A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Tyler Glasnow, Trevor Williams, Alen Hanson, Jose Osuna), or loses his prospect eligibility, he will be removed from this list. 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 more active prospects on the list. Rankings are from the 2017 Prospect Guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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3. Kevin Newman, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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6. Will Craig, 3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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10. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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11. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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12. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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13. Max Kranick, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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14. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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15. Edgar Santana, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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16. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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17. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Pirates – [insert_php]
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18. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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19. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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20. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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21. Stephen Alemais, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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22. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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23. Travis MacGregor, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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24. Barrett Barnes, LF, Extended Spring Training -[insert_php]
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25. Max Moroff, 2B, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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26. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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27. J.T. Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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28. Chris Bostick, INF/OF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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29. Connor Joe, 3B, Altoona – [insert_php]
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30. Pat Light, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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Indianapolis lost 7-6 in extra innings on Sunday, as they put up six runs early in the game and couldn’t make the lead hold up. Drew Hutchison started and got hit around for 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks, with two strikeouts. He has a 5.00 ERA now through five starts. Dan Runzler followed and got the last out of the sixth, stranding two inherited runners. He then threw two more shutout innings to hold the lead.
Angel Sanchez pitched the last 2.1 innings and gave up the tying run in the ninth, then the winning run on a home run in the 11th, which ended up being the last hit for the cycle for Scranton’s Dustin Fowler. Sanchez was throwing hard in this game (consistently 95-97), but he was wild and just missed giving up two other homers, with one going off the top of the wall for a double, and another long one going just foul down the left field line. Sanchez also allowed two runs in his last appearance.
The offense put up three runs in the second and fourth innings, accounting for all of the scoring. In the second, Anderson Feliz hit a three-run homer that scored Jacob Stallings and Jason Rogers. In the fourth, Austin Meadows singled, then scored on a Jacob Stallings double. Stallings then scored on a Eury Perez single and he (Perez) would score three batters later on a Max Moroff single.
Moroff went 2-for-5 with a walk. Chris Bostick was also 2-for-5 with a walk. He hit his seventh double and finished April with a .337 average. Eric Wood finished 1-for-6 and Austin Meadows was 1-for-5 with a run scored.
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ALTOONA, Pa. – On a beautiful, sunny afternoon in Curve, PA, Alex McRae took the hill and pitched seven innings for Altoona, only allowing two run on the day. Not only his work on the mound, McRae joined #pitcherswhorake club by launching a third inning home run into the left field bleachers.
McRae came into the game with a 1.99 ERA in his four starts this season. Interestingly enough, after striking out nine batters in his season opening win, McRae had not struck out a batter in his last two starts. He also had a 57.5% ground ball rate coming into today, keeping a lot of contact on the ground behind him.
Today, it didn’t seem as though McRae had his best stuff of the season, but he continued to battle hard and got out of a few jams to get through his seven innings. There were a lot of fly balls against him, which has not been the norm for opposing hitters. Harrisburg had at least one base runner in every inning except the second, but McRae continued to work well out of the stretch and get outs in key times.
“My two-seamer wasn’t as sharp as it typically is,” McRae said. “I definitely had more fly balls than I am accustom to, but I was able to locate just well enough to miss barrels enough and get outs when I needed.”
He had three strikeouts in his last two innings of work, saving his best for the end of his outing.
“I was staying back a little more towards the end,” he said. “Early in the game, I was rushing forward towards the plate some, which causes my ball to be elevated. Rather than it sinking well, it just kind of tails off a little. Towards the end, my slider was sharper, and I was able to get more sink on my two-seamer.”
After allowing a run in the top of the third inning, McRae came up to bat in the bottom of the inning and launched a 2-2 homer into the left field bleachers. It is the first home run of McRae’s professional career; however, Tim Williams has reported that McRae has always hit well at times he got to bat in Spring Training.
“That was pretty fun,” McRae said. “I don’t get to experience that a lot, so it’s something I will definitely remember for a long time.”
McRae, who played some third base at Jacksonville University, last homered in college.
With a line drive single to right field in the first inning, Kevin Kramer extended his season long on-base streak to 20 games. He was hit by a pitch last night to continue to streak. Kramer also tripled in the third in the midst of four straight hits for the Curve by Kevin Newman, Kramer, Edwin Espinal, and Connor Joe. Kramer’s triple, a slicing ball down the right field line, scored Newman from first base.
