Sunday’s action for the Pittsburgh Pirates starts in Australia, where once again, six Pirates players were in the starting lineup. If you missed it from yesterday, our weekly Winter Report article focused on the struggles of Rodolfo Castro, while also mentioning a total of 32 players.
In Australia, Sammy Siani went 2-for-3 with a single, solo homer and his third stolen base. The home run is his second of the winter. He’s hitting .265 with a .770 OPS in 15 games.
Jase Bowen went 0-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. He’s hitting .263 with a .616 OPS in 12 games.
Jesus Castillo went 0-for-2. He’s batting .108 with a .322 OPS in 11 games.
Ernny Ordonez went 2-for-2 with two singles, a walk and an RBI. He’s batting .260 with a .639 OPS in 15 games.
Solomon Maguire went 2-for-4 with two singles and a run scored. He’s hitting .229 with a .479 OPS in 12 games.
Dylan Shockley went 0-for-2 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly. He’s hitting .220 with a .620 OPS in 14 games.
In Venezuela, Diego Castillo went 0-for-4 in what will be his final game of the winter. He batted .342 with a 1.001 OPS in 22 games, mostly playing shortstop, but he also saw time at second base, third base and right field.
In Puerto Rico, Tsung-Che Cheng debuted as a pinch-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader and he went 0-for-1. He started at shortstop in the second game and had a 1-for-3 game. Cheng hit .270/.376/.418 for Bradenton this year in 104 games, leading the league with 79 runs and seven triples, while finishing second with 33 steals.
Will Kobos pitched two innings and retired all six batters he faced, one on a strikeout. He has 11 strikeouts and one run allowed in 8.2 innings.
Shawn Ross went 1-for-3 with a single, run scored and two strikeouts in game one of a doubleheader. He went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in the second game. He has a .109 average and a .407 OPS in 21 games.
In Colombia, Rodolfo Nolasco went 0-for-3 with a walk. He has a .250 average and an .850 OPS in 18 games.
Andres Alvarez went 1-for-4 with two walks, two runs and two RBIs. He’s hitting .343 with a 1.064 OPS in 16 games.
Diego Chiquillo tossed a scoreless inning on no hits, one walk and one strikeout. He has allowed two runs in 7.2 innings, with ten walks and eight strikeouts.
Cristian Charle threw 1.2 scoreless innings on one hit, one walk and no strikeouts. He has a 5.40 ERA in 8.1 innings, with 11 strikeouts.
Francisco Acuna went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He has a .208 average and a .621 OPS in 18 games.
In Mexico, Jared Oliva went 1-for-4. He is now hitting .276 with a .733 OPS in 44 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.
After seeing Cheng in Pirate city and a half dozen games split between Bradenton and away at Daytona. He’s going to move fast thruthe system
Perfect SS scenerio:
Bae-starts in Indy (service time) mostly SS reps with some CF mixed in
Peguero-stays in Altoona and forgets his 2nd half collapse and instead has a REPEAT start and improves his defense, WHICH HE CAN’T DO PLAYING 2B
Cheng-IMO if Peggy had dominated and been moved to Indy, Cheng could have held is own in Altoona and skipped High A
Hopefully all 3 rake the first two months and both move up when
Bae gets the CALL
Cheng need nickname,
This kid brings energy all over the field
MILB sreaming is the best thing since sliced bread, but not close to being out there
J. Castillo went halfway around the world just to stink up the joint? Better to stay home !
I think it’s great experience for him. He’s playing well above his current level. There’s a huge difference between the FCL and the ABL, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t getting any good from it. He’s handled 52 chances at shortstop without an error. I’m sure they knew ahead of time that he would have trouble on offense in this league
I hope the staff & teammates help him keep his head up!
Puerto rico should be a nice challenge for cheng, at least at a level of bradenton right?
It’s a great challenge. Much better than Low-A. He’s going to face some big league pitchers, and plenty of guys with Triple-A experience
Love this, cheng has performed very strongly the last 2 seasons and could be fun to see him really take off