Every week we have live reports from all over the system, while John Dreker provides additional views of the minors via MiLB.tv, which included Indianapolis, Altoona, West Virginia and Morgantown this week. We also had live coverage of Indianapolis, Altoona, Bradenton, West Virginia and the GCL in the past week. All of these reports are combined and used each week to highlight the top performers during that time span. We go with the top ten hitters and pitchers, giving you the 20 best players from last week.
In the past, we’ve called this feature “Top Performers”. However, it has always been an article where we use the performances as an excuse to give live reports on the players. So the title didn’t really reflect what was in the article — a lot of easy to find reports on players, based on our live coverage, all in one place. So we’re calling it “The Twenty”, because people love lists, even if we don’t have a specific order here.
The title might change in the future. Every year around August, we make small adjustments to this feature, seeing what changes might work for next year. We’re always open to any suggestions, as usual.
We included this Monday’s stats in the final Twenty article, so here are the top guys over the last eight days and the rundown on their performances:
HITTERS
Stetson Allie, RF, Altoona – Allie ended his season on a high note, which quickly turned into a low note. On Monday, he hit a double in the tenth inning to give Altoona a 1-0 lead. They won the game and made the playoffs, but Allie pulled up to second base holding his hamstring and had to leave the game. He only hit .240 over the last eight days, though three of his hits were home runs. That put him one home run short of the Altoona career record of 55, which is held by Josh Bonifay and Adam Hyzdu. Allie posted a .768 OPS over 111 games in 2016. This could be his last season with the Pirates. He reaches minor league free agency after the Major League playoffs are over and he may want to go somewhere for a better opportunity. A player with his raw power should have no trouble finding a team willing to give him a spot, hoping he can develop into a better all-around player. – John Dreker
Albert Baur, 1B, Morgantown – Repeating Morgantown in his second season as a pro, Baur provided a strong bat in the middle of the lineup. He posted a .770 OPS and drove in 40 runs, which led the team. He went 9-for-26 over the last eight days, with four doubles, three walks and a home run. The overall stats were better than what we saw last year. That should be expected though, especially from one of the older position players in the league at 24 years old. Baur could be the first baseman for West Virginia next year and shouldn’t have any issues on offense at that level. Bristol and Morgantown don’t have any other really good options at first base to challenge him. His actual challenge will be continuing to improve as he moves up the ladder and moving higher than A-ball. – JD
Edwin Espinal, 1B, Altoona – Espinal hit .366 over his last ten games to finish up a decent season with Altoona. At 22 years old, Espinal was still young for the level, so his .289/.324/.411 slash line in 111 games doesn’t look the bad. He tied his career highs with seven homers and 25 doubles (one triple as well, he’s not fast), doing it in 76 fewer at-bats than it took to set those marks in 2014 at West Virginia. Espinal is a strong line drive hitter, who could still add more power, while maintaining a strong average. He doesn’t walk enough, but he doesn’t strike out much either. He defense looked decent at first base, and he can play third base in a pinch. The Pirates have continued to move him up each season despite being young for the level every year and not putting up strong stats any season, so it will be interesting to see if they continue that trend next season. – JD
Jordan George, RF, West Virginia – After being promoted from Morgantown, Jordan George started off strong with the Power and continued that until the end of the season. In 34 games, he finished with a .324/.455/.448 slash line. He also had an .867 OPS in 23 games at Morgantown before being promoted. George had 45 walks and 34 strikeouts, giving him one of the best splits in the system. He is still far from a top prospect at this point, but he’s a lot closer than he was three months ago. George turned 24 years old during this season, which should have him in Double-A at this point based on average age alone. The bigger issue might be the tools. As a corner outfielder who can play first base and third base, he should hit for some power, or at least provide speed and defense to go along with the hitting. George didn’t hit a home run this year and had just two last year at Bristol. He also has just six steals in ten attempts over two years, plus nearly half of his playing time has been as a DH. So for him to keep moving up, the bat will have to carry him and that won’t be easy if he moves up to the FSL next year. – JD