What I’ve noticed so far in the young season is that – aside from Kramer and Espinal – the offense has been spotty and inconsistent at times. There have been many flashes of what this team can do offensively, and they have displayed it at times, but not everything has clicked so far according to Hitting Coach Kevin Riggs.
“All it took was one big inning – started by Alex – and that was enough for the ballgame today,” Kevin Riggs said after the game. “It’s just a matter of time until we really start clicking offensively. This is pretty typical with the jump from High-A to Double-A. The pitch mix is difficult right now, but once we start clicking on all cylinders offensively, we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Joining Kramer with multiple hits today were Newman and Joe, who both singled twice. Those two, especially, have really yet to hit their stride yet this season. With Newman, he has already showed what he can do in this league, and there is no doubt that he will more than likely get to around the .300 mark or higher this year. With Joe, as his first time in Double-A, you really don’t know what all he will be able to do. He has showed great signs of being a really good hitter at this level, and maybe it is just taking a little bit of time for him to get comfortable. After today, he is on an eight game hitting streak.
*Miguel Rosario threw two scoreless innings in relief with the only base runner being a HBP.
*Pablo Reyes led off the first inning with a hard hit double to the left center gap. Unfortunately, he was picked off at second base right before Kramer’s single, taking away an RBI opportunity for Kramer. -Sean McCool
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Mitch Keller had his best start of the season on Sunday and one of the best so far for any Pirate in the minors. He threw seven shutout frames, allowing five hits and one walk, while striking out nine batters. Keller threw 67 of his 97 pitches for strikes and had a 7:4 GO/AO ratio. He retired the first nine batters in the game, five on strikeouts.
Keller came into this game with a 4.86 ERA over four starts, though much of that damage came from his debut when he allowed five runs over 2.1 innings. Keller went six innings in each of his three previous starts and extended that out to a season-high seven frames in this game. The strikeouts are also a season best, topping the five he had in his last outing. This game is more like the dominant Keller we saw last season with West Virginia and in the playoffs for Bradenton.
Bradenton won this game 4-2, as Bret Helton came on after Keller and allowed two runs over his two innings. On offense, Danny Arribas provided the punch with a double, triple, an RBI and two runs scored. Cole Tucker had an RBI single and a walk. Both Ke’Bryan Hayes and Will Craig went 0-for-4. Mitchell Tolman, who has been dropped to eighth in the order due to a slump, went 1-for-4 with an RBI single.
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West Virginia won 8-2 over Rome, but the story of the game was the outing of Luis Escobar. This wasn’t a typical outing from him going by this year’s standards, more like something we saw last year. Escobar went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. He had four strikeouts, falling well short of the 9+ strikeouts he put up in each of his first four games. Rome was making some solid contact off of him, including a very long homer to left field that left fielder Ty Moore hardly moved on. Escobar doesn’t allow many homers, now ten in four seasons, so if I had to guess, this one was probably the furthest one.
The lack of swinging strikes was the biggest difference, although there was one difference that was actually good. Escobar threw a lot of strikes in the zone with his curveball. He has a tendency to miss badly with the pitch, though it still gets good results from young hitters chasing well out of the zone. That won’t work in the upper levels, so it was good to see him throw actual strikes with the curve.
Escobar looked very uncomfortable on the mound during the last two innings. He was taking a long time between pitches and was having trouble agreeing on pitches with catcher Arden Pabst. The two had approximately ten meetings on the mound. Escobar was also constantly asking for new baseballs from the umpire. Very strange final two innings and he threw a lot of pitches in those frames. He would have outings with results like this in the past, but this season has mostly been him dominating with strikeouts. He now has a 3.29 ERA in 27.1 innings, with 45 strikeouts.
The Power got nice relief work from Geoff Hartlieb and Matt Frawley, who each threw two shutout innings. Frawley looked very strong in Spring Training and it’s carried over into the season. He has a 1.54 ERA and has allowed just six hits and one walk in 11.2 innings. Hartlieb has given up one run in 11.2 innings. Stephen Alemais went 1-for-5 with a run scored and his fourth stolen base. He also struck out twice. Earlier today, Abigail Miskowiec wrote about the progress Alemais has made at the plate.
