We are getting to the final stretch of the minor league regular season. So here is my attempt at a good reason to follow every affiliate down the stretch.
Indianapolis will have some good reasons to follow. Tyler Glasnow will make at least one start with them (Saturday) and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him make another before he comes up. There are even some grumblings that he might not come up, but if he pitches well for Indianapolis, whether it’s 1-2 times, he will be up. Frank Duncan’s improbable run at an ERA title is another good reason to watch. Funny thing with Glasnow there, he could now win the ERA title with two good starts. They both have identical stat lines of 102 innings, a 1.94 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. Both are short of the required innings right now, but should qualify with two decent length starts.
Altoona is in a playoff race and they now have Nick Kingham, Clay Holmes, Tyler Eppler and Brandon Waddell in their rotation. That’s a pretty good reason to keep following them, but they also have Kevin Newman finishing out his first full season, plus Barrett Barnes is going for back-to-back recognition as the Pirates Prospects Player of the Month. He’s in the lead with less than a full week left. That’s never happened, now in our fourth season of naming a Player of the Month. It happened twice for pitchers, and I’m sure you can figure out that it was done by Tyler Glasnow in 2014 and Kris Johnson in 2013.
Bradenton is going to the playoffs and has Tito Polo, what more do you need? They lost a little bit of interest with Kingham leaving, but Stephen Tarpley is doing well recently and Yeudy Garcia has a chance to lead the league in strikeouts. Cole Tucker is a top ten prospect and Connor Joe looks to have a strong finish to his season. Plus you have those playoffs to follow, with home field advantage.
West Virginia can still make the playoffs, but they basically need to sweep the three-game series that they start tonight against Lakewood. You have three big arms there in Mitch Keller, Gage Hinsz and Taylor Hearn. Keller is going for the ERA title and the WHIP title. If you have MiLB.tv, you can watch his next start in Columbia. He will look to continue his scoreless streak that is up to 23 innings.
Morgantown has a very slim playoff hope, so barring a miracle, the biggest interest will be in Will Craig and Luis Escobar. Craig ranks seventh in the league in OBP now and has more walks than strikeouts. Escobar is now seventh in ERA and just outside the top ten in the league in both strikeouts and WHIP.
Bristol….hmm. Well, Adrian Valerio has four consecutive multi-hit games. You wouldn’t mind seeing a strong finish to his season. He’s got the defense going for him and he’s also starting to steal some bases recently. I’ll make it up to you with the next one…
The GCL Pirates were supposed to have a big weekend against the GCL Braves starting today. The two teams have been close in the standings all year. Then the last week happened and the Pirates lost seven straight games. When they lost yesterday and the Braves won two games, that eliminated the Pirates. Their seven-game losing streak happens to coincide with the injury to Mikell Granberry (broken hand on a HBP), who was the best hitter in the lineup at that time, batting .300/.462/.550 in the month of August. The weekend is still interesting from a prospect standpoint, as second round pick Travis MacGregor starts today, and over-slot signing Austin Shields, gets his first start on Saturday. Braeden Ogle and Max Kranick will get starts early next week and we could see final starts from Jacob Taylor, plus MacGregor and Shields again.
The DSL Pirates have two games left. There really isn’t a whole lot to follow with them at this point. Maybe Leandro Pina gets a final start to cap off his strong season as a 17-year-old. He pitched Monday, but with two rain outs, he might not go again on the final day tomorrow. If he doesn’t, he finishes with a 1.46 ERA, an 0.97 WHIP and nine walks over 61.2 innings.
PLAYOFF PUSH
The Pirates trail the second wild card spot by 2.5 games.
Indianapolis has been eliminated from the playoffs. Their season ends September 5th.
Altoona leads their division by 2.5 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 tied for third place in their division, trailing first by six games.
Morgantown has been eliminated from the division race. 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 have been eliminated from the playoffs. Their season ends September 1st.
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 won 3-2 in ten innings over the Brewers on Thursday night. The Pirates will go with Ryan Vogelsong tonight. He allowed one run over six innings in his last start, which was at home against the Marlins. In his prior start, Vogelsong gave up four runs on nine hits and three walks over 5.2 innings in San Francisco. He has not faced Milwaukee this season. The Brewers will counter with Matt Garza, who has a 5.27 ERA in 68.1 innings this season. He gave up five runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings against the Mariners in his last start. Garza has faced the Pirates twice already this season, allowing a total of seven runs on 12 hits and three walks in ten innings.
In the minors, Trevor Williams has a 1.61 ERA and an 0.97 WHIP in 61.2 innings over his last ten starts combined. This will be his third consecutive start against Louisville. He allowed three runs over 11.2 innings in those first two games. Tyler Eppler will try to get his ERA under the 4.00 mark today. He ranks ninth in the Eastern League with a 1.27 WHIP and he’s fourth with 143.2 innings, which is 6.1 behind the league leader.
Travis MacGregor is scheduled for the GCL Pirates today. Matt Eckelman gets the start for Bristol.
MLB: Pittsburgh (64-61) @ Brewers (56-71) 8:10 PM
Probable starter: Ryan Vogelsong (2.98 ERA, 17:33 BB/SO, 45.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (64-69) vs Louisville (64-69) 7:15 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Trevor Williams (2.79 ERA, 28:63 BB/SO, 100.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (71-59) vs Erie (56-75) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (4.01 ERA, 29:93 BB/SO, 143.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (67-61) vs Charlotte (62-65) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (5.90 ERA, 22:35 BB/SO, 58.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (66-63) vs Lakewood (66-63) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Logan Sendelbach (3.60 ERA, 30:94 BB/SO, 127.1 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (31-34) @ Mahoning Valley (32-32) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Cam Vieaux (3.57 ERA, 17:40 BB/SO, 58.0 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (24-37) @ Johnson City (36-25) 7:00 PM (season preview)
GCL: Pirates (20-32) vs Braves (26-27) 12:00 PM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates (27-41) vs Rangers1 (50-19) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is Austin Meadows’ tenth home run of the season, giving him double digits for homers, triples, doubles and stolen bases.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
8/25: Nick Kingham assigned to Altoona. Chase Simpson activated from disabled list.
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.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, though one of them is a former-turned-current player, plus a trade of note. Exactly 13 years ago, the Pirates traded Brian Giles to the San Diego Padres for Jason Bay, Oliver Perez and Corey Stewart. While Giles put up huge numbers in Pittsburgh, the Pirates made out great in this deal, getting strong production out of Jason Bay in place of Giles. Perez also had one huge season on the mound for the Pirates before his numbers really fell off and he was eventually traded. Stewart never made the major.
Players born on this date include:
Jeff Richardson, 1991 infielder. Played six games for Pirates, filling in for an injured Jeff King. Richardson came to Pirates from the Reds in the Billy Hatcher trade.
Sparky Adams, 1928-29 infielder. Was part of the return in the unpopular, but necessary Kiki Cuyler trade. Pirates sold him to the Cardinals after two seasons.
Eric Fryer, 2011-12 catcher. Pirates acquired him from Yankees for Eric Hinske. Played 16 games over two seasons for Pirates during his first stint with the team. Played for Twins for three seasons, before signing with the Cardinals as a free agent this past off-season. Pirates picked him up off waivers in July.
