TOP OF THE SYSTEM
A look at how the current top 20 prospects did today. Note that this list doesn’t include players currently in the majors. If a player is in the majors, he will be removed, everyone below him will be shifted up a spot, and a new player will be added to the bottom of the list. If a player is out for the season (Jameson Taillon #1, Clay Holmes #12), he will be removed and everyone below him will move up a spot. Removing these guys doesn’t mean they have lost prospect status. It is just an attempt to get 20 active prospects on the list. Rankings are from the mid-season top 20 update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Bradenton – 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 0 HR
2. Austin Meadows, CF, West Virginia – 1-for-3
3. Reese McGuire, C, West Virginia – 0-for-3
4. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
5. Alen Hanson, SS, Altoona – DNP
6. Josh Bell, RF, Altoona – 1-for-4
7. Harold Ramirez, OF, West Virginia – Disabled List (7/24 Update)
8. Cole Tucker, SS, GCL Pirates – 2-for-5, HR
9. Luis Heredia, RHP, West Virginia – 6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 HR
10. Mitch Keller, RHP, GCL Pirates – DNP
11. Adrian Sampson, RHP, Altoona – DNP
12. JaCoby Jones, SS, West Virginia – 1-for-4
13. Casey Sadler, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
14. Andrew Lambo, OF, Indianapolis – DNP
15. Joely Rodriguez, LHP, Altoona – DNP
16. Michael De La Cruz, OF, GCL Pirates – DNP
17. Trey Supak, RHP, GCL Pirates – 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
18. Buddy Borden, RHP, West Virginia – DNP
19. Stetson Allie, 1B, Altoona – 2-for-4
20. Gage Hinsz, RHP, GCL Pirates – DNP
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DAILY SUMMARY
Top Hitter: Willy Garcia, LF – 3-for-4, 2 2B, HR
Home Runs: Willy Garcia (16), Robert Andino (5), Cole Tucker (1)
AAA: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
Result: Buffalo 4, Indianapolis 2
Starting Pitcher: Brandon Cumpton, RHP – 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Top Hitter: Robert Andino, SS – 1-for-3, HR
Other Notable Performers:
Matt Hague, DH – 1-for-4, 2B
Game Notes: Brandon Cumpton put together his ninth quality start in 11 outing in Triple-A this season. However, Vin Mazzaro allowed a pair of inherited runners from Cumpton to score and he ended up on the wrong side of the score. It was a nice rebound for Cumpton as his last two starts were the only two non-quality starts. In addition, over these two starts, he allowed 17 hits, 12 earned runs, and three home runs in 9.2 innings.
Indianapolis was only able to muster four hits and five total base runners. Robert Andino added his fifth home run of the campaign.
Andrew Lambo missed the game as he was experiencing some thumb discomfort prior to the contest. – Ryan Palencer
AA: ALTOONA CURVE
Result: Altoona 7, Richmond 3
Starting Pitcher: Pat Ludwig, RHP – 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Willy Garcia, LF – 3-for-4, 2 2B, HR
Other Notable Performers:
Gift Ngoepe, SS – 2-for-4, BB
Stetson Allie, 1B – 2-for-4
Elias Diaz, C – 2-for-4, 2B
Game Notes: Willy Garcia has been on fire lately. He hit his 16th homer of the year today, and added two doubles to give him 24 on the season. He’s got four doubles and four homers in his last eight games. John Dreker wrote about Garcia this morning in the Prospect Highlights, with video of his homer from Thursday. Gift Ngoepe is coming off a great month of July where he hit for a .923 OPS. He continued his hitting with two hits and a walk today. Elias Diaz went 2-for-4 with his 18th double of the year, and extended his hitting streak to eight games.
