If you like left-handed pitching prospects you’ll love the schedule tonight. In our mid-season update of our top 50 prospects, we had five lefties. Four of them are pitching tonight. Going by the mid-season rankings, which included Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez in the top 12, we have Steven Brault ranked #11, Stephen Tarpley ranked #21, Brandon Waddell at #22 and Ike Schlabach rated 49th overall. The only lefty from the top 50 not pitching today is Braeden Ogle, who was ranked 26th.
That got me thinking about how many lefty pitchers are usually in our top 50. Luckily, I have all of the Prospect Guides dating back to 2011, so I can go through them and check to see how the current “10% of the list” stacks up to the past. It will also be good just to look back and see the names on those lists. When you’re going 50 deep for prospects and the organization wasn’t always as deep as it was now, there are bound to be some names in there that you either might not remember, or just hadn’t thought of for awhile. So here are the lefties in the 2011-16 Prospect Guides. Enjoy.
2016: Steven Brault #13, Stephen Tarpley #14, Brandon Waddell #21, Cody Dickson #33
2015: Cody Dickson #14, Bobby LaFromboise #42, Hector Garcia #44, John Sever #45
2014: Joely Rodriguez #15, Blake Taylor #16, Cody Dickson #17, Zack Dodson #49
2013: Justin Wilson #14, Andy Oliver #19, Zack Dodson #36, Joely Rodriguez #40
2012: Jeff Locke #11, Colton Cain #12, Rudy Owens #13, Justin Wilson #14, Zack Dodson #21, Zac Fuesser #44, Nate Baker #50
2011: Rudy Owens #7, Jeff Locke #8, Colton Cain #10, Justin Wilson #12, Nate Baker #29, Zack Dodson #30, Daniel Moskos #31, Donald Veal #38, Joely Rodriguez #39, Zac Fuesser #43, Tony Watson #50
So basically, having five southpaws in the top 50 is almost typical of the system recently, with four in each of the last four years. Back in 2011, the Pirates stocked up on them, though the system was clearly weaker then. You see Tony Watson in that 50th spot and it makes it look stronger, but he was sitting mid-80s as a starter back then and got switched to the Altoona bullpen. He pitched well there, but he was sitting 89-91 with his fastball. By the next season, he wasn’t even eligible for our prospect guide due to 43 relief appearances with the Pirates. Proof that things can change in a hurry for some pitchers if something clicks.
**Keep in mind when you look at the Playoff Push section that each of the top five affiliates have about 12 games left, while Bristol and the GCL both end on September 1st. All the affiliates combined have only 76 games left, not counting playoffs. Indianapolis was eliminated from the playoffs yesterday. Altoona has seen their lead over Akron shrink by six games over the last 11 days. West Virginia won again last night, but didn’t move up in the standings. Morgantown can be eliminated from the division today, but they still have a slim wild card chance. The GCL Pirates are somehow still in a playoff fight with a 20-31 record…yes, 20 wins and 31 losses.
PLAYOFF PUSH
The Pirates trail the second wild card spot by 3.5 games.
Indianapolis has been eliminated from the playoffs. Their season ends September 5th.
Altoona leads their division by 1.5 games. The top two teams in the division go to the playoffs, with the first place team getting the home field advantage in the first round.
Bradenton won the first half title. They have home field advantage in the playoffs.
West Virginia is in third place in their division, trailing first by five games.
Morgantown is in fourth place in their division, trailing first place by 12 games. They are 6.5 games back for the lone wild card spot.
Bristol has been eliminated from the playoffs. Their season ends September 1st
The GCL Pirates are four games back in their division. This is the only league where you have to win your division to make the playoffs.
The DSL Pirates have been eliminated from the playoffs. Their season ends August 27th.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates lost 5-4 to the Astros on Wednesday afternoon. They now go to Milwaukee for four games. Chad Kuhl gets the ball tonight, making his eighth big league start. In each of his last four starts, he has pitched six innings. Kuhl has given up two earned runs in each of his last three games. The Brewers will counter with Wily Peralta, who has a 6.00 ERA in 84 innings, with 54 strikeouts and a 1.74 WHIP. He gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks over six innings in his last start, which was in Seattle. Peralta has yet to face the Pirates this season.