Logan Hill, OF, West Virginia – Hill had a crazy split this season, struggling badly during the first half, before ending strong in the second half. With the help of a nice finish, Hill posted an .892 OPS in 66 games during the second half. For reference, that would have landed him second in the league over the full season. Unfortunately for Hill, you can’t just forget that he struggled in High-A ball, and it took a demotion and almost two months before he started hitting. At age 23, with a 34:117 BB/SO ratio in 397 at-bats, he will have a lot to prove next year in his second try at Bradenton. He has impressive raw power and he’s athletic for a big man, stealing 14 bases, so he’s clearly more than just a filler at this point. – JD
Jordan Luplow, OF, Bradenton – For the second year in a row, Luplow started off his season cold, and ended on a hot streak. That continued in the final month of the season, with the outfielder posting a 1.215 OPS in 20 plate appearances, with two homers. The home runs gave him ten on the year, with five of those homers coming since the start of August. Since the start of June, Luplow had a .285/.405/.467 line in 262 plate appearances, with good patience at the plate amounting to a 42:40 BB/K ratio. That’s all good to see, but it is a bit concerning that he started off slow again. This could be due to his off-season shoulder surgery on his non-throwing shoulder (lead shoulder at the plate), but we’ll have to wait and see if he has another slow start next year. – Tim Williams
Ty Moore, OF, Morgantown – Moore struggled early this season at West Virginia and was sent to Extended Spring Training for a month. When he returned to play, he was on the Morgantown Opening Day roster. That’s where he spent 2015 after being drafted in the 12th round out of UCLA. Moore hit .400 last week in 30 at-bats, raising his final season slash line to .288/.368/.337 in 58 games. He was one of the tougher batters to strike out this year among all Pirates, even when he wasn’t hitting well with West Virginia early in the season. Moore will need to step it up in 2017 if he’s going to ever become a prospect. He turned 23 in July and he doesn’t have any standout tools. He knows how the play the game right, hustles and helps his team out in the little ways, but his best tool is his ability to get on base and we didn’t see that show up in West Virginia this year. – JD
Carlos Munoz, 1B, West Virginia – Munoz finished his season on a high note, batting .350 over his last ten games. It was a tough overall year for him, posting a .728 OPS as a 22-year-old first baseman, who spent almost half of his time in the DH spot. The key for Munoz coming up with his terrific eye and patience at the plate. While his stats were just fine on their own with 51 walks and 54 strikeouts in 126 games, they come from someone who has always been known for walking more than he has struck out, usually by a 2:1 ratio. Last year he added power to that patience, connecting on 12 homers in 64 games. This year, Munoz hit just seven homers over the full season. He should go to Bradenton next year and it will be interesting to see how far he gets, because he will hit free agency at the end of 2017 if the Pirates don’t add him to the 40-man roster. Right now, that looks unrealistic. – JD
Daniel Ortiz, OF, Indianapolis – Ortiz had a big week for Indianapolis, hitting for a .286/.310/.571 line in 29 plate appearances, along with two homers. He finished the year with a .236/.275/.415 line in 470 plate appearances, along with 17 homers. He was mostly a Triple-A filler, and didn’t put up the numbers to force his way into the mix for the September call-ups. – TW
Jacob Stallings, C, Indianapolis – Stallings got a few more starts down the stretch with Elias Diaz missing some time in the final week. In that time, Stallings had a .950 OPS in 20 plate appearances. He only had a .595 OPS in Indianapolis this year, but he’s valued more for his defense and his work with pitchers, rather than offense. Right now he’s low on the depth chart for Pittsburgh, falling behind Francisco Cervelli, Chris Stewart, and Elias Diaz. He could also end up behind Jin-De Jhang in the future. But as we saw this year, it doesn’t take long for catching depth to disappear, giving him a shot to return to the majors at some point. – TW
