A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors and loses his prospect eligibility, 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, 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 2016 mid-season update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
We’re working on a solution for the PHP stat codes not working in the app.
1. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Pirates -[insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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3. Josh Bell, 1B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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4. Kevin Newman, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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5. Mitch Keller, RHP, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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6. Reese McGuire, C, Altoona -[insert_php]
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7. Nick Kingham, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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8.Cole Tucker, SS, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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9. Chad Kuhl, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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10. Will Craig, 3B, Morgantown – [insert_php]
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11. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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12. Harold Ramirez, OF, Altoona -[insert_php]
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13. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, West Virginia -[insert_php]
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14. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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15. Clay Holmes, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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16. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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17. Gage Hinsz, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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18. Trevor Williams, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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19. Alen Hanson, 2B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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20. Tito Polo, OF, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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21. Stephen Tarpley, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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22. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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23. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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24. Max Moroff, 2B, Pirates -[insert_php]
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25. Taylor Hearn, LHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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26. Adrian Valerio, SS – Bristol – [insert_php]
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27. Braeden Ogle, LHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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28. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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29. Travis MacGregor, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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30. Max Kranick, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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INDIANAPOLIS — One aspect had been consistent with Trevor Williams over the past month: his command was excellent.
That has changed over his last two starts. The main difference for Williams against Norfolk on Sunday, he was able to work around the control problems.
Williams threw six shutout innings, but needed a season-high 103 pitches to do so. He allowed four hits, while walking five batters and striking out two.
Still, this was a bounce back outing for Williams who allowed six hits, three earned runs, and three walks in 2.2 innings in his previous start.
“The last start was just overall frustrating,” Williams said. “I made a lot of bad pitches, but today my real goal was to come back and bounce back from that one mishap outing. It was ugly today, no doubt. But I gave the team a chance to win and came out with the lead.”
Control problems will haunt any pitcher, but especially someone like Williams who does not have overpowering stuff. He has allowed eight walks in 6.2 innings over the past two starts. Williams had allowed just three walks in the 39.2 innings prior to this streak.
“He doesn’t have that real wipeout pitch,” Indianapolis manager Dean Treanor said. “So the command is important for him. But the thing he has to be able to do is get that early contact and early outs.”
One major league scout saw Williams throw eight shutout innings against Charlotte on July 21. He said Williams’ command was so good that it made up for having average pitches, labeling him a fifth-starter type of talent.
“I’ve never been a guy that walks many guys,” Williams said. “But I made some big pitches when I had to (against Norfolk). I pitched around some hitters to get into the double-play situation and I had some great defensive plays.”
Williams had a 0.98 earned run average during his six starts in July and teams hit just .175 against him. He’s mixed up his fastball and slider well to keep hitters off-balanced. He doesn’t feel the walks over the past two outings can be pinpointed toward any one mechanical issue.
“It could be just little things off here and there,” Williams said. “It is just something we’ll have to dial back into in the next bullpen session. Other than that, it’s just attacking the zone early and putting away hitters when I have to.”
Against Norfolk on Sunday, Williams retired the side in the fourth inning. But Williams allowed a walk in every other inning he pitched. Norfolk had two runners on base in four of the six innings that Williams pitched.
“Anytime you have that many baserunners and get out of it — he’s obviously making some pitches,” Treanor said. “But we can’t be walking five guys in six innings.”
Indianapolis dropped two of three games in the series against Norfolk, a team with a 43-65 record. Indianapolis entered the day trailing division leader Columbus by five games. Those teams begin a four-game series on Monday.
“I think he felt it was on his shoulders to give us a win going into tomorrow,” Treanor said. “I think there was a little extra effort in a lot of pitches. But it turns out to be six shutout innings, in that regard there is a huge positive. But when there is 103 pitches in six innings, you can’t do that. He has to be better than that.”
Jason Rogers appears to be one player breaking out of an offensive slump. He entered the weekend hitting .188 but went 2-for-4 on Sunday after going 3-for-4 against the Tides on Saturday.
Rogers led the second inning off with a single and scored on Willy Garcia’s double. But Rogers made an awful baserunning error in the fourth inning. Danny Ortiz singled and Rogers rounded third and ran through a hold sign by third baseman coach Miguel Perez. He finally stopped midway down the line, paused, before trying to continue running home and was easily thrown out to end the inning.
Jose Osuna went 0-for-4, snapping his 14-game hitting streak. Josh Bell, batting fourth and one spot behind Osuna, also went 0-for-4.
Norfolk scored four runs in the seventh inning, one off Kelvin Marte and three off A.J. Schugel. – Brian Peloza
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Altoona lost the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday, as Alex McRae got knocked out of the game in the third inning. McRae went 2.2 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and five walks. He threw 86 pitches in his shortened outing, including 38 in the first inning alone. While he has had some strong starts since joining Altoona at the beginning of June, he has also had some very poor outings, which has led to a 6.89 ERA, a .357 BAA and a 1.87 WHIP.
The Curve had just two hits in the game, singles by Edwin Espinal and Erich Weiss. They scored their only run in the fourth inning on a walk to Kevin Newman, followed by a ground out from Weiss and an RBI single from Espinal. Weiss also drew a walk, in a nice game at the plate for him, but his error in the third inning led to an unearned run charged to McRae.
