The Pittsburgh Pirates bats in Australia all decided to break out in the same game, leading to a huge day on Friday for the team and the six Pirates players. Check back today at noon for our latest Pirates Winter Report article.
Australia
Sammy Siani went 4-for-5 with his sixth double, sixth homer, three runs, five RBIs and two walks, as Sydney put up 25 runs. He has a .284/.370/.557 slash line in 26 games. Here’s video of his homer.
Slammin' Sammy wasting no time to put the Blue Sox up big #ABL23 pic.twitter.com/ag8P5ztTOy
— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) December 30, 2022
Here is the double:
Sammy Siani puts the Blue Sox up 8 – 0 with a hard-hit double! #ABL23 pic.twitter.com/mvdIY6qzLv
— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) December 30, 2022
Solomon Maguire had a career day, going 5-for-5 with his first triple, first homer, three runs, three RBIs and a walk. He has a .258/.290/.348 slash line in 20 games.
AAAAND ANOTHER ONE! 💣
Solomon Maguire hits a great home run and extends the Blue Sox lead 20 – 9#ABL23 pic.twitter.com/VIZi1hxem6
— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) December 30, 2022
Dylan Shockley only had one hit, but it was a grand slam. He finished 1-for-4 with three runs scored and a HBP. He has a .208/.310/.361 slash line in 23 games.
🚨 GRAND SLAM BY DYLAN SHOCKLEY!!! 🚨#ABL23 pic.twitter.com/jXNghdu2ae
— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) December 30, 2022
Jase Bowen went 2-for-6 with his third double, his second homer, four runs, two RBIs and a walk. His home run was crushed (see video). He has a .241/.310/.380 slash line in 22 games.
Jase Bowen crushes Sydney's fourth home run of the game! 💣💥#ABL23 pic.twitter.com/VwJoG6eNhQ
— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) December 30, 2022
Ernny Ordonez went 3-for-6 with his fifth double, four runs and an RBI. He has a .283/.333/.337 slash line in 26 games.
Jesus Castillo went 2-for-4 with two walks, a run and an RBI. He has a .118/.202/.145 slash line in 22 games.
Puerto Rico
Tsung-Che Cheng went 1-for-3 with a single. He’s back up to a .200 average through 17 games, with two doubles, a triple and five walks.
Josh Palacios went 1-for-4 with a single and an RBI. He’s now hitting .227 in 18 games, with three doubles, a triple, a homer and six walks.
Duane Underwood Jr. made his second appearance and threw shutout ball again. It wasn’t as dominant as his debut when he struck out the side, but it was still a nice short outing, with one hit, no walks and one strikeout.
Colombia
Andres Alvarez went 1-for-3 with an RBI. He has a .361 average and a 1.033 OPS in 36 games.
Francisco Acuna went 0-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored. He has a .250 average and an .812 OPS in 34 games.
Rodolfo Nolasco went 0-for-3. He’s hitting .202 with a .663 OPS in 32 games.
John 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.
Whatever’s in the water down under, bottle it and bring it home, boys!
HNY, P2!
Siani’s two big hits were against LHPs as well. Nice signs. Let’s hope he’s figured some things out and has a breakout season ahead.
Interesting to see Siani go the other way twice. At Bradenton last year he was trying to pull everything .
I have only seen a few videos of him, but he seems to lack the eye necessary to be taken seriously as a hitter. He seems to produce random results because he hacks randomly: sometimes pulling, sometimes going the other way, regardless of what pitch he is swinging at. He seems to lack a plan to hit the pitches as they present. To me, he is just a decent athlete without any understanding of what he is trying to do… I hope to be wrong, but for the moment, I am unimpressed.
The thing that always bothered me the most, watching him in 2021, was how much he struggled with swing decisions. He has a short, quick swing, which scouts love, but putting it to use has been a struggle.
His swing looks different to me now. It looks like it is staying in the zone longer. I hope that is the case, because he already has the zone discipline to be good hitter.
Siani is hitting his way out of my doghouse; it will be interesting to see how he starts out the 1st 6 weeks repeating as a ‘Hopper.