Exactly one year after he was drafted in the first round by the Pittsburgh Pirates as third baseman, first baseman Will Craig raised his OPS over .800 with two doubles and a walk in five trips to the plate last night. That might not sound like an impressive total for a first round pick at a position that demands offense, but his .813 OPS ranks him 16th in the Florida State League. When you factor in that it’s a pitcher-friendly league and he skipped over Low-A ball in his first full season of pro ball, it makes the numbers look a little better.
Craig hasn’t really turned heads this season because he isn’t hitting for power with just four homers. He does have 20 extra-base hits thanks to 15 doubles and a triple, so there is some power being show despite the FSL conditions, it’s just not over the fence power. With Bradenton televising most of their home games, I’ve been able to get a better look at Craig, although his style is similar to last year when Morgantown had plenty of coverage. He has a patient approach at the plate which leads to a high on base percentage, but it also leads to him taking close pitches late in counts and pitches he can hit early in the count. He basically has more of a lead-off mentality than a middle of the order hitter in big spots, but he will expand his zone with no one on base.
That isn’t what keeps Craig from hitting homers, although I’m sure being more aggressive would help somewhat in that area. He hits the ball hard often, but he uses the entire field and is more of a line drive hitter than someone who gets loft. It’s not that he doesn’t have the power to hit homers, he doesn’t have the swing for it. This is all reminiscent to what we were saying about Josh Bell when he was in Bradenton and he added some loft to his swing once he reached Indianapolis. That doesn’t mean Craig will do the same thing, just means we have seen the same thing from a big name player. Their approach actually worked better in the FSL, where unless you are country strong like Logan Hill, you’re not going to hit a lot of homers.
One year after Craig was drafted, he’s where you want him to be at this point. He’s hitting well enough now to get a mid-season promotion based on the performance and not the draft spot. He has taken to first base much quicker and much better than expected. You want to see more from him of course, but it’s possible you just need to be patient because he’s been getting better as the season goes along.
* Two side notes with Craig. The first is that he is crushing left-handed pitching in limited views this season. In 48 at-bats, he has a 1.106 OPS. The second is that is lead-off mentality has led to a .302 OBP when he is actually leading off an inning. With runners in scoring position that actually shoots up to .449, which proves what I have seen with him regarding not having a middle of the order mentality. He’s just too patient to a fault at times in big situations, although he isn’t hurting the team, more that he’s just moving the line along for someone else to come up with the big hit.
* With Alen Hanson now out of both the system and the top 50 prospects list, we welcome Jeremias Portorreal into the top 50. If we expanded our list for the book, he would have ranked 55th coming into the year. That’s also the last spot we figured out in case of any changes for the book, so I’m not sure who would be up next. It doesn’t matter really, we will re-rank players sometime next month and there are some players who were outside of the top 55 before the season, who really made improvements. Plus there are sure to be draft picks who will push current players out of the top 50.
Portorreal played briefly in the GCL last year after spending most of the season in the DSL. He made an adjustment at the plate to shorten his swing and it led to terrific results. That led to the promotion to the GCL and he attended the Fall Instructional League for a second straight season. Portorreal has been in Extended Spring Training where the reports were decent early on and I’m told that he is still hitting well, but his defense could use some work. He has mostly played right field, though he saw some time in left field last year. This will be his fourth season in pro ball, but he doesn’t turn 20 until August. No word yet on where he will report, but my guess would be Bristol.
PLAYOFF PUSH
Bradenton trails in their division by 1.5 games with nine games remaining in the first half. They do not play first place Palm Beach again during the first half.
West Virginia trails their division leader by 6.5 games, with nine games left in the first half. They are in fifth place and could be eliminated today.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 12-7 to the Miami Marlins on Friday night. The Pirates will send Trevor Williams to the mound this evening. It will be his seventh start after pitching in relief during his first six appearances. He allowed one run over seven innings in his last start, after giving up one run over six innings in his previous start. The Marlins will counter with 28-year-old right-hander Dan Straily, who has a 3.59 ERA in 67.2 innings this season, with 69 strikeouts and a 1.09 WHIP.
In the minors, Altoona has a doubleheader today, with no starter listed yet for the second game. Clay Holmes starts for Indianapolis for the 11th time tonight. He had a 2.97 ERA during the month of May, then opened up June with one run over five innings. Bradenton starter Dario Agrazal has gone seven innings in three of his last four starts. Luis Escobar ranks fourth in the South Atlantic League in strikeouts despite placing 39th in innings pitched.
MLB: Pittsburgh (26-35) vs Marlins (27-33) 4:05 PM
Probable starter: Trevor Williams (4.57 ERA, 13:28 BB/SO, 43.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (32-28) vs Columbus (29-31) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (3.06 ERA, 24:54 BB/SO, 50.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (32-26) vs Richmond (25-34) 4:00 PM DH (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (2.70 ERA, 14:39 BB/SO, 53.1 IP) and TBD
High-A: Bradenton (35-23) @ Dunedin (29-31) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Dario Agrazal (3.03 ERA, 8:51 BB/SO, 68.1 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (27-30) vs Greensboro (33-26) 6:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Luis Escobar (3.98 ERA, 23:70 BB/SO, 52.0 IP)
DSL: Pirates (4-2) vs Rangers1 (4-2) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is the catch and throw from Jordan Luplow that was described in Thursday night’s recap. A very impressive play.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
6/8: Brandon Waddell placed on disabled list.
6/8: Brandon Cumpton assigned to Bradenton.
6/8: Pirates recall Dovydas Neverauskas. Johnny Barbato optioned to Indianapolis.
6/7: Francisco Cervelli placed on disabled list. Jacob Stallings added to Pirates.
6/7: Tomas Morales assigned to Indianapolis. Zane Chavez activated from Altoona disabled list.
6/5: Casey Sadler promoted to Indianapolis. Dan Runzler placed on disabled list.
6/4: Cole Tucker placed on disabled list. Daniel Arribas added to Bradenton roster.
6/2: Pirates designate Alen Hanson for assignment. Recall Max Moroff and Phil Gosselin.
6/2: Adrian Valerio placed on disabled list. Andrew Walker added to West Virginia.
6/2: Jameson Taillon assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
6/1: Gift Ngoepe optioned to Indianapolis
6/1: Brett McKinney assigned to Indianapolis
5/31: Anderson Feliz added to Indianapolis roster. Brett McKinney assigned to Morgantown.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Six former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note. On this date in 1969, the Pirates traded pitcher Ron Kline to the San Francisco Giants to reacquire pitcher Joe Gibbon. The Pirates got the best of this exchange of bullpen arms, getting 1 1/2 years from Gibbon, including a solid 1969 season. Kline pitched just seven games for the Giants.
Here’s a rundown of the former players born on this date:
Carlos Rivera, first baseman for the 2003-04 Pirates. He played pro ball for 20 season, last appearing in the Mexican League in 2015.
Pokey Reese, second baseman during the 2002-03 season. Won two Gold Gloves with Reds before joining Pirates. Hit .254 in 156 games in Pittsburgh.
Hank Foiles, catcher from 1956 until 1959. Came to the Pirates from the Cubs in the Ralph Kiner deal.
Johnny Podgajny pitcher during the 1943 season. He was traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Preacher Roe.
Danny MacFayden, 1940 pitcher. Went 132-159 over a 17-year career in the majors.
Jap Barbeau, 1909 third baseman, who was dealt during the season, missing out on the first World Series title in franchise history.
