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 – 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, 0 HR
2. Austin Meadows, CF, West Virginia – DNP
3. Reese McGuire, C, West Virginia – DNP
4. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HR
5. Alen Hanson, SS/2B, Altoona – 2-for-4, 2B, SB
6. Josh Bell, RF, Altoona – 1-for-3, BB
7. Harold Ramirez, OF, West Virginia – Disabled List (7/24 Update)
8. Cole Tucker, SS, GCL Pirates – DNP
9. Luis Heredia, RHP, West Virginia – DNP
10. Mitch Keller, RHP, GCL Pirates – DNP
11. Adrian Sampson, RHP, Indianapolis – Promoted to Indianapolis
12. JaCoby Jones, SS, West Virginia – DNP
13. Casey Sadler, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
14. Andrew Lambo, OF, Indianapolis – 1-for-4
15. Joely Rodriguez, LHP, Altoona – 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 HR
16. Michael De La Cruz, OF, GCL Pirates – DNP
17. Trey Supak, RHP, GCL Pirates – DNP
18. Buddy Borden, RHP, West Virginia – DNP
19. Stetson Allie, 1B, Altoona – 0-for-2, BB
20. Gage Hinsz, RHP, GCL Pirates – DNP
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DAILY SUMMARY
Top Hitter: Max Moroff, 2B – 3-for-4, BB
Home Runs: Yunelky Adames (3)
AAA: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
Result: Indianapolis 3, Toledo 1
Starting Pitcher: Nick Kingham, RHP – 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HR
Top Hitter: Matt Hague, 1B – 2-for-3, 2B, BB
Other Notable Performers:
Andrew Lambo, LF – 1-for-4
Game Notes: Nick Kingham had a great start to his Triple-A career, before struggling in his recent outings. The right-hander gave up 17 earned runs in 23.1 innings over his previous four starts coming into tonight. This time around he did a much better job, limiting Toledo to one run in seven innings. This is the same team that scored four runs in six innings off him in the last start. Kingham did walk four batters, making this the second time in his last four games where he has walked four or more. Kingham doesn’t usually have control issues, but did have some problems earlier in the year. He turned things around, and has walked two or fewer batters in 13 of his last 15 starts.
AA: ALTOONA CURVE
Result: Altoona 3, Trenton 2
Starting Pitcher: Zack Dodson, LHP – 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
Top Hitter: Alen Hanson, 2B – 2-for-4, 2B, SB
Other Notable Performers:
Keon Broxton, CF – 2-for-4, 2B
Josh Bell, DH – 1-for-3, BB
Joely Rodriguez, LHP – 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 HR
Game Notes: Alen Hanson went 2-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. He hit his 21st double of the year, and also stole his 22nd base. However, Hanson committed his 33rd error of the year, including his fourth error since moving over to second base. Josh Bell extended his hitting streak to six games. He has a hit in his last eight starts.
A+: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
Result: Bradenton 6, Jupiter 1
Starting Pitcher: Tyler Glasnow, RHP – 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Max Moroff, 2B – 3-for-4, BB
Other Notable Performers:
Jose Osuna, DH – 2-for-3, 2B
Eric Wood, 3B – 2-for-4, BB
Game Notes: For the second straight start, Tyler Glasnow recorded double-digit strikeouts. This was also the fourth time in his last seven starts that he had double-digit strikeouts. In that span, he has an 0.65 ERA in 41.1 innings, with a 60:17 K/BB ratio. As if that wasn’t amazing enough, tonight was the first time in Glasnow’s last four starts that an opponent recorded a hit off of him in the first trip through the batting order. A.J. Morris made his first appearance in Bradenton as he makes his way back from rehab work. Morris made four appearances in the GCL, with two single inning appearances, followed by two innings, then three innings. At first it looked like he would be pitching in relief. Then it looked like he was getting stretched out. With one inning tonight, it looks again like he could be going back to working in relief.
A: WEST VIRGINIA POWER
West Virginia was postponed due to rain.
A-: JAMESTOWN JAMMERS
Jamestown was postponed due to rain.
RK: BRISTOL PIRATES
Bristol was postponed due to rain.
RK: GCL PIRATES
Result: Blue Jays 1, Pirates 0
Starting Pitcher: Mitch Keller, RHP – 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Carlos Munoz, 1B – 1-for-3
Other Notable Performers:
Eduardo Vera, RHP – 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 HR
Game Notes: Mitch Keller now has a 1.40 ERA in 19.1 innings over seven appearances, with a 20:6 K/BB ratio. Today was his second outing throwing more than three innings, and the first outing where he went four full innings. We wrote about Keller’s start earlier tonight. The GCL offense struggled, with Carlos Munoz having the only hit.
RK: DSL PIRATES
Result: Pirates 8, Phillies 4
Starting Pitcher: Yeudy Garcia, RHP – 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 0 HR
Top Hitter: Yunelky Adames, 1B – 1-for-2, HR, BB, SB
Other Notable Performers:
Sandy Santos, CF – 2-for-4, BB
Edison Lantigua, LF – 2-for-3, 2 2B
Game Notes: The Pirates won 8-4 over the Phillies to move to .500 on the season with ten games left. They got the victory despite some poor pitching by All-Star righty Yeudy Garcia, who allowed three earned runs for just the third time in 12 starts. He has a 2.38 ERA this year in 56.2 innings. His one strikeout was the lowest total in his career. Reliever Lullyi Miranda threw three perfect innings after Garcia left the game. Left fielder Edison Lantigua played the field for the first time in 12 days. He returned to the lineup as a DH on Monday for the first time since becoming ill during a game two weeks ago. That illness led to dehydration, which kept him out of action all of last week. Lantigua picked up two doubles and drove in two runs. Raul Siri picked up his 21st double of the season. Jeremias Portorreal continued to struggle, going 0-for-4, leaving him 5-for-41 in his last ten games. – John Dreker
You can check out the DSL Pirates week ten 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.
