Some Sunday stats and a note about a couple pitching prospects over the next two days. We start with the stats and here are the team leaders throughout the system. I chose three categories for hitters and pitchers. Since there are eight teams, it still ends up being a lot of information. I went for power, speed and hitting for batters and ERA, WHIP and strikeouts for the pitchers. Batters qualified with 1.5 at-bats per team game, while pitchers made the list with a half inning per team game.
HOMERS
Indianapolis: Josh Bell, 13
Altoona: Eric Wood, 13
Bradenton: Chase Simpson, Taylor Gushue, 6
West Virginia: Tito Polo, 12
Morgantown: Hunter Owen, 5
Bristol: Julio de la Cruz, Jhoan Herrera, 2
GCL: Henrry Rosario, 5
DSL: Rudy Guzman, Rodolfo Castro, 1
STOLEN BASES
Indianapolis: Alen Hanson, 29
Altoona: Austin Meadows, Barrett Barnes, 9
Bradenton: Jeff Roy, 9
West Virginia: Tito Polo, 20
Morgantown: Erik Forgione, Ty Moore, Stephen Alemais, 4
Bristol: Victor Fernandez, 7
GCL: Victor Ngoepe, Andrew Walker, 6
DSL: Rudy Guzman, 7
OPS
Indianapolis: Josh Bell, .925
Altoona: Austin Meadows, .976
Bradenton: Kevin Newman, .922
West Virginia: Tito Polo, .919
Morgantown: Hunter Owen, .907
Bristol: Victor Fernandez, .946
GCL: Henrry Rosario, 1.182
DSL: Rudy Guzman, .873
ERA
Indianapolis: Tyler Glasnow, 1.94
Altoona: Cody Dickson, 3.44
Bradenton: Alex McRae, 2.69
West Virginia: Mitch Keller, 2.70
Morgantown: Cristian Mota, 2.00
Bristol: Matt Eckelman, 2.61
GCL: Ronny Agustin, 0.66
DSL: Leandro Pina, 0.46
WHIP
Indianapolis: Jameson Taillon, 0.81
Altoona: Tyler Eppler, 1.28
Bradenton: Alex McRae, 1.18
West Virginia: Mitch Keller, 0.88
Morgantown: James Marvel, 0.99
Bristol: Matt Eckelman, 0.77
GCL: Ronny Agustin, 0.66
DSL: Leandro Pina, 0.87
STRIKEOUTS
Indianapolis: Tyler Glasnow, 122
Altoona: Clay Holmes, 74
Bradenton: Yeudy Garcia, 101
West Virginia: Mitch Keller, 98
Morgantown: Danny Beddes, 25
Bristol: Nicholas Economos, Matt Eckelman, 22
GCL: Brian Sousa, 18
DSL: Roger Santana, 39
** I wasn’t going to put any notes along with the stats, but I had for one of them. The DSL Pirates have hit two home runs this season in 42 games, that is not a typo up top. Those two homers came in the same game back on June 30th off the same pitcher, Luis Ojeda of the Yankees. Not only is that an odd/sad stat, Ojeda has only allowed two home runs this season. Before you get too carried away with the home run total, realize that two teams have hit just one homer this year in the DSL and more than half the league has less than ten homers.
** If you have MiLB.tv, you can check out the #5 and #17 prospects in the system today and tomorrow. Gage Hinsz will face Rome this afternoon, one of the few teams in the South Atlantic League that broadcasts games. The Power actually play on the road against the other two teams (Lexington and Columbia) again this year, so there will be some more chances to see them. On Monday night, Mitch Keller is scheduled to start. Rome has the worst team OPS in the league at .645, though that clearly wasn’t the case last night when they put up eight runs in the first three innings off Bret Helton. I plan to watch both games and provide some analysis on each in the Prospect Watch.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates won 7-4 on Saturday over the Phillies. Jameson Taillon gets the start today, his seventh of the season. He has allowed one run over six innings in each of his last two starts, though there was a 20-day period between those two games, as the Pirates gave him a rest to limit his innings. The Phillies will counter with Vince Velasquez, who has a 3.15 ERA in 85.2 innings, with 98 strikeouts and a 1.25 WHIP. In his last three starts combined, he has allowed five earned runs over 19 innings.
In the minors, Gage Hinsz gets the afternoon start for West Virginia. The 17th ranked prospect in the system allowed four runs over five innings in his last start. Before that, he threw seven shutout innings. Tyler Eppler goes for Altoona. He is eighth in the Eastern League in innings pitched, though he is within nine innings of the league leader. He is tied for 52nd in the league in walks, issuing just 22 free passes in 107 innings.
