We haven’t had highlights recently from Indianapolis and Altoona with the teams on their All-Star break, so today we take a look at some highlights from Thursday night. Yesterday we focused on pitcher Yunior Montero, who has a unique story for a player in the Pirates system, and on Tuesday we took a look at four plate appearances from five-tool outfielder Tito Polo.
The first highlight is a throw from Willy Garcia to cut down a runner at home. With Josh Bell now at Altoona, it looks like Garcia has moved to over to left field and it didn’t take him long to pick up his first assist there. He obviously didn’t get momentum behind this throw due to the bounce, so you’re not seeing the best throw we’ve seen from Garcia, who has the best arm in the Pirates farm system. He already has 13 assists this season, though that is well short of the 20 he picked up last year with Bradenton.
Next up is a long homer to left field from Keon Broxton, his eighth of the year. He has shown nice improvements of his first year at AA, with an OPS that is currently 134 points higher than in 2013. Broxton has 30 extra-base hits and 14 stolen bases this year. He already has more walks than last year and he has cut down his strikeout rate. Broxton turned 24 in May, so there is still a chance he could develop into something.
Finally, we have Brandon Cumpton finishing off his outing from last night. He threw eight shutout innings and gave up just two hits. His previous season low for hits allowed while with Indianapolis was five, which he’s done three times. Indianapolis scored a run in the top of the ninth and Cumpton was able to pick up the well-deserved win for his effort. In eight AAA starts, he has a 1.50 ERA in 54 innings and has gone at least six innings in every game.
