The upper levels of the Pittsburgh Pirates affiliates have been running into a gauntlet of high ranking opposition, and this week is no different even while there’s quite a few high profile injuries.
The Indianapolis Indians are coming off a week of facing a quality St. Louis Cardinals Triple-A squad, that saw them go 1-5 in the series. Now they’ll turn around and take on Cleveland Guardians affiliate Columbus Clippers who are among the top 5 in both team ERA and team OPS. The Clippers have four of the Guardians top ten prospects — all Top 100 prospects — with George Valera currently on the injured list. There would have been a fifth Top 100, but LHP Logan Allen was recently promoted for his big league debut. That said, it’s not out of question that Top 100 RHP Gavin Williams may move up this week from Akron. A final name of note is infielder Tyler Freeman. He was a Top 100 prospect over the previous three seasons, but saw his stock decline while also surpassing active MLB service time limits for Pipeline’s list.
The Altoona Curve are coming off of winning four of five — Saturday was postponed due to rain — against the Bowie Baysox, and looking to continue against the last placed Reading Fightin Phils. At first glance they appeared to be going up against a stacked Reading Fightin Phils rotation in Andrew Painter, Mick Abel, and Griff McGarry, but two of the three are currently on the shelf with injuries. The Philadelphia Phillies 2020 first round pick Abel is the lone standing healthy starter of the trio.
Greensboro Grasshoppers are currently sitting atop the South Atlantic League standings on the shoulders of finally streaming their home games. That along with winning four of six games in the previous week. Their opponent week, Rome Braves, are currently in a four-way tie for last place. The Atlanta Braves affiliate isn’t prospect heavy, but the Grasshoppers will see 2021 seventh round pick AJ Smith-Shawver. He’s so far thrown nine shutout innings with 17 strikeouts.
Just as with Greensboro, the Bradenton Marauders enter this week in first place of the Florida State League. Their opponent is the Dunedin Blue Jays, who carry four of the Toronto Blue Jays top 30 prospects, but two of those four are currently injured. The Blue Jays affiliate currently have the league best team ERA, but also the league worst team OPS.
Triple-A: Indianapolis Indians
Opponent: COLUMBUS (GUARDIANS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .839 OPS
Rank: 5/20
Team ERA: 4.21
ERA Rank: 4/20
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- GEORGE VALERA (7-Day IL) | OF | 3
- Pipeline Top 100: #45
- Baseball America Top 100: #68
- ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #86
- BO NAYLOR | C | 4
- Pipeline Top 100: #58
- Baseball America Top 100: #64
- Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #45
- ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #91
- TANNER BIBEE | RHP | 5
- Pipeline Top 100: #59
- Baseball America Top 100: #81
- Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #69
- ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #93
- BRAYAN ROCCHIO | SS/2B | 6
- Pipeline Top 100: #69
- Baseball America Top 100: #73
- Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #54
- ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #64
- JHONKENSY NOEL | OF/3B/1B | 20
- HUNTER GADDIS | RHP | 28
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE
Opponent: READING (PHILLIES)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .705 OPS
Rank: 4/12
Team ERA: 3.95
ERA Rank: 9/12
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- ANDREW PAINTER (60-Day IL) | RHP | 1
- Pipeline Top 100: #4
- Baseball America Top 100: #6
- Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #12
- ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #10
- MICK ABEL | RHP | 2
- Pipeline Top 100: #42
- Baseball America Top 100: #36
- Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #25
- ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #46
- GRIFF MCGARRY (7-Day IL) | RHP | 3
- JOHAN ROJAS | OF | 6
- CARLOS DE LA CRUZ | OF | 9
- ETHAN WILSON | OF | 14
- ANDREW BAKER | RHP | 17
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS
Opponent: ROME (BRAVES)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .660 OPS
Rank: 9/12
Team ERA: 4.76
ERA Rank: 6/12
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- AJ SMITH-SHAWVER | RHP | 4
- IGNACIO ALVAREZ | 3B/SS | 15
- BRANDOL MEZQUITA | OF | 17
- GERALDO QUINTERO | 3B/2B | 19
- BLAKE BURKHALTER (Full-Season IL) | RHP | 22
- DRAKE BALDWIN | C 23
SINGLE-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
Opponent: DUNEDIN (BLUE JAYS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .538 OPS
Rank: 10/10
Team ERA: 2.10
ERA Rank: 1/10
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- TUCKER TOMAN | SS | 5
- ADRIAN PINTO | SS/2B/OF | 16
- MANUEL BELTRE (7-Day IL) | SS | 20
- IRV CARTER (7-Day IL) | RHP | 27
Pirates Prospects Daily
By Tim Williams
There were no games on Monday, but I broke down the variability and versatility of the Pirates lineup.
**In our weekly top performers series, l Henry Davis and Po-Yu Chen Lead the Way.
**Pirates Draft Prospect Watch: Dylan Crews and Jacob Wilson Show Off the Power
**From yesterday: Approach Leading Way To Power For Henry Davis
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.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
One item of note. It’s being reported that Bibee is likely to be called up to make his MLB debut on Wednesday
How does nicolas have 6R 0ER off of just 1E?
Error was one a grounder with two outs and no one on. Since that would have been the third out, everything that happened afterwards was unearned. Six runnners reached and scored, all with two outs
Man, having the best dream ever. Bucs have the best record in the NL and Reynolds just agreed to the 8 year extension with no opt out. Don’t wanna wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#JHONKENSY
Columbus team has a fair amount of top 100 dudes. Would have like to see how the Curve held up against Painter.
Good news is we still get to see them go up against Mick Abel.
Columbus definitely has the better of the prospects’ names. Rocchio, Noel, Bo Naylor. Some dude named Gattis. Probably related to Evan Gattis. Bo Naylor is a great name for a catcher in my opinion. I don’t care what his EV or launch angles are. Sign me up.
Looking at the Indianapolis Indians roster I was taken aback by the large number of injured players—-some of whom I had never seen featured prominently such as Hunter Barco, G. Franzua, Drake Fellows, Jose Maldanado. Are these players all Triple A talent or is there some rule that requires/benefits clubs to put them on Triple A roster?
It’s just a paper move since they’re injured
got it, thx—why do they put them on Indianapolis instead of their respective level teams?
That would likely have to be answered by either John or Ethan for a more concrete answer, but my guess would be something to do with roster limits of each level.
None of those are AAA players