The Indianapolis Indians are the only affiliate in action, beginning their season with a short three-game homestand against the Omaha Storm Chasers.
The prospect star power for the Pittsburgh Pirates will be on display this weekend with their Triple-A affiliate. The starting rotation will have the Pirates top three pitching prospects in Mike Burrows, Quinn Priester, and Luis Ortiz.
Ortiz and Burrows are set to toe the rubber this weekend, along with Caleb Smith sandwiched in-between. The catcher they’ll be throwing to — on most days — will be top prospect Endy Rodriguez. After Endy, the position player group includes Nick Gonzales, Malcom Nunez and Travis Swaggerty.
Unfortunately, if you were looking for a big time prospect matchup, the Omaha Storm Chasers are not that team. The Kansas City Royals’ affiliate has seen quite a few graduations over the last few years, so the upper level prospect depth has thinned out.
Jackson Kowar (RHP), the Royals 2018 first round draft pick and former top 100 prospect, had a difficult 2022 season and will look to get back on track. Nick Pratto (1B) was the Royals 2017 first round pick, and also former top 100 prospect. He had a strong 2022 season in the minors, but a rough debut in the majors, carrying a .657 OPS across his first 182 plate appearances.
I have yet to see set rosters, but I imagine there is at least a chance we get to catch former Pirates farmhand Robbie Glendinning (The Great Glen-Dinger) in Royal blue this weekend.
Triple-A: Indianapolis Indians
Opponent: OMAHA (ROYALS)
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- MAIKEL GARCIA | SS | 3
- NICK LOFTIN | UTIL | 4
- SAMAD TAYLOR | 2B/OF | 21
Pirates Prospects Daily
By John Dreker
The Pirates are off today, but as you just read, the minor league season starts today. The Prospect Watch will be posted after the game has ended tonight. We will also post the full Indianapolis roster once it becomes available.
Pirates 5, Reds 4: Oneil Cruz and Ji-Hwan Bae Lead Buccos to Opening Day Victory
Pirates Roundtable: How Many Games Will the Pirates Win in 2023?
Opening Day Roster: Pirates Place Brubaker, Garcia and Stephenson on Injured List
Pirates DVR: Esmerlyn Valdez’s Arm, Owen Kellington, Antwone Kelly Pitching
Missed yesterday? Opening Day is a Fresh Opportunity to Take the Next Step
Song of the Day
Raised in Cranberry Twp, PA, Jeff attended Kent State University and worked in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, before moving to New Orleans in September of 2012. His background is as an Engineering Designer, but he has always had a near unhealthy passion for Pittsburgh sports. Hockey and Baseball are his 1A and 1B, combined with his mathematical background, it's led to Jeff's desire in diving into analytics. Jeff is known as Bucs'N'Pucks in the comments, and began writing for Pirates Prospects in 2022 after contributing so many useful bits of information in the comment section.
It looks like Reynolds wants an opt out, but they agreed on $106M.
When are the minor league previews dropping?
Can start once we have rosters.
Looks like indy was just released, notable for no mason martin, yes nick gonzales but no peggy, and nicolas repeating AA
how to stream watch the minor league games?
Don’t know if this is an option for you, but if you join the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association for $25 they give you a 50% discount on MLB.tv which includes the minor league games this year. I think it is a great deal for those of us outside the Pittsburgh tv market.
I read recently that all minor league games are being streamed for free by mlb
I just dont know the url to stream from
Good to (any) MiLB baseball is back!!!
A lot to like from the indians roster this year, the mlb squad could have some really nice midseason reinforcements to look forward to
Swagg’s needed AB’s at AAA although he had 400+ PA at AAA in 2022 and CSN had half that number at AAA? Is that not strange? I think they should both be a part of a Pirate 4 man OF later this year, but that decision to put CSN on the active and send Swagg’s back to AAA has hair all over it!
Although I like Suwinski, he should have been the man with the short straw. There is no evidence that the strikeout issue has improved.
It probably won’t improve. He’s a TTO guy, I’m not sure what people thought would change.
you mean two true outcomes, I presume
Same here and it seems like they didn’t do either Swags or Jack any favors. It would seem to make more sense to give your former #1 a shot at proving whether he belongs or not and let Jack get those ab’s and work on cutting down his strikeouts. Also giving Swags that chance shores up your outfield defense which is kind of a thing, lol.
Don’t get me started! Lol
Fair question.
Let’s hope that wave is finally a wave and not the emptying of the kiddie pool.