CHARLESTON, WV – Exactly two months after his professional debut, Stephen Alemais, the Pirates’ third-round pick this year, found himself in Black Bears manager Wyatt Toregas’s office. Alemais had just put up five consecutive multi-hit games on a road trip and had been preparing for a doubleheader against the Vermont Lake Monsters.
“Coach Wyatt called me into his office before our game,” reflected Alemais on his quick promotion to the Low-A West Virginia Power, “and he pretty much told me congratulations and to go out there and keep playing hard.”
“I’m excited. It’s a new chapter, a little different up here,” he said.
Alemais, a defensive specialist, received his marching orders and little else, claiming that the Pirates organization just told him to “come out and play defense” for the last couple weeks of the South Atlantic League season.
The West Virginia Power, though statistically the best fielding team in the league, features a gaping hole at the shortstop position. Regular shortstop Alfredo Reyes and utility man Tyler Filliben lead the team with 14 and 13 errors, respectively. Filliben shows particularly poor range, and Reyes’s accuracy comes into question at times. Alemais, on the other hand, gives the Power a plus-glove at shortstop, and in return, Alemais gets a chance to stare down more advanced pitching.
Tim Williams got a great look at Alemais earlier this month in Morgantown, and his defense looks every bit as advertised.
Alemais’ bat has been the big question mark since the draft, though, and so far, he has put up decent numbers compared to the current Pirates shortstop pair. His monthly splits are as follows:
June (4 games): .214/.353/.214
July (21 games): .244/.258/.279
August (17 games): .269/.319/.343
He has transitioned back to switch hitting after focusing on the right side of the plate in college. The jump from college to the pros gave him some headaches to begin with, but as he settled in, he found his timing.
“Aluminum is way different than wood,” he said. “You’ve got to just try to get comfortable at the plate again with wood so that’s what I’ve been trying to do in the first half of the year.”
The change from aluminum to wood could have particular impact on Alemais, who hits for contact rather than power. Hits that may have fallen for singles or doubles coming off of the lighter, springy bats can easily turn into grounders off of wood. However, Alemais started to find holes and drop in singles in the latter part of his time with the Black Bears.
A major key to Alemais’ success in Morgantown was the limited pitch selection he saw every game.
“[In Low-A] they throw a lot of off-speed in different counts. They throw more fastballs in Morgantown,” said Alemais.
Pitchers in the South Atlantic League are far more advanced in terms of their cadre of pitches, and they’ll likely be looking for opportunities to use the off-speed or changeup for both development and situational reasons. That array of pitches has caused Alemais to struggle in his first few games at the level, going 0-for-10 before his single on Tuesday night.
“I feel like I’m seeing the ball well for the most part, just keep missing a couple,” Alemais said of his struggles at the plate. “I think maybe I’ve been a little too anxious or trying to do too much, but just to get that first one out of the way, to really get going, got that monkey off my back.”
Compared to Reyes and Filliben, Alemais will be a plus whether he finds more power or not. Reyes and Filliben are among the three worst batters on the Power (the other being Casey Hughston), flirting with the Mendoza line all season. While Reyes has more speed than Alemais, his lack of ability to get on base negates that tool. Tyler Filliben, in his second year in West Virginia, has been essentially replaced by Logan Ratledge as the go-to utility man and is the lowest man on the totem pole if another Black Bear or GCL Pirate moves up.
It’s encouraging to see Alemais get a taste of this level before the off-season, when he will be going to instructs and working on his hitting. This two-week tour with the Power will help him get a feel for he’ll need to focus on to become an everyday player as he moves up the ranks.
