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.
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ALTOONA, PA – Tyler Eppler took them mound for the Altoona Curve on Friday night, sporting a 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates inspired throwback jersey on Roberto Clemente Night at the ballpark. Before getting into the game stuff too quickly, check out how awesome these jersey are:
During his last outing in New Hampshire, Eppler picked up his first win in almost a month by going seven innings and allowing four runs. Tonight was a different story for Eppler, as he allowed a career high in hits (12) and let in six earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. Eppler did not walk any batters, but that seemed to be a part of his problem – staying around the strike zone far too much. Consequently, Erie hit two home runs against him and hit him extremely hard, especially late in his outing.
Erie right fielder Anthony Gose drilled a line drive homer over the right field wall in the first inning for Eppler’s first run allowed. In the second, Eppler allowed four singles in a row on top of tow fielding errors of his own that at the very least extended the inning. Two runs scored against him in the second.
Eppler allowed a lead-off homer in the third inning, then kept things fairly clean through the rest of that inning into the sixth. In that sixth, Erie had four straight hard hits against Eppler, scoring two runs and chasing him from the game.
The thing that looked evident tonight was Eppler’s inability to work outside of the strike zone. Typically, when you see a line where the pitcher did not walk any, that is a very good sign. Tonight, Erie was basically free swinging in the strike zone, and Eppler kept pounding the strike zone. Mixing speeds didn’t seem to be good enough tonight, as Erie was able to foul off pitches they weren’t expecting then sit on another in the strike zone.
“At times, he throws too many strikes,” Cora said. “He has to learn how to throw balls so they don’t feel as comfortable. At the end of the day, he caused himself trouble by not being able to handle the balls back to him. That got him in trouble.”
Trey Haley pitched two clean innings of relief, striking out two. He threw 24 pitches total, and 17 of them were strikes. Notably, Haley hit 99.7 MPH on the gun in the ninth inning, and he was consistently at or above 97 MPH with his fastball.
Offensively, I feel like I am writing every night that Barrett Barnes has done something positive at the plate, and tonight is similar. Barnes extended his hitting streak to 11-games with a three hit effort tonight, including two doubles. His first double was in the first inning, and it was a two-run scoring line drive to the left-center wall that gave the Curve the early lead.
Barrett Barnes extended his hitting streak to 11-games with three hits tonight for the Curve. He’s batting .436 in that span.
Other that Barnes, Elvis Escobar joined him with a three hit night of his own, all three singles. He reached base four times (walk plus the three hits), and he scored twice. Kevin Newman had a 2-RBI single in the fourth inning, giving the Curve the lead at the time. It was Newman’s only hit of the evening.
From a defensive standpoint, a few plays stood out tonight. Edwin Espinal is nothing to really brag about defensively at first base, but he continues to make the everyday plays at the position. Of note, Espinal began a very nice 3-6-3 double play in the fifth inning to help Eppler get through that inning. He makes a good stretch and typically will pick balls in the dirt (although he did come up empty on a tough throw from shortstop in the seventh).
Anderson Feliz made the start in right field, and it was only his eighth start in the outfield this season, as he has mostly been used as a utility infielder. Feliz made a strong showing in the field, tracking down multiple fly balls, but his arm is what impressed the most. In the sixth inning, Eppler allowed a single through the 3-4 hole with a runner on, but Feliz threw out the runner trying to advance to third on an extremely strong throw right on the money. He also made a couple other strong throws into the infield, including one that could’ve gotten a runner at home, but it was unexpectedly cut off in the infield.
Lastly, although Barrett Barnes has been unreal at the plate lately, he has been up-and-down in the field. His aggressiveness in left field has allowed him to make some extremely high quality plays with a diving effort; however, his aggressiveness has also burned him a couple of times with a ball getting by him after a dive. Tonight, Barnes dove forward for a line drive, and the ball got past him. The problem is that he has picked times when he is going towards the line without any sort of backup around him to make those efforts. Altogether, his defense has looked solid, but he will need to make some better decisions based on where in the field the ball has been hit as he progresses.
The Curve simply could not claw their way back into this one after Erie scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh. The 7-6 loss tonight also was detrimental in their playoff run, as Akron and Harrisburg both won today, narrowing the Curve’s division lead to 1.5 games over Akron and 2.5 games over Harrisburg. – Sean McCool
BRADENTON, Fla. – This game can be broken down into two parts. The first part involved a good start by JT Brubaker, who went the first five innings giving up just one earned run on five hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. He was 90-94 MPH with his fastball, mostly sitting 91-92, mixing in an 82-86 MPH slider and a changeup in the mid-90s.
He had a rough start to the sixth inning, giving up back-to-back singles. However, he started to work his way out of the jam, getting a ground out and a strikeout. He then got a grounder to first, which would have been the final out, but instead it went through Chase Simpson’s legs, allowing two runs to score.
This was the turning point for the game. After this, things got ugly. Simpson made up for his error the very next inning, hitting a two run homer to give the Marauders a 4-3 lead. However, things got out of hand with the defense following this inning.
An error by Kevin Kramer put runners at first and second with one out. That ended up leading to three unearned runs, with Port Charlotte taking the 6-4 lead. The error really hurt because Kramer had a double play ball that could have ended the inning. However, he went to second, where there was no one covering the bag, since the shortstop was backing him up on the play. The third run of the inning came on an error by Taylor Gushue. A single to left field led to a throw by Jordan Luplow which nailed runner Nick Franklin by a mile. Franklin pulled up, conceding the inning ending tag, and walked to the plate. However, Gushue never caught the ball, realized it was between his feet too late, and Franklin scored the third run of the frame.
