All of Thursday’s action for the Pittsburgh Pirates was in Colombia.
Andres Alvarez went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. He has a .357 average and a 1.023 OPS in 38 games. He has dropped off in the Triple Crown chase with just two games left in the season. He still ranks top five in average, homers and RBIs.
Francisco Acuna went 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored. He has a .240 average and a .780 OPS in 37 games.
Puerto Rico
The regular season ended in Puerto Rico on Wednesday. The teams with Tsung-Che Cheng, Duane Underwood Jr. and Josh Palacios all made the playoffs, which begin tomorrow.
Cheng finished with a .182/.270/.242 slash line in 19 games. He had two doubles, a triple, two steals and a 7:12 BB/SO ratio in 74 plate appearances. His 16.2% strikeout rate was better than the 20.7% strikeout rate he had during the regular season.
Cheng will continue to see action in the playoffs, then he will join fellow Bradenton teammate Po-Yu Chen on team Taiwan in the World Baseball Classic.
Palacios hit .214/.291/.329 in 81 plate appearances over 20 games.
Underwood Jr. made three scoreless appearances, throwing one inning each time. He struck out six batters in his three innings.
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.
Winter leagues have been a bit underwhelming this year, but your coverage has been superb as usual, John.
Thanks for keeping us informed!
I’m putting all my eggs in the Andres Alvarez basket
There are better baskets to put eggs into than that one.
I just meant as far as this winter league is concerned. He certainly got my attention
what about the guy from San Marino?
Alessandro Ercolani. He has played for Team Italy in competitions before, but I’m not sure if he is ready for WBC play. I guess it depends on how many players they get from the U.S. to play on that team.
Will be great experience to have some buccos in the WBC!
isn´t Bednar pitching for USA?
There will be plenty of Pirates players in the WBC, all of the teams haven’t been announced yet.