A+: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
Result: Bradenton 3, Brevard County 2
Starting Pitcher: Tyler Glasnow, RHP – 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Eric Wood, 3B – 2-for-4, 2B
Other Notable Performers:
Jose Osuna, DH – 1-for-3
Game Notes: After showing improved control for most of the month of June and July, Tyler Glasnow has struggled in his last two outings. He has walked four batters in each start, giving him eight walks in 11.2 innings. The walks haven’t hurt him, as he only has two earned runs in that span, with six hits allowed and 14 strikeouts. Even during the impressive streak of good control, he had a few rough innings here and there, but did a better job of escaping the jams and limiting things to one inning. Jose Osuna picked up a single tonight and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
A: WEST VIRGINIA POWER
Result: Lexington 4, West Virginia 0
Starting Pitcher: Luis Heredia, RHP – 6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Austin Meadows, CF – 1-for-3
Other Notable Performers:
JaCoby Jones, SS – 1-for-4
Game Notes: Luis Heredia had one of his best starts of the season tonight. He was hurt by errors, leading to three unearned runs, but limited the walks, and got a few strikeouts. Heredia has done a better job lately of keeping the walks down, with two or fewer walks in six of his last seven games. He’s reached the sixth inning in all of those games. The one game he struggled with saw him leaving in the first inning after issuing four walks. Heredia hasn’t been striking out many guys lately. His three strikeouts tonight match his total over his previous five starts, which spanned the entire month of July and 24 innings. The West Virginia offense only had four hits tonight.
A-: JAMESTOWN JAMMERS
Result: Hudson Valley 2, Jamestown 1
Starting Pitcher: Jake Brigham, RHP – 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Chase Simpson, 3B – 1-for-3, 2B
Other Notable Performers:
Kevin Krause, DH – 1-for-4, SB
Kevin Ross, 1B – 2-for-3
Game Notes: Jake Brigham continues to work his way back to Indianapolis, making his second rehab start with Jamestown. Brigham pitched four innings, and didn’t give up an earned run. Based on his progression, he should jump up to five innings in his next start.
RK: BRISTOL PIRATES
Result: Bristol 7, Bluefield 3
Starting Pitcher: Omar Basulto, LHP – 3.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Pablo Reyes, 2B – 4-for-4, 2B, BB
Other Notable Performers:
Cesilio Pimentel, LHP – 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
Danny Arribas, C – 3-for-4, 2B, SB
Enyel Vallejo, LF – 2-for-4, 2B
Game Notes: Omar Basulto struggled in his start, but Cesilio Pimentel covered for him, throwing five shutout innings in relief. Pimentel now has just one earned run in 21 innings since the start of July. Enyel Vallejo hit his tenth double of the year, and his sixth in his last ten games. He’s got a .964 OPS in that span. Pablo Reyes and Danny Arribas had big days at the plate, combining for seven hits and two doubles.
RK: GCL PIRATES
Result: Yankees 10, Pirates 6
Starting Pitcher: Trey Supak, RHP – 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
Top Hitter: Cole Tucker, SS – 2-for-5, HR
Other Notable Performers:
Carlos Munoz, 1B – 2-for-5, 2B
Henrry Rosario, CF – 2-for-3, 2 BB
Nelson Jorge, 2B – 2-for-5
Game Notes: Cole Tucker hit his first career home run. Carlos Munoz hit his eighth double of the season, and has an .850 OPS. Henrry Rosario has been hitting well in his time this year, with an .821 OPS, including a .909 OPS in his last ten games. He’s on the small side, and doesn’t project for more than organizational depth. Trey Supak hasn’t had a good start to his pro career, with a 6.39 ERA in 12.2 innings over five appearances.