The Marauders battled back in the eighth inning, once again getting help from Chase Simpson, who hit a double off the wall in right field, scoring runners from first and second. That tied the score and sent it to the ninth. Luis Heredia came on, having problems with his control by giving up two walks, and a big double with the bases loaded, scoring three runs. That gave Port Charlotte the eventual win. – Tim Williams
CHARLESTON, WV – Logan Sendelbach’s inconsistency doomed West Virginia from the start against the division leading Lakewood Blueclaws. With the team six games back of the lead and ten games remaining in the season, the Power had a must-win situation on their hands and let it slip away with poor pitch location and a quiet offense.
Sendelbach, who relies on significant downward movement on his fastball, got rocked by the Blueclaw batters. In the first three innings, Sendelbach used 56 pitches and only got three groundouts, two of which came on a double play in the third. He eventually settled down, pitching a perfect fifth and sixth.
Sendelbach’s fastball never looked particularly effective, and he went to his curve infrequently with limited results. Less than two-thirds of his pitches went for strikes, and those that did often floated in the upper half of the zone. This lack of accuracy led to four runs, one coming on a towering homer in the fourth.
Blueclaws starter Seranthony Dominguez shut down the Power in his six innings, limiting the team to four hits. He racked up five strikeouts, including two with runners on first and second to end the sixth. Only two of the Power outs left the infield.
The Power lineup had more success against the bullpen. Daniel Arribas led off the seventh with a double, the first Power extra base hit of the night. Ryan Nagle joined Arribas on base with a single following a weak groundout by Stephen Alemais. John Bormann notched his 19th RBI, scoring Arribas with a single, and Nagle scored on an error. These two runs would be all that the Power could muster.
Lefty Sean Keselica looked sharp in relief, striking out one in each of his three innings and only allowing two baserunners. – Abigail Miskowiec
Morgantown got a great performance from Cam Vieaux, but couldn’t hold on to a 3-1 lead late, dropping a 4-3 decision to Mahoning Valley. Vieaux pitched six innings, allowing one run on six hits and one walk, while setting a career-high with nine strikeouts. His previous high was six strikeouts. He threw 64 of his 88 pitches for strikes. Vieaux went eight days between starts this time around and was coming off another outing in which he gave up one run over six innings. He has a 3.38 ERA this season in 64 innings.
Scooter Hightower was on next and he gave up two runs in the seventh to tie the score, then another in the eighth to lose the game.
On offense, Will Craig had two singles in four trips to the plate. He has reached base safely in 49 of his 53 games. Chris Harvey had three hits, including his eighth double. Sandy Santos added his 16th double and his sixth stolen base. Albert Baur and Hunter Owen each had a pair of singles. Owen scored two runs.
Bristol lost 8-7 in ten innings to Johnson City on Friday night. Adrian Valerio continued his recent hot streak at the plate, collecting two hits, including his 11th double. That gives him five straight multi-hit games and he is 11-for-21 in those games. Tim Williams wrote about his season and what he is working on earlier today.
Matt Eckelman started and you can’t tell by the score, but he put together a strong performance. He threw six shutout innings, giving up just two hits and one walk. He had three strikeouts and a 9:3 GO/AO ratio. Pasquale Mazzocolli followed him and his outing was a disaster. He gave up five runs in his only inning, which tied the score at the time. Shane Kemp was next and he took the loss, allowing three runs in 2.2 innings.
Victor Fernandez hit his first home run of the season. He also had a single, a walk and two runs scored. Raul Siri had two hits, including his tenth double. Henrry Rosario had a single and two runs scored. Yoel Gonzalez drove in two runs with his third double of the season.
It should be updated eventually (possibly by the time you read this). Michael de la Cruz played center field and batted ninth, not Julio de la Cruz. It’s a mistake that MiLB makes from time to time with those two players. Julio has been out for the last eight days after rolling his ankle. He should return before the season ends to get in a few more games.
The GCL Pirates continued their losing streak on Friday, extending it to eight straight games with a 4-0 loss to the Braves. The Pirates got some nice starting pitching from second round pick Travis MacGregor, who went 4.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks. He had six strikeouts and a 6:0 GO/AO ratio. The six strikeouts are a career high, and they come after he threw seven innings over his previous two starts without a single strikeout. MacGregor has a 3.13 ERA over 31.2 innings this season.
The Pirates had three hits and two walks in this game, with no one reaching base twice. One day after hitting his first GCL triple, Jeremias Portorreal connected on his first double. Gabriel Brito picked up his second hit in nine at-bats since coming to the GCL. Paul Brands had the other hit, while Johan De Jesus and Andrew Walker drew the walks.
The DSL Pirates lost 4-1 on the next to last day of the season, but starting pitcher Sergio Cubilete had a game to remember. He went the DSL maximum (for Pirates) of five innings and retired all 15 batters he faced. Not only that, he did it against the best team in the league. Cubilete finishes his season with a 3.52 ERA in 61.1 innings.
Cubilete was followed by Roger Santana, who got in one more outing before the season ended and didn’t do so well. In 3.1 innings, he allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks, with no strikeouts. He came into the game with a 1.66 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 65 innings. Armando Bustamante followed him and recorded the final two outs for his ninth straight scoreless appearance. Bustamante finishes with a 1.69 ERA and went a full month without issuing a walk to end his season.
The Pirates had four hits and no walks, so there wasn’t much in the way of offense. Both Cristopher Perez and Eddy Vizcaino hit triples. Perez would score the lone run on a Rodolfo Castro sacrifice fly. Perez also added a single, while Sherten Apostel singled for the only other hit.
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John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