Game Two: Clay Holmes pitched five innings on Sunday and had a nice outing, giving up one earned run on two hits, two walks, and a hit batter. He could have been more efficient with his pitches, but he was also hurt by an error in the first that turned a routine fly ball into two unearned runs. With one out and a man on first, a fly ball to left field looked like an easy play for Barrett Barnes, but right before he caught it, Harold Ramirez ran in front of him and dropped the ball.
Holmes threw 53 of his 86 pitches for strikes, so besides the two walks and the hit batter, he had decent control. He struck out four batters, had an 8:3 GO/AO ratio. At one point, he retired ten batters in a row. That streak was snapped in the fifth, by a line drive that went over the right field fence for his only earned run.
The Curve had some chances to score in this game, but they ended up losing 3-1. They left eight men on base and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The only run scored in the seventh after Barrett Barnes led off with his 20th double of the season. Stetson Allie reached on a fielding error, then Anderson Feliz and Erich Weiss walked, scoring Barnes. With two outs, Harold Ramirez came up and flew out to right field to end the game.
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Bradenton had their bats working on Sunday, but the pitching and defense cost them in an 11-7 loss. We start with the bad, beginning with JT Brubaker, who gave up five runs on seven hits and four walks in 4.2 innings. It didn’t get any better after he left, as Junior Lopez followed him with three runs in his 2.1 innings. Luis Heredia came on to pitch the eighth and got two outs before being replaced. He threw just 17 of his 34 pitches for strikes, leading to three runs (one earned) on one hit and three walks.
On defense, the double play combo of Cole Tucker and Pablo Reyes combined for three errors. Tucker’s second error with two outs in the eighth led to those two unearned runs off Heredia.
The good side was the hitting, and Tucker led the way from the lead-off spot, collecting three singles and scoring two runs. He also had three hits on Saturday night. Jerrick Suiter had the biggest game, picking up four hits and driving in four runs. He connected on his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth inning. Connor Joe had two hits, including his 22nd double. Tito Polo walked twice and scored two runs. Jordan Luplow had a single, double, walk, scored twice and picked up an RBI.
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Gage Hinsz started on Sunday and did a terrific job the first five innings before running into a little trouble in the sixth. Hinsz allowed two hits and hit two batters through the first five frames, with one of those hits being a slow hit grounder to shortstop. He also had seven strikeouts at that point. In the sixth, he allowed a double and a single to start the inning. Then after his eighth strikeout, Hinsz lost the shutout, as a single scored the runner from third base. That ended his day, and then reliever Jess Amedee stranded both runners by picking up two strikeouts. Amedee ended up with seven strikeouts in only 2.2 innings.
Hinsz threw a total of 91 pitches in this game, 60 for strikes. That ties his career high for pitches thrown in a game. Hinsz has now gone at least five innings in all 11 starts, which is impressive for a 20-year-old in Low-A. For comparison, Mitch Keller has gone at least five in 14 of his 18 starts. Hinsz has a 3.26 ERA in 60.2 innings this season, with only 11 walks. That’s compared to 23 walks last year with Bristol in 38 innings.
The offense was led by solo homers from Logan Hill and Danny Arribas. Hill hit his fifth home run for West Virginia (he also homered twice for Bradenton). He added 11th double and also drove in another run. Arribas hit his tenth homer and picked up his 16th double. Logan Ratledge and Alfredo Reyes each had two stolen bases. They now have 22 and 23 (Reyes) steals this season.
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Morgantown lost 5-3 on Sunday, as James Marvel got roughed up over 4.2 innings of work. Marvel allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks, striking out four batters. He needed 87 pitches to get through his abbreviated outing. One area in which he continues to excel is the ground balls, which is what you hope for from a sinkerball pitcher. He had an 8:2 GO/AO ratio in this game, and a 2.23 GO/AO ratio on the season. Marvel now has a 4.40 ERA in 43 innings. As I mentioned after his last outing, the most important thing this season is just getting him innings, so he has something to build off of next season. His Tommy John surgery cost him all of last season.
Neil Kozikowski followed Marvel and gave up one run over 1.1 innings. Billy Roth finished the game with two scoreless frames. He has thrown 7.1 shutout innings over his last five appearances.
Will Craig reached base three times in this game and scored a run. He had a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Kevin Krause gave the Black Bears an early lead with a two-run homer in the second inning. They extended that lead to 3-1 in the top of the third with a Stephen Alemais double, followed by a Sandy Santos single.
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Bristol took a tough loss on Sunday night, going down 4-3 to Johnson City in 14 innings. The game was tied 2-2 in the fourth inning, then both teams scored a run in the 12th inning. Bristol scored twice in the fourth, as Garrett Brown reached on an error to start the inning, the scored on a triple by Huascar Fuentes. A ground out by Jhoan Herrera scored Fuentes. In the 12th inning, Daniel Cucjen began the inning by reaching on an error, then he scored on a double by Fuentes.
The Pirates had 11 hits in the game, though the bottom four hitters in the lineup combined to go 1-for-22. Adrian Valerio and Jhoan Herrera each had three singles. Valerio was on a 5-for-38 stretch during his previous ten games.
Adam Oller started for the first time since July 2nd and allowed two runs over five innings. He has been pitching in relief recently, where he allowed two runs over 15 innings, with 18 strikeouts. Pasquale Mazzocoli and Jordan Jess followed Oller with three shutout innings each. Robbie Coursel took the loss, allowing the runs in the 12th and 14th innings.
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The GCL Pirates are off on Sunday
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The DSL Pirates are off on Sunday