PITCHERS
Dario Agrazal, RHP, West Virginia – Agrazal finished with one of the highest game scores we have seen all season, posting an 87 on Monday when he threw eight shutout innings. He also allowed one earned run over five innings in his previous start. Agrazal finished the season with a 4.20 ERA, but he was actually much better in the second half of the season. After posting a 5.20 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and a .319 BAA in 13 starts during the first half, he had a 3.45 ERA in 14 second half starts, with a 1.12 ERA and a .273 BAA. He also had a 1.51 GO/AO ratio and finished with 150 innings, which led the South Atlantic League. It was a slightly disappointing season, but Agrazal has incredible control (18 walks all season) and can hit 95 MPH, with a hard curve and a changeup. If he’s throwing strikes and getting a lot of grounders, he has a chance to be successful in the future. He is still 21 years old, so there is time. – JD
Nicholas Economos, RHP, Bristol – The 78 Game Score from Economos was the second highest score this past week. The 21-year-old, 6’6″, right-hander got that score by allowing just one hit over six shutout innings, with no walks and four strikeouts. Economos threw five shutout innings in his previous start, ending an otherwise tough season on a high note. He had a 6.99 ERA in his first 11 starts, before those 11 shutout innings gave him a 5.65 ERA by the end of the year. Economos improved his control as the season went along, walking 16 batters in his first six games, before issuing four base on balls in his final seven starts combined. When he was drafted in 2015, he supposedly hit 94 MPH, but that hasn’t shown up as a pro, sitting high 80s as a starter. The Pirates liked him enough to give him a lot of innings this season, and he has a huge frame, so there is a possibility he could increase that velocity. Then maybe we see more consistency like we saw with his results at the end of the season. Economos was named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Week for his performance last week. – JD
Tyler Eppler, RHP, Altoona – Eppler had two starts over the last eight days, giving up two runs over seven innings on Wednesday, then following that up with six shutout innings on Monday. The second start was in a must win game for Altoona, playing for their playoff spot on the last day of the season and he came up big. Eppler lowered his season ERA to 3.99, while finishing with 162.1 innings pitched, which led the Eastern League. He was hitting 94-95 MPH consistently with his fastball and even touched 97 MPH according to the Richmond announcers. Eppler is a lot like Dario Agrazal (see above) in that he probably throws too many strikes and hitters get comfortable and look for something in the zone. Both pitchers have above average control and a strong fastball. Eppler could do a better job of getting the ball down, and his slider could still use some work, but he appears to have the potential to be a back-end innings eating starter in the majors someday – JD
Luis Escobar, RHP, Morgantown – Escobar had a fantastic season, putting up a 2.93 ERA and a 61:28 K/BB ratio in 67.2 innings. He also saw his changeup improve and his fastball tick up to where he was sitting mid-90s and touching 97 at the age of 20. He had an up-and-down finish to the year. He posted his worst start of the year last Monday, giving up six runs in 4.1 innings. He rebounded well with his best start of the year on Saturday, throwing six shutout innings, with one hit, two walks, and seven strikeouts. Escobar should go to West Virginia next year, and will be the top pitcher to watch at the level. – TW
Taylor Hearn, LHP, West Virginia – Hearn posted some impressive numbers in West Virginia after the Mark Melancon trade. He combined for a 1.99 ERA in 22.2 innings, with a 36:10 K/BB ratio. By the end of his time at the level, he had returned to the rotation, and the results were excellent. He made two starts this week, combining for one run in nine innings, along with three hits, two walks, and 15 strikeouts. The most encouraging thing was the low walk total, as that has been a big issue for him. It’s also something he’s improving upon simply by limiting his long toss throwing program to 120 feet, which allows for better mechanics that allows him to command the fastball better. Hearn should jump to Bradenton next year, and will be a big pitching prospect to watch, especially if he can have success as a starter. – TW
