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 lost 3-2 to Rochester in 12 innings on Saturday night, as they had to go to a position player to pitch in the last inning.
Steven Brault started this game and had some control issues that shortened his outing. He went 4.2 innings and allowed six hits and five walks, but he managed to surrender just one run. His pitch count was extremely high in this game, throwing 107 pitches total, 62 for strikes. Brault is still doing a fine job overall on the season, posting a 2.48 ERA, thanks in part to just four earned runs over his last five starts. He could still stand to be more efficient with his pitches before you consider him ready for the majors, but he isn’t far from that point. He’s getting a lot of ground balls this season, holding batters to a low average and he has nearly a strikeout per inning average.
Both Josh Lindblom and Antonio Bastardo made rehab appearances in this game. Lindblom threw two shutout innings in his first game action since going on the DL. As reported here, Bastardo has been pitching at Pirate City, including two outings this week. He threw a scoreless inning, though he did allow two base runners. Despite having two rehab pitchers throw this night, Indianapolis needed to go to first baseman Joey Terdoslavich in the 12th inning and he lost the game.
Austin Meadows had two hits in this game and also blistered a one-hopper to the second baseman for a well-struck out. He now has at least two hits in five of his last six starts and he finished the game with a .251 average. Meadows also stole his eighth base of the season. He now has a 16-game on base streak. Eric Wood had two hits and an RBI, while Phil Gosselin hit his first triple of the season.
In was not a good night for a group of prospects, including two of them who have been swinging the bat extremely well. Chris Bostick, Max Moroff, Elias Diaz and Barrett Barnes combined to go 0-for-19 with nine strikeouts.
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Altoona won 8-1 over Erie, getting homers from Connor Joe and Edwin Espinal to help seal the victory. The Curve had Austin Coley on the mound and while he allowed just one run, he got himself into trouble in the fourth inning and had to be removed with the bases loaded. That was the turning point in the game. Luis Heredia came on and stranded all three inherited runners, then the Altoona bats went to work, adding three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth.
Connor Joe had the big hit in the fifth, slugging his third home run of the season, a two-run shot. Kevin Kramer also had a big day near the top of the lineup, going 3-for-5, driving in two runs and collecting his 16th double. Edwin Espinal topped off the scoring with his fifth homer in the ninth inning. Jerrick Suiter drove in a pair of runs and Pablo Reyes had a productive day in the nine hole. He doubled, walked twice, scored two runs, picked up an RBI and threw out a runner at home plate from center field. Wyatt Mathisen had two hits to give him a .321 average, and Jordan Luplow walked twice and scored a run.
Heredia finished his day with 1.1 scoreless innings, giving way to Buddy Borden, who picked up the win with two scoreless frames. He now has an 0.79 ERA. Montana DuRapau finished it off with an adventurous two scoreless innings, allowing four base runners while striking out four batters.
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Bradenton lost 2-1 on Saturday night, but the more important news is that Taylor Hearn threw seven shutout innings. The hard-throwing lefty had allowed eight earned runs over 4.1 innings in his last two starts combined. In this game, he was pounding the strike zone with 94-98 MPH fastballs, throwing 64 of his 87 pitches for strikes. He walked one, gave up three singles and picked up seven strikeouts, to go along with a 5:3 GO/AO ratio. Hearn also got some help from catcher Christian Kelley, who threw out both base runners who attempted to steal. Hearn now has a 4.34 ERA on the season, with 57 strikeouts in 45.2 innings.
Jake Brentz came on in the bottom of the eighth and allowed both runs for the loss, though they were both unearned due to a Mitchell Tolman error.
The offense could muster just three hits total. In the seventh inning, the Marauders put a run on the board with a Will Craig walk, followed by a Jordan George double and a Christian Kelley single for the only run. The only other hit was a third inning single by Logan Ratledge, which went about 45 feet right down the third base line. Cole Tucker and Ke’Bryan Hayes both went 0-for-4.
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West Virginia lost 3-1 and their offense did something very similar to what Bradenton did tonight. Both teams scored one run on three hits, while walking once and striking out nine times. There was a bright spot to the offense for West Virginia, and that was a home run off of the bat of shortstop prospect Adrian Valerio.
After starting the season late due to a broken hand, Valerio went 1-for-20 in his first five games. In five games since, he has collected nine hits. The one thing to watch now is that he is one of the players known for letting a home run go to his head and change his approach at the plate from a line drive hitter to swinging for the fences, which has resulted in slumps in the past. Even when he was 1-for-20, he still had a solid approach, so you hope that the homer just results in more confidence at the plate.
On the mound, Blake Cederlind had a strong start. The 2016 5th round pick has mostly pitched in long relief this year, displaying a strong fastball that has sat 94-96 at times. He threw four innings in this game, allowing one run on four hits (one was a homer). He had five strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk for the first time since he season debut. Eduardo Vera followed him and he’s been doing the same thing as Cederlind, mostly pitching in long relief, with the occasional start. Vera has been great this season and he added to that with one run over 3.1 innings, with no walks and six strikeouts. He has a 2.31 ERA this year, with 40 strikeouts in 35 innings.
If you missed it from this morning, I mentioned that Trae Arbet got hurt last night and the Power would need to reach out to Pirate City for a middle infielder. They went with Andrew Walker, who was a focus of the Morning Report. Arbet wasn’t put on the DL. Instead he was assigned to Morgantown. Walker did not play tonight.
