockery and Matt Morrow assigned to Extended ST.
6/11: Kyle Mottice assigned to Extended Spring Training
6/11: Chris Stratton assigned to Indianapolis on rehab
6/10: Pirates sign Quinn Priester
6/10: Jordan Lyles placed on injured list. Montana DuRapau recalled from Indianapolis.
6/10: Robbie Glendinning and Jesse Medrano activated from suspended list. Allen Montgomery assigned to Greensboro.
6/9: Shea Murray assigned to Bradenton. Hunter Stratton assigned to Extended Spring Training
6/8: Pirates recall Corey Dickerson, Jung Ho Kang and Michael Feliz. Nick Kingham designated for assignment. Cole Tucker optioned to Indianapolis. Rookie Davis placed on injured list.
6/8: Brad Case assigned to Bradenton. Luis Nova assigned to Greensboro.
6/7: Matt Morrow and Dean Lockery added to Bradenton roster. Robbie Glendinning and Jesse Medrano suspended (by league).
6/5: Jesus Liranzo sent outright to Indianapolis. Trayvon Robinson placed on injured list.
6/4: Deon Stafford and Hunter Stratton suspended (by league). Shea Murray assigned to Extended Spring Training. John Bormann and Luis Nova added to Bradenton roster.
6/3: Cody Bolton placed on injured list
6/2: Pirates release Randolph Gassaway
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
One former Pittsburgh Pirates player born on this date, plus one small trade of note and a special pitching performance from 45 years ago today. We start with the player, and that was second baseman Otto Knabe, who played for the Pirates in 1905 and then again in 1916. He was just a rookie when the Pirates brought him up late in the 1905 season for a brief tryout. By the time he came back, he was on the downside of his career. Knabe was without a job at the start of the 1916 season and the Pirates brought him in for a tryout. He was out of shape, so it was basically his Spring Training, but injuries forced him into the lineup ahead of schedule and he did not perform well. His total time with the Pirates was less than two months, but he was actually a really good player in between his brief stops. One interesting note about the start of his 1916 season and it seems like a misprint now, but it was a sign of the times. He wasn’t signed to a contract when he first got into games that season.
On this date in 1946, the Pirates and Braves exchanged struggling outfielders, with Chuck Workman headed towards Pittsburgh and Johnny Barrett going to Boston. Workman was batting .167 at the time of the deal, while Barrett’s average was just two points higher. The trade ended up being a draw, as Workman struggled in a platoon role and Barrett got injured. By the start of the next season, both players were in the minors and never returned to the big leagues.
On this date in 1970, Dock Ellis threw the sixth no-hitter in team history (two were shortened games). This is the famous game in which he supposedly pitched that day while on LSD. It’s a claim that is disputed by some, but makes a good story now. A recap can be found in a link above, while the boxscore for the game can be viewed here.