Drew Hutchison, RHP, Indianapolis – Hutchison had struggled in his first six appearances with Indianapolis after being acquired by the organization in a 3-for-1 trade which included Pirates starting pitcher Francisco Liriano, and prospects Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez. In his last minor league start of the season, Hutchison finally showed a glimpse of his potential. Hutchison pitched 6.1 shutout innings against Louisville on Saturday in the Indians’ 1-0 win. He allowed just four hits in his outing, throwing 59 of his 97 pitches for a strike. The solid outing comes as Hutchison is a likely call-up candidate because he’s already on the 40-man roster. Hutchison had struggled with a 3.76 earned run average in his first six appearances with the Indians. The start was just the second time in six appearances with Indianapolis that Hutchison allowed less than three earned runs. But with 73 career starts in the major leagues, the recent struggles were not a concern for Hutchison as he awaits a potential call-up. – Brian Peloza
Mitch Keller, RHP, Bradenton – Keller was promoted to Bradenton for the end of the year, and in his debut it didn’t look like the new level provided him a challenge. He threw six shutout innings, with five hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. That continued a shutout streak of 29 innings over his last five starts, along with a 35;5 K/BB ratio during that span. His velocity was up to 98 MPH early in the start, and he was sitting pretty comfortably 94-97 throughout the outing, which has been a trend lately. His curveball was also sharp, and he leaned on that pretty heavy in the later innings when opposing hitters were trying to sit on his fastball. He will make the start for Bradenton’s home playoff game on Wednesday, getting a chance to close out the series if they win tonight. – TW
Stephan Meyer, RHP, Morgantown – Meyer might be my favorite development story this year. Most development stories are about prospects who make a change to increase their prospect status. In this case, you’ve got a guy who was a non-prospect or a fringe-prospect at best who made a small change that turned him into a guy to watch. He started the year with a 7.89 ERA in 29.2 innings in Morgantown, with a 19:10 K/BB ratio. He finished the year with a 2.58 ERA in his last 52.1 innings, with a 31:12 K/BB ratio. The small change came when he switched to a two-seam fastball in mid-July. That took his ground ball rate from 42.3% to 51.4% and the other results followed with better control and better results. He should get a shot in the West Virginia rotation next year, due to the progress he made in the second half this year. – TW
Braeden Ogle, LHP, GCL Pirates – Ogle had a strong debut, putting up a 2.60 ERA in 27.2 innings, with a 20:11 K/BB ratio. In his final start of the year, he threw five innings with only one unearned run on three hits, with two walks and six strikeouts. His fastball velocity was high, touching 96 and sitting mostly 92-93 MPH throughout the start. He also showed off an improved slider, with some good movement and the ability to get some strikeouts, which is encouraging since this is the first year he’s thrown the pitch. It still needs better command in the future, but has taken a good first step. Ogle should join the rest of the 2016 prep pitchers in Bristol next year, and has a lot of upside to watch for in his future. – TW
Trevor Williams, RHP, Indianapolis – Williams is hoping for a September promotion to the Pirates, but several factors are not in his favor. Williams is not on the 40-man roster and he was selected to participate in the Fall Instructional League, which doesn’t mean he can’t be added to the major league roster, but such a move doesn’t typically occur. One factor is going in Williams’ favor: the end to his minor league season. Williams capped a dominant final two months of the season with a career-high 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings against Louisville in the second game of a doubleheader on Thursday. Williams allowed one unearned run on six hits, walking just one batter. After the game, Williams noted he couldn’t recall ever having double-digit strikeouts in a game, dating back to Little League. As the season wore on, Williams kept improving each outing, Indianapolis manager Dean Treanor said. Williams showed good command of his fastball, which makes his sinker more effective. Williams had a dominant 1.37 earned run average and 0.972 WHIP in the 12 starts he made over July, August, and September. – BP
