This week, we had live coverage from three affiliates, while I reviewed most of the Indianapolis games and a couple Altoona games via MiLB.tv, giving us an additional look at the players throughout the system. Wilbur Miller and Abigail Miskowiec had live coverage for Altoona and West Virginia, respectively. Tim Williams covered Bradenton. All of these reports are combined each week, and used to highlight the top performers during that time span. Here are the top guys this week, and the rundown on their performances:
Hitters
Stetson Allie – Allie made the list this week thanks to a couple of home runs. Early in the season, he was hitting the ball well, but that hasn’t carried over into May until last week. For the month he has a .186/.311/.339 slash line, which followed an .821 OPS in April. Altoona is still finding playing time for him, even with Austin Meadows, Harold Ramirez and Barrett Barnes in the same outfield. Allie will need to return to April’s numbers for him to get any notice and continue to see regular playing time. Part of the reason he is still seeing time is improved defense in right field, to go along with a strong arm. His bat is what will need to carry him though. – John Dreker
Danny Arribas – Arribas is getting to be a regular in these Top Performer articles and I’m going to keep saying the same thing. He’s too old for the South Atlantic League, but Bradenton already has issues with too many good players and not enough spots, so there doesn’t seem to be a place for him to move up. On Saturday, he had five hits and drove in five runs, which is how he made the list this week. The rest of the week, he went 3-for-18 with no walks. Arribas ranks fourth in the league with a .410 OBP and he has 26 walks, with just 25 strikeouts. He’s an athletic player with a little bit of power, hitting six homers and going 5-for-6 in stolen bases. He’s only been at first base this season, but he started as a catcher, has played third base, and he’s athletic enough to handle either corner outfield spot. That should be enough to at least get him to Double-A, and then we will see where he can go from there. – JD
Josh Bell – Bell had a terrific week at the plate, posting a 1.278 OPS to save a month of May that started of really slow. Through 46 games, he is now hitting .304/.401/.476, with ten doubles, two triples and five homers. The big improvement this season on offense is his hitting against left-handed pitching. He has a 1.026 OPS against lefties this year, compared to .600 in 35 games with Indianapolis last year. On the offensive side, Bell is close to being Major League ready. Besides lacking a spot for him right now in Pittsburgh, his defense is holding him back. As we pointed out in two articles recently, he is putting in extra work and has made a lot of improvements, but there are still certain areas where he has major issues. – JD
Taylor Gushue – There is some offensive potential with Gushue that hasn’t shown up on a consistent basis yet. He showed off his power potential this week, hitting two home runs, including one to deep center field. This helped fuel a week where he had a 1.109 OPS. His offense has largely been inconsistent, with a .689 OPS on the season. This matches his production so far in the lower levels. He’s got some good defense behind the plate, although it’s not as good as Reese McGuire or Elias Diaz ahead of him. The tools are there for Gushue to be a backup catcher in the majors. He won’t excel offensively or defensively, but could do good enough at both to reach that backup catcher upside. – Tim Williams
Austin Meadows – An orbital fracture suffered in spring training delayed the start of Meadows’ season until near the end of April. Whether due to rust or the lingering effects of the injury, he struggled for a while well below the Mendoza line. Over the past week, though, Meadows’ bat has come alive with four multi-hit efforts in his last seven games. For the week he batted .458/.519/.667. He’s also been aggressive on the bases, stealing three to give him six in all (he added two more on Monday), which leads the Curve despite the fact that he’s missed half of their season. Meadows has gotten good jumps in center, although staying there is going to be a challenge given the makeup of the Pirates’ outfield. His arm is not strong, representing easily his weakest tool. – Wilbur Miller
Max Moroff – So far this season, Moroff has had some strikeout issues and he seems to be reverting back to his old ways, which caused high strikeout totals early in his career. Moroff can be too patient at the plate to a fault. He has either struck out or walked on six pitches numerous times before, and doing it while not taking the bat off his shoulder. The problem with doing that at the upper levels is that the pitchers have better control and better strikeout pitches, so he will get into an 0-2 hole, and then go down swinging on a breaking ball instead of attacking fastballs early. Moroff just had a strong week, with a 1.052 OPS and just three strikeouts in 28 plate appearances. He also put up decent stats at the end of the previous week, so he’s on a nice recent run. He has played strong defense wherever they put him, making him a possible utility infielder in the near future (mid-2017?) for the Pirates – JD
