A look at how the current top 30 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 (Nick Kingham, Jacob Taylor), 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 30 active prospects on the list. Rankings are from the mid-season update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List
3. Austin Meadows, CF, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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4. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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5. Alen Hanson, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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6. Reese McGuire, C, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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7. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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8. Harold Ramirez, OF, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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9. Cole Tucker, SS, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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10. Kevin Newman, SS, Morgantown -[insert_php]
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11. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, GCL -[insert_php]
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12. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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13. Clay Holmes, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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14. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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15. Max Moroff, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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16. Barrett Barnes, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
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17. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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18. Trey Supak, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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19. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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20. Adam Frazier, SS, Altoona -[insert_php]
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21. Willy Garcia, OF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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22. Steven Brault, LHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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23. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Morgantown -[insert_php]
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24. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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25. Adrian Valerio, SS, GCL -[insert_php]
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26. Connor Joe, 1B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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27. John Holdzkom, RHP, Indianapolis – Disabled List
28. Jordan Luplow, 3B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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29. Casey Hughston, OF, Morgantown -[insert_php]
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30. Billy Roth, RHP, Bristol -[insert_php]
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Radhames Liz continued to pitch lights out at AAA, giving up one unearned run over six innings. That lowered his ERA to 1.12 in 56.1 innings and his six strikeouts on Saturday, gives him 63 for Indianapolis. He has picked up six or more strikeouts in all nine starts. Liz threw 99 pitches in this game, with 69 going for strikes. Josh Wall allowed three runs in the ninth to make this game interesting.
Keon Broxton extended his on base streak to 32 games with a single and he drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Willy Garcia collected his sixth homer for Indianapolis, though he also struck out three times. He hit five homers with Altoona before his promotion. Josh Bell went 1-for-4 and struck out twice, leaving him 6-for-32 in eight games with Indianapolis. Dan Gamache is now 10-for-30 in eight games for Indianapolis after two hits in this game. Every player in the lineup had at least one hit.
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In his last start, Steven Brault didn’t have bad results with two earned runs over six innings, but he had some control issues with four walks. Brault had issued just eight walks with Altoona prior to that game, so Saturday was a chance to show it was just an off-day for the lefty and he did just that. Brault threw seven shutout innings, with five hits, one walk and seven strikeouts. He threw 63 of his 90 pitches for strikes and he had a 9:2 GO/AO ratio. He lowered his ERA to 2.80 in 54.2 innings with Altoona, to go along with 59 strikeouts. Brault also threw seven shutout innings back on July 1st.
Altoona got a solo run in the sixth inning from Max Moroff’s fifth home run of the season. He has been in a bad slump lately, going 4-for-31 in his last nine games(including this one), with at least one strikeout in each contest. Stetson Allie had two hits, including his 14th double and he scored the Curve’s second run on an Erich Weiss RBI double. Weiss had picked up an RBI in four straight games. Sebastian Valle hit his 19th double. Adam Frazier went 0-for-3 for the second straight game, dropping him to a .341 average. He had a big lead on the league batting average leaders, so it was assumed that once he had enough plate appearances to qualify, he would become the league leader, but he’s dropping down to the pack.
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Cody Dickson did a good job of keeping runs off the board, working around four walks to allow one run in 6.2 innings. This would be considered his best start since throwing five shutout innings back on May 28th. Dickson now has a 4.07 ERA in 112.2 innings this year. He has really had just one bad month, back when he had a 5.56 ERA in June. His other three full months were solid, but nothing special, so the overall numbers look average at best this year. Dickson has kept the ball down better this season, coming into the game with a 1.28 GO/AO ratio before getting ten ground ball outs in this game. He has also only allowed four homers all season, after giving up 11 last year, though that might have something to do with the league(see below).
Austin Meadows continued to show that he’s one of the best hitters in the Florida State League by hitting his seventh homer of the season and racking up three hits to give him a .304 average. His 123 hits coming into the day had him tied atop the FSL leader board and his .756 OPS ranked him seventh. The seven homers might seem low, but the league leader only has 12, and that’s coming from a player that is three years older than Meadows. Harold Ramirez went 0-for-4 and he has watched his average drop 30 points since the beginning of August. Edwin Espinal has been struggling lately with a.129 average over his previous ten games. He had a single and two walks in this game.
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The Power lost a slugfest on Saturday, dropping a 9-8 decision in a game that had 14 doubles. Austin Coley started and lasted just three innings, allowing three runs. Jose Regalado followed him and got hit around for three innings, allowing six runs and he needed 73 pitches to get through his brief outing. John Sever and Sam Street each threw a shutout inning. Coley had a 1.80 ERA in April, but it’s been over 4.00 in each of the last three months
The offense was the story and it included a lot of strong individual games. Elvis Escobar collected three doubles, giving him 23 on the season. Tito Polo had three hits, scored three runs and stole three bases, giving him 39 swipes on the season, tops in the organization. Jordan Luplow hit his 33rd double, which leads all Pirates’ minor league players. Connor Joe had two walks, drove in two runs and scored twice. Michael Suchy hit his 27th double and drove in his 59th run. Taylor Gushue had two hits for the fourth time in his last seven games.