RK: DSL PIRATES
Result: Cubs 3, Pirates 2
Starting Pitcher: Richard Mitchell, RHP – 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Sandy Santos, CF – 2-for-4
Other Notable Performers:
Luis Perez, 2B – 2-for-2
Game Notes: The DSL Pirates lost 3-2 to the Cubs, who tied the game in the fifth on a straight steal of home and then manufactured the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. Starter Richard Mitchell had another strong outing, giving up one earned run over five innings. In his last seven starts combined, he has allowed six earned runs over 35 innings. With DSL pitchers on limited pitch/inning counts, Mitchell has been able to complete 53.1 of a possible 55 innings this season. He is holding batters to a .214 BAA and he hasn’t allowed a home run all year. The offense was limited to five hits, with two hits apiece from center fielder Sandy Santos and second baseman Luis Perez. Jeremias Portorreal, who received a $375,000 bonus last July 2nd, went 0-for-4 in the game and is now hitting .114 in his last ten games, with 16 strikeouts. The winning run in this game scored on an infield single, stolen base, a sacrifice attempt that turned into an infield single and a sacrifice fly that brought home the run. – John Dreker
You can check out the DSL Pirates week eight recap here.
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.
See, should’ve traded Glasnow.
Given Reese McGuire’s low OPS shouldn’t he be ramked lower on the prospect list? Switching places with Jacoby Jones would seem to be a better rating.
Reese McGuire is 19 and had an aggressive push to low A. I think he has handled this season really well for a kid that turned 19 in March. He has been hitting a little better lately too. He is going to be a 20 year old catcher at high A next year and that is a rare occurrence. Threw out a great 41% of runners too and already makes less errors than Tony Sanchez and blocks balls pretty good.
The prospect rankings are done at the beginning of the year and mid-season only for the prospect watch
Garcia and Gift will be like Harrison and Snider. They will take another 3-4 years but then they will be cheap GOOD role players that will save us a lot of money and win us a lot of games. Hope I can say the same about Lambo and Allie.
I don’t worry about 3,4 walks here and there from a prospect. It’s those catastrophic 6,7 walk games with 2,3,4 wild pitches and Glasnow really seems to be able to avoid that now. I don’t know if his control will ever be great but Nolan Ryan averaged 100 walks a season for his first 20 years and walked 200 twice so he can still be very successful walking 1 per every 2ip if he continues to be so tough to hit. We’ll see next year.
Effectively wild pitching sounds great but that was a very different era with Nolan Ryan. Ryan throwing 100 mph in the 80s is like someone throwing 110 today. Plus, today a pitcher can’t get away with hitting 4 batters on his way to a no-hitter. He’d be ejected. In Ryan’s era, pitching inside with purpose meant putting one in the ear hole.
Nolan Ryan was really wild too. He had close to 300 wild pitches in his career. Pitchers really don’t throw much harder now than in the 80’s. There are just more of them that throw hard…and no 2-3 inning bullpen guys means guys are coming in from the pen maxing it out. There was no shortage of guys that could bring it in the 80’s. Of course, Ryan pitched in the 60’s too.
I forgot how long ago Ryan started. I remember seeing that on his baseball cards as a kid and thinking it was cool that there wasn’t enough room on the back for all his yearly stats. (Didn’t they use a smaller print). You make good points. My point is that, in the 80s-90s, a 90mph fastball went from being great to being required for a fastball pitcher. Now, as you said, most pitchers can bring it like that. Now 95 is the new 90. In the eighties and earlier, a consistent high 90s fastball made it look like the rest of the league was throwing changeups. It was harder for hitters to adjust; especially when they had no idea where the pitch was going. That made Ryan extremely effective. Many hitters just couldn’t get around. Now batters have to be able to get around on 95 to make a club so only guys like Aroldis Chapman can get by on pure heat consistently nowadays. And he’s hitting 104.
I kind of feel like in just the last 5-6 years there are more guys throwing hard…but that is probably because the Pirates had no talent back then. I think Ryan is the most unique player in the history of the game. He has no comparison stat-wise. He had 4 220+ K seasons after 40 including 301 at 42!
Those are some great stats. I knew he stood out but those stats look like something a knuckleballer would put up. It also stands out that he got over 30 decisions in the year you sited. That’s because he could pitch complete games on a regular basis. Sometimes even in a loss. Complete game losses are probably more rare than no hitters nowadays. Anyway, I see the similarities you draw with Glassnow. We’ll see how it plays out. I just hope it plays out for him in a Pirates uniform.