Tito Polo – Polo has been on a streak for the last two weeks, getting his season OPS up to .856 through 39 games. He has six homers and 16 stolen bases, plus he’s playing strong defense in center field, showing off all five tools at certain points this season. If Bradenton didn’t have a crowded lineup, with the same problem ahead of them in Altoona, you would probably see Polo move up by this time. He put in a full season at West Virginia last year, and while he struggled badly at times, he still looked good defensively and led all Pirates with 46 stolen bases. Polo still has things to work on, and could use more walks so he could use his speed as more of a weapon at the top of the order, but he has made some terrific progress this season. – JD
Harold Ramirez – Ramirez started off the season very slow, hitting below .200 until April 27th. Now through Monday’s game, he has a .298/.368/.404 slash line this season. He batted .310 last week and hit his first home run. Ramirez at the plate is showing why some sources had him as a top 100 prospect in all of baseball. Out in the field and on the bases, he is showing why he is still far away from being a polished player. Ramirez has not looked good in the outfield this season, having trouble going back on balls and taking poor routes to others. His arm is solid, but far from accurate, and he can sail throws at times. His base running hasn’t been good, which leads to an above average runner going 3-for-7 in steals and making some poor base running decisions. The part that gives you hope with each area is that he is only 21 years old and he has missed a lot of time over the years. So while the bat is well ahead of everything else in his development, he still has limited game experience for someone who has been around for five seasons now. – JD
Pablo Reyes – Reyes is one of the players who has struggled to get regular playing time this year, due to the roster crunch in Bradenton. He’s actually getting more time in May, and has definitely deserved that time with his play as of late. It looked like he was going to get a lot more time at shortstop when Kevin Newman went down, but Cole Tucker was promoted to Bradenton a few days later, ending that opportunity. He did take advantage of the playing time he received, hitting for a .970 OPS last week, with a big weekend while Newman was out. This could help him get more opportunities in the future, although with Tucker in Bradenton, Reyes will have to go back to moving around all over the field to get in the lineup on a regular basis. – TW
Michael Suchy – Suchy is a big outfielder who has surprising speed for his size. He’s got a good approach at the plate, although the results haven’t been consistent. This week he showed off his hitting skills, going 9-for-17 with five walks. He doesn’t strike out a lot, and draws a lot of walks. He needs to be more consistent with his hit tool in order to move up in the system. He also has power potential with his frame, but hasn’t shown much of that yet. He’s an interesting guy to follow, especially if he learns to tap into his frame. – TW
Cole Tucker – Tucker started off slow in West Virginia, but picked up his hitting in the last week, posting an .862 OPS in West Virginia. He was promoted to Bradenton, and made his debut on Sunday, going 2-for-3 with a walk. With Kevin Newman down after getting hit in the face with a pitch, Tucker will now be the everyday shortstop in Bradenton. It’s likely that this will continue through the end of the season, with Newman potentially going up to Altoona when he returns from his injury. – TW
Erich Weiss – A third baseman when drafted, Weiss moved to second because the Pirates thought he could profile as a defensively solid player there with a good bat. He’s generally hit for average with good walk rates, but prior to this year he’d never posted a slugging average above .378 despite some moderately high K rates. Last year, Weiss got a late-season promotion to Altoona and didn’t fare well, posting a .250/.290/.304. Last off-season, he put on 15 pounds of muscle and the results started showing quickly. Weiss showed good power early, with a .294/.407/.471 line in April. He tailed off a little early in May, but in the past week he’s hit .440/.481/.560. Weiss has a smooth left-handed swing and has the ability to generate power without selling out to the pull side; he hit one ball to the fence in left against Bowie this week. Overall he’s hitting .299/.383/.481. In the field, his range is solid or better and his hands are good. A promotion might be hard to come by, though, given the overloaded infield situation in Indianapolis. Weiss will turn 25 a week after the season ends, so the sooner he gets to AAA the better. – WM
Pitchers
Austin Coley – Coley made two starts this week, giving up four earned runs in 13.1 innings. He’s quietly having a good season, with a 3.23 ERA in 55.2 innings, along with a 36:17 K/BB ratio. Those numbers improve greatly when you take out his first two starts, when he gave up nine earned runs in eight innings. He’s typically a ground ball pitcher, but the interesting thing about his recent success is that he’s getting fewer grounders, dropping this week to below a 1:1 GO/AO ratio for the first time this season. It’s hard to say if he can continue to be successful as a guy with an average ground ball rate, but so far, the results have been good. – TW