Ok. Last one. Promise.
Pieces of Nine.
Promote #smokeshow to Altoona already!
I’m ok with them leaving Glasnow in high A for playoff experience but I hope they don’t leave him in AA next year all year if he is dominating the same way he has in A and high A. If he dominates AA, I hope we see him in AAA at some point next year and a June arrival at PNC in 2016.
So if Hanson’s fielding continues to be this bad, what happens? He’s at a slightly easier defensive position now and is still committing frequent errors. It doesn’t matter how good his bat is, if his defense doesn’t improve, he isn’t a major leaguer. What do they do if next year is another 30+ error season, move him to center field and use as trade bait? Try him at 3rd and see if that works better?
Maybe we should’ve sent Hanson to the Mets instead of Herrera? Or maybe NH tried and the Mets said no?
There is no way that happened. At the time of that trade people were higher on Hanson and lower on Herrera. Since then Herrera has improved his stock and Hanson 217;s has dropped a bit. Now I 217;d guess they would be ranked at about the same spot. Back then I think Hanson was like our #3 prospect and Herrera was #8
I didn’t really get the move to 2B. If the majority of his errors come on routine plays, why would moving him to an easier position, with an easier throw that is likely to result in MORE routine plays, be the solution??
I choose to believe Pirates management, they say it’s not a permanent move, but just to give him some more time at 2nd to increase his versatility. Once again, the team says it’s not a permanent move.
I read on Bucs Dugout where someone posted that Glasnow hit 100 on the stadium gun tonight. I hope its true. Not for sure why he hasn’t been moved to AA yet. What else could they have him working on there. The guy is ready right now to be promoted. Move him now and by this time next season he could possibly be pitching in Indy.
Clearly the Bucs want him to continue to pitch in a playoff race, and hopefully several playoff games. Altoona has no shot at the post-season. I like the decision, Glasnow needs more innings this year.
Playoff roster rules seem pretty loose in the minors. Why not move him up for the rest of the regular season and then “demote” him for the playoffs?
That’s one way of looking at it but I would rather see him against better hitters. For Glasnow its should be all about his development at this stage. The kid is dominating at his level. Just two or three starts at AA would be much better than keeping him in Bradenton. It would give him a headstart on the 2015 season.
Upping his innings totals and continuing to work on command sounds like a great way to prepare for 2015. Also having players with some type of postseason experience coming through the system seems legit too.
If Altoona was making the playoffs, I’d say, yeah, go for it. At this point though, what’s the use? He could get 2-3 starts in AA or 3-5, or even 6 with Bradenton.
The stuff doesn’t seem to be an issue, it’s all about his command. That’s something that can be worked out at a lower level. If the command improves, then it’s irrelevant when he starts AA, because it could end up being a very short stop for him along the way.
So I was curious about another tall lanky pitcher that had real control issues throughout the minors and the first few seasons of major league work, named Randy Johnson. I am in no way comparing Glasnow to Johnson as a player, but was just curious if Montreal had forced Johnson to reach some sort of control numbers before promoting him or not. The answer is most certainly not. Johnson never posted a walk rate under 5 BB/9 at any point in the minor leagues. In fact, his first three years in the minors (SA, A, and AA levels) he posted rates of 7.9, 7.1, and 8.2 BB/9, before posting a 5.7 BB/9 rate in his age 24 season in AAA. It took him until his fifth season in the majors to post a walk rate under 5 BB/9.
Johnson is a lot taller (and a lefty) than Glasnow so that would likely explain the longer time needed for him to get his control numbers in line, but I just don’t understand the extreme concern in the prospect circles about Glasnow’s control numbers. He’s still only 20 years old (for another 10 days), is pitching in high A and has never had a walk rate above 5 BB/9. Eventually he’ll need to drop his walk rate to around 3-3.5 BB/9 in the majors to become a legitimate ace, but I think with his 10+ K/9 rate, he can be a solid #2 in the majors even with the 4-4.5 BB/9 rate.
Keep in Mind that Randy Johnson was generally worthless till about his
5th major league season due to his lack of control. I think you actually
answered your own question. Randy Johnson’s path specifically shows you
why we need to hone his control before he gets here. We really would
prefer Glasgow to win games for us, not for Seattle 7 years from now, or
Arizona 15 years from now.
He wasn’t completely worthless in Seattle (he was there his second year in the major leagues) as he was named an all-star in his second season. By his 5th season, he came in 2nd in Cy Young voting. His first 6 seasons in the majors he posted FIPs of 4.05, 4.29, 4.00, 3.61, 3.05, and 3.18 before finally winning his first Cy Young in his 7th season (which is also when he finally got his walk rates below 3 BB/9).
I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to let Glasnow develop as much as possible in the minor leagues, I’m just saying that having a 4.5 BB/9 walk rate doesn’t mean that he can’t be a very effective major league pitcher. I see so many writers saying that he won’t be able to make it all in the majors until he lowers those rates. I think we’d have a pretty good pitcher even if he doesn’t improve on his control, but can have a potential Cy Young candidate if he can. Obviously, I want him to try to work on his control and lower his walk rates, but it’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t.
I can’t wait until he does make it to Altoona, I want to go see him pitch. That’s if the Pirates don’t find reason to send him to Jamestown or something lol, oh well, that’s only 2 hours away and I have family there. Yes, I know they aren’t going to send him to Jamestown.