A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (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, Indianapolis – [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, Indianapolis – [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, Indianapolis -[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 was no-hit and shutout for the final 6.1 innings of their 10-6 loss on Wednesday night. If you want a silver lining from that, it’s that all of the damage on offense came off of Mark Appel, who was their unsigned first round pick from 2012. They touched him up for six runs in 2.2 innings and it could have been even worse, as he left with the bases loaded and all three runners were left stranded. Appel now has a 7.59 ERA in nine starts this season. The rest of the game was not pretty.
Drew Hutchison came into the game with a 1.93 ERA in May and he lasted just four innings, giving up six runs on four hits and two walks, with three of those four hits being home runs. Dovydas Neverauskas and Brett McKinney split the rest of the game and allowed two runs apiece. Hutchison had gone at least five innings in every start this season before tonight.
On the offensive side before they got shutdown for 6+ innings, Chris Bostick hit a long home run to left field for his sixth of the season. He also walked to lead-off the game and came around to score. Max Moroff had a double (his seventh) and walk, driving in two runs. Austin Meadows had a walk and a run scored. Phil Gosselin lost his 13-game hit streak, but he did walk, score a run and pick up an RBI. Eric Wood had two walks and Barrett Barnes added an RBI on a bases loaded walk. He’s batting .125 in his first ten games back.
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Alex McRae turned a disastrous start to his Wednesday outing into a solid overall performance, as Altoona lost 3-2 to Akron. The first five batters of the game all singled off McRae, bringing home the three runs. From that point on, he gave up just two hits, thanks in part to him taking advantage of a free-swinging Akron team.
McRae normally throws a lot of strikes and usually gets quick outs with ground balls. He didn’t need to pitch-to-contact in this one, adjusting to impatient hitters after the poor first inning. Akron hitters were up there swinging at everything and McRae pitched to their weakness, getting five strikeouts and 12 ground ball outs. In those last seven innings, both hits were singles and one was a high bouncer that got over the head of first baseman Edwin Espinal. Only two of the outs were hit hard, both line drives right at shortstop Kevin Newman, who also made a decent play on a grounder up the middle.
For McRae, the finish was great, but it was a second straight game where he had a lot of trouble in the first inning. He has allowed 12 earned runs over 14.1 innings in his last three starts combined, following his Pitcher of the Month award for April.
Altoona had just two hits in the game and both of their runs came during a quick spurt in the fifth inning. Jordan Luplow singled, then scored on an Elvis Escobar triple into the right-center gap. One batter later, Escobar scored on a Jackson Williams ground out. Connor Joe had two walks and Williams one, accounting for the only other base runners. Kevin Newman saw his average drop to .237 after three weak grounders and a line out to center field left him 0-for-4 on the day. Kevin Kramer is 1-for-15 in his last four games.
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Gage Hinsz put together two really strong starts in late April/early May, allowing two runs over 13 innings total. After that second start, he felt some soreness in his shoulder and was skipped the next time around in the rotation. Since returning, his results have been extremely poor.
The only good thing you could say about his start on Wednesday morning is that he didn’t walk any batters after four walks in his previous game. Hinsz went 4.1 innings, giving up eight runs on 11 hits, including three homers. Judging from the boxscore, it appears that most of the hits he allowed were well-struck, except one infield hit during a disastrous fifth inning in which he allowed five runs and recorded just one out. Hinsz had just two strikeouts, giving him three over his last three games combined.
His velocity was fine in the first start back from shoulder soreness, which I was able to watch. That start looked worse on paper than it did while watching it live, but the results have not been there in any of these last three outings. At this point, you have to wonder if he is healthy or if the shoulder has been bothering him.
Bradenton lost this game 8-4, as Sam Street gave them 4.2 shutout innings to save the rest of the bullpen. He gave up two hits, no walks and had six strikeouts.
On offense, the Marauders had six players pick up one hit each, though they had plenty of base runners thanks to nine walks. They weren’t getting enough timely hits to capitalize on the free passes, going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 men on base.
Cole Tucker seems to be stuck in a trend we see when singles hitters suddenly hit homers. Since his career night that included two homers, a double and a triple, he has struck out 15 times in nine games. That’s well above his career average, but it got lost in the fact he had a 28-game on base streak, which was snapped last night. We have seen numerous examples of singles hitters change their approach after hitting a couple homers in the past. Not sure if it’s happening here, but the strikeouts certainly indicate something changing, and the timing lines up perfectly.
Will Craig went 1-for-5 with a run scored. Christian Kelley was 1-for-4 with a walk, run scored and an RBI. Mitchell Tolman had a single and two walks. Logan Hill left the game after one plate appearance. No word on why yet. Ke’Bryan Hayes had the day off after a night game yesterday.
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West Virginia had their doubleheader rained out.