In the minors, Steven Brault starts for Indianapolis tonight. In his last six starts, he has pitched well three times and looked bad three times. Brault allowed one run over 19 innings in the good games, compared to 15 runs over 12 innings in the bad games. Brandon Waddell has a 3.68 ERA this month, though he is doing that while posting a 1.59 WHIP. In five starts in July, he had a 3.38 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP. In his last start, Stephen Tarpley allowed one run on two hits and one walk in six innings.
Both Jacob Taylor and Travis MacGregor are scheduled for the GCL Pirates today. Ike Schlabach gets the start for Bristol. He has faced Johnson City twice this season and over 7.1 combined innings, he has allowed 11 runs on 15 hits. The DSL Pirates will finish a suspended game before playing their scheduled Thursday game, which will now be a seven inning contest.
MLB: Pittsburgh (63-61) @ Brewers (56-70) 8:10 PM
Probable starter: Chad Kuhl (3.62 ERA, 9:22 BB/SO, 37.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (64-68) vs Louisville (63-69) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Steven Brault (3.63 ERA, 34:78 BB/SO, 69.1 IP)
AA: Altoona (70-59) vs Erie (56-74) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Brandon Waddell (4.09 ERA, 55:77 BB/SO, 103.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (67-60) @ Jupiter (63-64) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Stephen Tarpley (4.40 ERA, 36:84 BB/SO, 94.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (66-62) vs Lexington (48-80) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Dario Agrazal (4.47 ERA, 15:77 BB/SO, 131.0 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (30-34) vs Williamsport (33-30) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Stephan Meyer (5.08 ERA, 21:40 BB/SO, 62.0 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (24-36) @ Johnson City (35-25) 7:00 PM (season preview)
GCL: Pirates (20-31) vs Yankees East (17-34) 12:00 PM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates (26-40) vs Indians (24-43) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is nice catch from Tuesday night by Danny Ortiz, who is having a tremendous season defensively in center field for Indianapolis. He also leads the team with 15 homers. On Wednesday afternoon, he made two strong defensive plays.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
8/22: Kyle Lobstein activated from the disabled list.
8/21: Evan Piechota promoted to Morgantown.
8/21: Yeudy Garcia activated from disabled list. Henry Hirsch placed on temporary inactive list.
8/20: Jung Ho Kang placed on disabled list. Josh Bell recalled from Indianapolis.
8/20: Stephen Alemais promoted to West Virginia. Alfredo Reyes placed on disabled list.
8/20: Ke’Bryan Hayes assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
8/20: Pirates release Edgardo Leon
8/18: Pirates release Josh Outman.
8/18: Juan Diaz assigned to Bristol.
8/18: Jeremias Portorreal and Gabriel Brito promoted to GCL Pirates.
8/17: Josh Smith assigned to Indianapolis.
8/15: Yeudy Garcia and Chase Simpson placed on disabled list.
8/15: Hector Garcia assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
8/15: Nick Kingham and Justin Topa assigned to Bradenton.
8/14: Tyler Glasnow assigned to Altoona on rehab.
8/14: Jason Creasy assigned to Altoona.
8/12: Chris Stewart assigned to Altoona on rehab.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus two transactions of note. We start with the acquisition of Wilbur Cooper in 1912. He was 20 years old and pitching in the minors when the Pirates traded two players to be named later to get him. Cooper would stick around until 1924 and collect 202 wins with the Pirates, which is a franchise record. He led the NL with 22 wins and 327 innings pitched in 1921. From 1918 until 1922, he won at least 19 games every season. You can read more on Cooper here.
On this date in 1959, the Pirates traded away outfielder Ted Kluszewski for veteran outfielder Harry Simpson and a minor league third baseman named Bob Sagers. The Pirates got nine games out of Simpson and Sagers never made the majors. Kluszewski was once a feared power hitter, but a back injury really limited his power and the Pirates obviously didn’t miss him too much, since they won the World Series the next year.
The former players born on this date include:
Gary Mathews Jr, center fielder for the 2001 Pirates. He was a waiver pickup of the Pirates in August and became the regular center fielder the rest of the season.
Jim Suchecki, 1952 pitcher. He originally signed with the Red Sox at the age of 15 in 1943, but he didn’t make it to the majors until 1950. Suchecki made five relief appearances for Pirates before they lost him on waivers.
Tony Boeckel, third baseman in 1917 and 1919. Hit .259 in 109 games for the Pirates. Missed 1918 due to the war. Boeckel is unfortunately known as the first active Major League player to die in a car accident, which happened in 1923 at the age of thirty.
