Below are the top Runs Created* totals in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system from the last week. The rankings include every hitter who had an at-bat for a Pirates’ minor league affiliate, not including DSL teams, and with no limitations on whether the hitter has prospect eligibility. Players who spent time at different levels are counted multiple times, once for each level, rather than combining their stats. Notes on the top ten players from the last week can be found below the chart.
*Runs Created is a stat created by Bill James used to estimate how many runs an individual contributes to his team. There are many formulas for runs created. For these purposes the basic formula is used. That formula is ((H + BB) * (1B + (2*2B) + (3*3B) + (4*HR))) / (AB + BB).
After a one week slump, Stetson Allie is not only back in the top ten, but was the top hitter in the system last week. Allie has made the top ten in four out of five weeks this season, and this marks the second time he’s had the most runs created in any given week. He also led the Pirates’ system in runs created for the month of April, being named our April player of the month last week. For the last week, Allie went 7-for-18 with two doubles and two homers. Strikeouts have been his biggest issue, with six in his 18 at-bats last week. On the season he’s been striking out about 30% of the time. The power and the average are great, but the strikeouts don’t point to the same success in the upper levels.
Allie’s teammate in West Virginia, Josh Bell, ended up third this week after going 5-for-16 with two doubles and a homer. Bell has been putting up numbers that you would have wanted to see from him last year. He has a .274/.328/.487 line in 113 at-bats this year. His walk rate could use some improvements, and the strikeouts are higher than you want to see. However, the power (.213 ISO, 12 doubles, 4 homers) is excellent.
Ivan De Jesus didn’t get a lot of playing time after Josh Harrison was sent to Indianapolis. The Indians had Harrison and Jordy Mercer in the middle infield spots, which forced De Jesus to the bench. Since Mercer was promoted to the majors, De Jesus has received more playing time. He has also been capitalizing on that time, going 8-for-19 with two doubles and a triple in the last week. That was good enough for the number two spot on this week’s list. On the season, De Jesus is hitting for a .358/.413/.491 line in 53 at-bats.
Speaking of Harrison, he finished fifth on the list this week, going 6-for-23 with four doubles and five walks. Harrison is hitting for a .300/.410/.400 line in 70 at-bats in Indianapolis, and has stolen eight bases in nine attempts over his last ten games, including going 4-for-4 in the last week.
The other player in the top five was Gregory Polanco, who finished fourth overall this week. Polanco has been hitting all season, but hasn’t shown a lot of power. That changed this week, when he went 7-for-24 with three doubles and a homer. On the season Polanco has a .321/.377/.486 line. The .165 ISO was greatly improved this week. He had a .133 ISO heading into May, and brought that up 32 points thanks to a big four game stretch over the weekend. That just goes to show how early it is in the year for everyone’s numbers.
Indianapolis had a lot of top hitters this week, and two guys who finished in the bottom half of the top ten were Darren Ford and Tony Sanchez. Ford finished seventh, and Sanchez was right behind him at eighth. Ford went 5-for-13 with a home run, getting some playing time in the outfield thanks to the struggles from Felix Pie and Jerry Sands. Sanchez also went 5-for-13, but had three doubles. Sanchez is the prospect of the two, and his hitting has been good this year for Indianapolis. He currently has a .275/.398/.449 line in 69 at-bats. His .174 ISO is on par with his .175 ISO last year in Indianapolis, and his best result since 2009 in A-ball. It’s early in the season, but he’s quietly making his way back to having a shot at being a starting catching prospect.
Max Moroff got some time off this week, with Ashley Ponce taking over a few games. Both players had great results at the plate. Ponce went 4-for-7 with two doubles, getting the sixth best score this week. Moroff went 3-for-8 with a home run and three walks, coming in tenth this week. Moroff has struggled defensively this season, which is why he’s lost some recent playing time to Ponce. Ponce isn’t really a prospect, and Moroff’s lack of playing time lately is most likely similar to what Alen Hanson went through a few weeks ago in order to clear his head.
Adalberto Santos returned from the Altoona disabled list this week, and continued his strong hitting in Double-A. Santos went 6-for-18 with two doubles and four walks. He has reached base safely in all 15 games this season, and has a .500 OBP. In his total time in Altoona, Santos has a .346/.437/.450 line in 280 at-bats.
