Prospect Watch: Rinku Singh Pitches for the First Time Since 2012

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Altoona lost 10-8 on Friday night as their late rally came up short. Alex McRae made his fifth start, coming off two strong outings after two really bad games to begin his time in Double-A. That left him with an 8.55 ERA coming into this game and that went up slightly on this night. A four-run third inning almost knocked him out of the game, but McRae stuck around for five frames, giving up six runs (five earned), on nine hits and one walk, with five strikeouts. He threw 60 strikes out of 89 pitches, and had a 6:4 GO/AO ratio.

The Curve batters had 13 hits, including four doubles. Erich Weiss went 3-for-5 with his 14th double, driving in two runs. Kevin Newman hit his fourth double for Altoona, going 2-for-5 with a run scored. He also drove in two runs. Newman had ten doubles with Bradenton before being promoted. Barrett Barnes went 2-for-3 with his 12th double. He scored two runs and picked up an RBI. Reese McGuire also picked up his 12th double. His career-high for doubles is 15, which he set last year.

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Bradenton dropped their fourth game in a row on Friday night, losing 6-3 to Charlotte. Stephen Tarpley started and couldn’t continue his recent run of success. In his last 22 innings coming into this game, he had allowed just two earned runs. His defense had a little trouble behind him, but he still gave up six runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks in 3.1 innings. Two of the hits were homers. He had four strikeouts and a 5:2 GO/AO ratio, but other than that not much went right. Tarpley was taken out with 79 pitches, 48 for strikes.

The bullpen was brilliant the rest of the way, allowing no runs, two hits and one walk, with seven strikeouts in the last 5.2 innings to keep the game from getting out of hand. The offense couldn’t overcome the early deficit despite 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Taylor Gushue had two hits and drove in a run. Tito Polo and Cole Tucker each drove in a run as well, though both of them were thrown out trying to steal. Connor Joe singled to extend his hit streak to seven games, but he also committed his 13th error, which was the start of the four-run third inning against Tarpley.

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CHARLESTON, WV – Gage Hinsz brought his A game tonight, but the Power’s lack of offense doomed the team from the start. The Power didn’t record their first hit until the fourth inning, and only one runner reached third. Ultimately, the team was shutout at home for the first time since a 1-0 loss to Kannapolis on April 20.

Hinsz had shown some lack of control in his first five starts since joining West Virginia. He relies on three pitches with sharp movement: a sinking fastball, a curve, and a circle change. When those pitches are off, they elevate into the strike zone, and hitters feast on them. He then tries to overcompensate and struggles to find the strike zone at all.

Tonight’s version of Hinsz, though, was the player the Pirates drafted two years ago. He commanded his pitches and attacked the bottom of the strike zone. He racked up four strikeouts and walked none. His pitch count rapidly increased, though, as the Columbia batters caught onto the downward movement of Hinsz’s pitches and watched them fall out of the zone instead of giving chase.

Hinsz allowed two runs, one earned, over five innings. For the first time all season, he failed to allow an extra base hit, scattering seven weak singles throughout the frames. The two runs came as a result of good base running by Columbia leadoff man J.C. Rodriguez, who stole bases to move into scoring position both times.

All in all, Hinsz put himself in position to win the game.

The Power batters, though, let their starter down. Their best chance came in the seventh inning when a single, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with one out. Tyler Filliben struck out looking on a strike at the knees, and Alfredo Reyes hit a weak grounder back to the pitcher to kill the rally.

I suppose the one bright spot in tonight’s game would be Logan Hill’s performance. He has struggled all season and was demoted from Bradenton in mid-May. Some of his power seems to have returned in the last week, as he has hit four doubles since June 23, including one tonight. He does not seem to be swinging for the fences, but instead, he is keeping his head down and driving the ball. Since June 18, Hill is hitting .281 – hopefully a sign of better times to come. – Abigail Miskowiec

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Morgantown bats broke out late in an 11-5 win over Auburn on Friday night. The game was tied 4-4 going into the bottom of the seventh before the Black Bears put up two runs that inning, followed by five in the eighth. Luis Escobar started and had control issues again, needing 72 pitches to get through 3.1 innings. He gave up two runs on five hits and three walks, picking up four strikeouts. He has now walked nine batters in eight innings over three starts this season.