Cody Dickson – Dickson made one start in the past week, against Bowie. It was his first in nine days, as Altoona ran into some dead time with rain outs and off dates, and Dickson made one brief relief appearance. Whether it was the rest or not, he had one of his best starts, allowing just a run on five hits over seven-plus innings. Dickson has always good enough stuff: a low-90s fastball, which is about average for a lefty, along with a curve and change that sometimes are above-average pitches. The problem has always been command. For six innings in the Bowie game, though, Dickson regularly got ahead in the count and avoided getting too much of the plate, leading to a lot of weak contact. He faltered late as he appeared to lose his mechanics. After issuing only one walk in the first six innings, Dickson walked two in the seventh, then gave up a free pass to start the eighth before being pulled. For the season, Dickson’s numbers are far from encouraging: a 4.40 ERA and 1.64 WHIP, as well as more walks (32) than strikeouts (27). He showed in his last start, though, why the Pirates are giving him a chance in Double-A. – WM
Yeudy Garcia – Garcia has put up good numbers this season, but that hasn’t reflected on his stuff. This week, he combined for ten shutout innings, although he walked six batters in that span, and had some high pitch counts. His fastball command has looked poor, and his velocity has been down a few MPH. This has led him to rely on the slider too much. The velocity wouldn’t be an issue if the fastball command was there, as he’s still sitting 92-93 and touching 96. But those command issues are going to make it difficult for him to have success beyond A-ball, and might make it difficult for him to have success the rest of the year if he doesn’t get them fixed. – TW
Bret Helton – Helton had two strong starts to begin the season, throwing ten shutout innings on four hits. This past week, he allowed one run over 12 innings, on seven hits, two walks and ten strikeouts. The problem has been what he did in the six starts between those games. He has a 4.11 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP this season in 46 innings. He has only pitched into the sixth inning three times. Helton’s stats show a lot of similarities to last year in Morgantown, with a higher ERA and WHIP in 2015, but less ground balls and more home runs this season. These last two games are positive signs. He will need to continue that trend for a decent stretch to put himself on the prospect map. – JD
Chad Kuhl – Kuhl allowed a home run to the first batter he faced on Thursday, which was then followed by a ground rule double. Seven innings later, he had allowed just four more hits, with no walks, seven strikeouts, getting plenty of soft contact and a lot of swinging strikes. He is in the middle of an incredible season and his outings just keep getting more impressive. Kuhl has a 1.03 ERA and an 0.82 WHIP in 52.2 innings, with a .182 BAA, 39 strikeouts and a 1.48 GO/AO ratio. You would normally like to see more strikeouts, but he’s trying to get quick outs on soft contact from his sinker and he has done a tremendous job of that this season. This last start showed that he can get swing and misses, and when you factor in that his opponent (Rochester) came into the game with the most walks in the league and they could get one off him, you see how truly effective he was on Thursday. – JD
Alex McRae – Just like Coley, McRae is another guy quietly having a good season. He’s got a 2.45 ERA in 55 innings, with a 25:14 K/BB ratio. Unlike Coley, McRae is a classic sinkerball pitcher, getting results from ground balls. This has led to him pitching deep into games on lower pitch counts, with seven innings this week on 91 pitches. McRae looks more like a future reliever, working off his low-90s sinker, but lacking an out pitch that could make him more than a middle relief option. The Pirates will keep him as a starter for now, but that could change next year when he moves up to Altoona. – TW
Jose Regalado – Regalado doesn’t have great stuff, sitting 86-88 MPH with his sinker, and lacking an out pitch. He’s had good results in Bradenton this year, stepping into the rotation a few times recently, including once this week in a double-header. He stepped up, throwing five shutout innings, with just a walk and three hits. He’s not a guy who projects for success beyond A-ball, but should help the Marauders whenever they need a starter or a long reliever this year. – TW
Jameson Taillon – Taillon could be one more start away from his Major League debut. The only thing that might hold him back was his biggest issue on Sunday night. He was on ten days rest, as the Pirates skipped a start for him to help limit his innings. In the last two innings, his velocity was down a few MPH and he worked hard each frame, throwing 39 of his 83 pitches in just those two innings. The Pirates like to get starting pitchers to 95-100 pitches before calling them up. He wasn’t far off that mark this week, and I’m sure his pitch count will increase next game, but he has to be strong throughout the game as well and not fade at the end. As we have been saying the last few weeks, he looks Major League ready, and his time will come up in about ten days. If Sunday is any indication though, he may need one more extra outing to get to full strength. – JD
David Whitehead – If you’ve been following along all season, you know it’s crazy to see Whitehead in a Top Performers article. He earned it though this week with no earned runs over 5.1 innings on just one hit. That followed up five shutout innings on two hits in his previous outing. In fact, he has two other games in which he had five shutout innings and just one hit. It shows that there is some potential, if only he could display better control. That’s a big IF and the control will have to be much better. In 39.2 innings, he has 41 walks and eight hit batters. In his nine starts combined, he has only thrown 22 more strikes than balls. – JD