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Starter Luis Paula had an excellent outing on Saturday, giving up one run over five innings. He just recently moved into the rotation and has been hurt in a couple of his starts by one bad outing. He was also pitching in relief early this year and all of last year, so it looked like he was tiring later in games. Paula has shown terrific control, giving up his first walk of the season in this game. He has now pitched 36.1 innings between Morgantown and Bristol.
Morgantown had nine hits in this game, including two from Casey Hughston, who has been one of their best hitters lately. He now has a nine-game hitting streak, with two or more hits in seven of those games. Ty Moore and Danny Arribas were named to the NYPL All-Star game earlier today and they each hit a double, accounting for both of Morgantown’s extra-base hits. Kevin Newman went 1-for-5 and he’s now hitting .200(10-for-50) in his last 11 games. The only run from the offense scored on an error with two outs in the second inning. Newman reached base twice on errors from the opposing shortstop.
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Mitch Keller made his second start of the season Saturday night. The 2014 second round pick missed the start of the season due to right forearm tightness, which shut him down for a short time right before the season started. Keller started this game slow, allowing a lead-off triple, followed by a single to go down 1-0. He allowed one more hit in the inning, but picked up two strikeouts. He threw a scoreless second, with a walk and a strikeout. Keller retired the side in order in the third quickly, getting his fourth strikeout. The fourth was a tough inning like the first, as Greeneville put up a run on three hits.
It wasn’t the strongest outing for Keller. He extended to four innings from three last game, but he is still in the process of building up. He finished with five strikeouts and worked quickly in the middle innings, getting hit hard in the first and fourth. The real test is what he will do once he is fully stretched out for five innings. He should get there next game.
Bristol had 17 base runners, including four doubles. Carlos Munoz hit his league-leading 19th double and Trae Arbet hit two of his own, giving him 12 on the season. Munoz also drove in his 33rd run of the season. Edgar Figueroa had a single, two walks, drove in a run and scored twice. After a 1-for-5 night, Julio de la Cruz has gone 15-for-44 during a ten-game hit streak.
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Game One: This was the regularly scheduled Saturday game, while game two was supposed to be a make-up of a rain out on July 23rd. The two teams got in the first game, but rain ended up postponing the July 23rd game for a second time. The Pirates now have five scheduled doubleheaders over the last three weeks of the season, with 23 games over a 20-day period.
The Pirates were down 2-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning of this seven-inning contest. They had just six hits(all singles) and no walks at that point. In the last two innings, they put together three runs on five hits, including three doubles. In the bottom of the seventh, Victor Fernandez led off with a double. Michael de la Cruz was asked to bunt him over and a throwing error on the play led to Fernandez scoring the walk-off winner.
Adrian Valerio had two hits in this game, which is his first multi-hit game since July 7th. In between that game and this one, Valerio went 7-for-62, with a .319 OPS. On the bright side, he hasn’t made an error in his last 17 games, which is fairly impressive for a 17-year-old shortstop playing on GCL fields. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Edison Lantigua, Jhoan Herrera and Victor Fernandez each had two hits. The double by Lantigua was his first on the season, though he has missed time with two minor injuries. Fernandez stole his ninth base in nine attempts.
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When it seemed like the DSL Pirates could do no right, they go out and beat one of the best team in the DSL by a 2-1 score and hold them to two hits. Both hits were from the same player, who got an infield hit in the first and a grounder that got through the infield in the fourth inning. Starter Argenis Romano threw five shutout innings with five strikeouts and no walks. The only run that scored was unearned after shortstop Cristopher Perez’s 22nd error of the season. Wilmer Contreras, pitching in his second pro game, retired all six batters he faced, four by strikeout, to pick up the win. It was great effort, considering only his fastball was working this game, while he was having trouble with the few sliders and change-ups he threw.
On offense, Mikell Granberry had a three-hit game, giving him a .284 average and an .838 OPS this season. All-Star Felix Vinicio had two hits and drove in a run. He’s hitting .316 this year. Unfortunately, the struggles continued for the two players that received the biggest bonuses on this team. Yondry Contreras and Jeremias Portorreal each went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Contreras is batting .207 and has struck out 12 times in his last five games, which has put him right near the top among strikeout leaders in the league. Portorreal is hitting .220, and while he is doing better overall than Contreras, he is doing this in his second season in the league, so you should expect better results.