Bradenton had their doubleheader rained out yesterday. They will play Friday’s suspended today, resuming the game in the bottom of the first with no score. Then they will play a seven inning game. Saturday’s regularly scheduled game will be played on the road in Daytona now.
The GCL Pirates and the DSL Pirates both have off today. Matt Eckelman is scheduled to start for Bristol.
MLB: Pittsburgh (50-47) vs Phillies (45-54) 1:35 PM
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (3.44 ERA, 5:24 BB/SO, 34.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (52-50) vs Charlotte (45-57) 1:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Wilfredo Boscan (4.23 ERA, 9:46 BB/SO, 72.1 IP)
AA: Altoona (54-45) vs Akron (54-47) 6:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (4.12 ERA, 22:71 BB/SO, 107.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (51-45) vs Daytona (50-44) 1:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.57 ERA, 31:63 BB/SO, 103.1 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (50-48) @ Rome (41-56) 2:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (3.83 ERA, 9:31 BB/SO, 49.1 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (18-17) vs Lowell (20-15) 4:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Stephan Meyer (7.89 ERA, 10:19 BB/SO, 29.2 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (14-15) @ Greeneville (16-14) 6:00 PM (season preview)
GCL: Pirates (12-14) vs Braves (10-16) 12:00 PM 7/25 (season preview)
DSL: Pirates (16-26) vs Yankees1 (20-21) 10:30 AM 7/25 (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is the ninth strikeout from Steven Brault on Friday night.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
7/23: Tyler Glasnow recalled. A.J. Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.
7/23: Eric Fryer placed on paternity list. Elias Diaz recalled.
7/22: Erik Kratz clears waivers. Elects free agency.
7/21: Chris Diaz placed on temporary inactive list.
7/20: Jose Regalado assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
7/20: Ryan Vogelsong assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
7/19: Francisco Cervelli activated from disabled list. Erik Kratz designated for assignment.
7/19: Jameson Taillon activated from disabled list. Chad Kuhl optioned to Indianapolis.
7/19: Frank Duncan placed on disabled list.
7/19: Elias Diaz assigned to Indianapolis.
7/19: Justin Topa assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
7/17: Jonathan Schwind assigned to Altoona.
7/16: Elias Diaz assigned to Altoona on rehab.
7/16: Gerrit Cole activated from the disabled list. Josh Bell optioned to Indianapolis.
7/15: Pirates sign Austin Shields. Assigned to GCL Pirates.
7/15: Pirates sign Boomer Synek. Assigned to GCL Pirates.
7/14: Francisco Cervelli assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
7/14: John Kuchno assigned to Altoona.
7/14: Jordan George promoted to West Virginia
7/13: Daniel Zamora placed on West Virginia disabled list.
7/13: Colten Brewer activated from temporary inactive list. Nick Neumann placed on Bradenton disabled list.
7/12: Rob Scahill claimed off waivers by Brewers.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a game of note from the 1901 season. Besides Barry Bonds, who has a bio linked above, there have been three other Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date.
Joe Oliver caught for the 1999 Pirates. He was mentioned here yesterday, when the Pirates traded away Jose Guillen as part of a four-player deal to acquire Oliver from the Devil Rays. The trade was made necessary by the season-ending injury to Jason Kendall. In 45 games for the Pirates, Oliver hit .201 and drove in 13 runs.
Preston Ward was a utility player for the Pirates from 1953 until 1956. He played first base, third base and right field while in Pittsburgh, hitting .240 in 305 games. Ward came to the Pirates from the Cubs in the ten-player deal that sent Ralph Kiner to Chicago, which is one of the biggest deals in team history.
Joe Schultz Sr, infielder for the 1916 Pirates. He hit .260 in 77 games for the Pirates and saw playing time at five different positions. Schultz is one of the rare father-son combos in team history, as his son played for Pittsburgh from 1939 until 1941. You can make his family connection with the Pirates even more rare, as his cousin was outfielder Hans Lobert, who was the member of the 1903 NL champs. Schultz Sr also had another cousin named Frank Lobert, who played in the majors and lived in Pittsburgh, but never played for his hometown team.
Finally, we have something from the 1901 season that you rarely see. The Pirates that year won their first NL pennant and on July 24th, they beat the Reds by an 11-2 score at home. What was interesting about that game was the fact the Pirates scored all eight innings they came to the plate. You can read a recap of the game in the link above.