The offense put 15 hits on the board and drew eight walks. They came through in the clutch as well, going 8-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Sandy Santos and Matt Diorio each had three hits and drove in two runs. Santos had two doubles to give him six on the season. Diorio hit his second double, walked and scored three runs. Clark Eagan had two doubles and drove in three runs. He has five doubles this year. Hunter Owen came in as a pinch-runner in the seventh and still managed to score two runs and drive in two runs. Albert Baur and Kevin Mahala each scored twice. First round pick Will Craig had the night off.

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Bristol lost 6-4, but got a nice (abbreviated) outing from fifth round draft pick Blake Cederlind. He threw three shutout innings, giving up three hits, no walks and striking out two batters. He lasted only two innings in his debut and allowed two runs on three hits. After he left, Juan Paula allowed a run in his two innings and Nick Hutchings had a lot of issues in his one inning, giving up the other five runs.

Michael de la Cruz had a nice game, with a single, two walks, a stolen base and two runs scored. He is hitting .280 (7-for-25) through nine games. Jhoan Herrera drove in two runs. Huascar Fuentes had two hits, including his first homer. Raul Siri had a walk and an RBI, but an 0-for-3 night knocked him down to a .129 average. Sam Kennelly went 0-for-4, dropping him down to 1-for-20 on the season.

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BRADENTON, Fla. – Today’s GCL Pirates game was a strange and eventful matchup that you could only see in the GCL. Last week I saw starting pitcher Miguel Hernandez with a good outing, sitting 91-93 MPH, touching 94, and showing good command, with just one walk in five innings. That ran contrary to our reports from Extended Spring Training, when he had some control issues at the end of camp. Those control problems crept up today, with three walks in the first inning, and only one out recorded before he reached his single inning pitch limit, at 33 total pitches.

That brought on Mister Luciano, who closed out the first inning with just one inherited runner scoring. Luciano pitched the second and third innings, then ran out of steam in the fourth. That’s when the Pirates made an interesting move, bringing in their left fielder, Henrry Rosario, to pitch with no one ready in the bullpen.

Rosario saw the leadoff batter reach on an error by the third baseman, then balked the runner to second. He gave up a run on a triple, but got the final two outs to end the inning. After that, Rosario went back to left field, and that’s when things got more interesting.

Rinku Singh was added to the GCL roster today on rehab, and came on to pitch the fifth inning. It was the first appearance for Singh since September 2nd, 2012. His last appearance in any baseball game was December 30th, 2012 in the Australian Baseball League. He missed the 2013 season with Tommy John surgery, missed the 2014 season after having surgery to remove bone chips, and missed the 2015 season after a broken elbow.

VIDEO: Rinku Singh pitches in his first game since September 2, 2012. #Pirates #MillionDollarArm

A video posted by Pirates Prospects (@piratesprospects) on Jul 1, 2016 at 10:58am PDT

Singh isn’t really a prospect, but is still a good story due to his background. He was sitting 86-88 MPH today, which was his old velocity, and had some movement on his pitches. He threw 18 pitches total. However, his command wasn’t the best, which you’d expect after over three and a half years away from the game.

The Pirates lost 9-0 and the offense had just four hits, with no walks and 13 strikeouts. – Tim Williams

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The DSL Pirates won 4-1 over the Yankees1 and Leandro Pina continued his impressive start to his career. He threw five shutout innings, giving up five hits (all singles), no walks and he struck out three batters. He has now made five starts and has an 0.00 ERA in 25 innings. Pina is a 17-year-old, 6’3″ righty, who signed for $115,000 last year. His fastball touches low-90s and his changeup is advanced for his age.

Randy Jimenez made his season debut and recorded two outs before leaving the game due to three walks. He just returned from an injury, so his outing was limited. Jimenez is an 18-year-old, 6’3″ lefty, who signed for $100,000 last year. Jose Delgado allowed one unearned run over the last 3.1 innings for his second save.

Rudy Guzman led the offense by going 3-for-3 with two runs and two triples. Kyle Simmons had two hits, a walk and an RBI. Rodolfo Castro went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.