Indianapolis is the last team on the schedule in the minors for the Pirates. They are playing a night game tonight. They have already been eliminated from the playoffs, so basically this is just nine more games to get some time in for prospects, including the ones joining the team from Altoona.
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
TRIPLE-A: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
Game Time: 6:35 PM
Box Score: LINK
Starting Pitcher: Cody Bolton (4-2, 3.14)
- Final Line: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO
Notable Performances:
David Bednar 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
Tucupita Marcano 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Ji-hwan Bae 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, BB, 2 SB
Blake Sabol 0-for-4, BB
Travis Swaggerty 3-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, SB
Game Recap:
Indianapolis won 9-1 on Monday. Cody Bolton started and allowed two hits over three shutout innings, with no walks and five strikeouts. He now has a 3.01 ERA for the season in 74.1 innings, with 81 strikeouts. David Bednar followed with his third rehab outing. He tossed a shutout inning on 14 pitches (11 strikes), with one hit and two strikeouts. Zach Matson tossed two shutout innings. Travis MacGregor allowed one run in two innings. Eric Hanhold struck out three batters in the ninth to finish out the game. Indianapolis pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts. The Indians got two-run homers from Tucupita Marcano and Brendt Citta to lead the offense. Marcano had two walks, while Citta hit his ninth double. Travis Swaggerty had three hits and drove in two runs. He hit his 15th double and stole his 17th base. Ji-hwan Bae had a productive game, going 2-for-4 with his 22nd double, a walk, three runs scored and two steals, giving him 29 steals on the season.
+ postsJohn 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.
A very nice outing by Cody Bolton, and I hope that is his last appearance for him this year. 74 IP with a 3 ERA and more than a K/IP after missing the better part of the last 2 years, is better than most expected. Time to shut him down for 2022. He could help the Pirates in 2023.
Endy got added to the pipeline top 100 which is well overdue imo, if anyone is into that kind of thing
Somewhat related, for those interested, Kiley listed his ten breakout prospects and another 24 honorable mentions. The NL Central is well-represented: the Brewers have the top breakout prospect (Chourio), the Reds have two in the top 10 and another two honorable mentions, and the Cards also have four listed. I was disappointed, though, that no Pirates were listed. Seems like Endy should have made it–I’m not sure what more he could have done.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/34619926/the-10-mlb-prospects-had-breakout-seasons-2022
I noticed the same. Am curious why most of these major outlets seem to be a bit lower on him as i feel like his numbers this year stack up against most anyone and hes certainly not old for his level. Second straight year of big numbers so not like its not an outlier. My guess is that they arent seeing as much ceiling from him, but a 22 yo catcher with an ops above .900 at AA feels like it has plenty of ceiling
220 points above .900 including a HR every 15 AB, and 18 BB and only 21 K’s. Equally special is the 45% CS Rate in AA – 10 caught stealing in 22 attempts.
The Pirates have been deliberately slow to react, which I think had more to do with concerns regarding changing the order of prospect Catchers. Regarding the major outlets, he has caught them by surprise also as a ?C? who has played 1B, 2B, and LF in addition to his time behind the plate this year. The Mets started that trend with him playing multiple positions when he was at Lo A because they knew he could never displace Alvarez, who was a level above.
The AA Season has ended. If the Pirates react to this plus plus season from Endy Rodriguez by getting him time in MLB, the major outlets will react accordingly. Don’t bet on that happening, it is the Pirates after all.
Indy playing on a Monday? Unusual. Also, how did Swaggerty get his OPS up near .800? If he can continue to play really good D in center, that is a very good player.
Before tonight, he was actually just below league average since being sent down by the Pirates in mid-June. He had a .747 OPS in 64 games coming into tonight, with the league at a .749 OPS this year.
Another way to slice the data is to look at his OPS excluding his awful April (.506 OPS) giving him a pass on his first month back after missing so much time. Since May 1 he’s over .800 for the season. The most interesting thing, though is the variation. That .800 consists of two months with an OPS near .900 and two with an OPS near .700.
He’s listed now at .778 (good night). Walk rate is good, power a little lacking.
Any word on who is moving up?
Not yet, but we will hear soon.
…or maybe we won’t. Lineup for tonight has no one new. Possibly they are joining tomorrow instead. I thought that could be a possibility, but I figured day game yesterday, night today, they would have time