Around this time last year, I did articles for all four of the full-season teams looking at the good and the bad from the first half. I already took a look at the entire rosters for West Virginia and Bradenton, so no sense repeating those teams. I can however, look at Altoona this morning and Indianapolis tomorrow. So here is a list of five players or things that went right for the Curve during the first half, and five things that didn’t go as planned.
GOOD
1. Jordan Luplow – Maybe a couple weeks ago you would have contested Luplow at #1, but with Kramer injured and Luplow continuing to hit, he’s the easy choice. Pirates minor leaguers don’t hit 16 homers in a half season, but he’s doing it while hitting for average and limiting his strikeouts. Plus he plays a decent left field with a nice arm
2. The Bullpen – While it hasn’t been the entire bullpen, it sure feels like it to the opposition. Tate Scioneaux, Sean Keselica, Buddy Borden, Montana DuRapau and Miguel Rosario have been great all year and Luis Heredia has been strong for the last couple weeks. Rosario has been incredible, allowing one earned run since his debut on April 8th. Keselica looks like a legit middle relief prospect, who would at least make it as a LOOGY. I have no idea how Scioneaux is successful with a BP fastball and being an extreme fly ball pitcher, but like Rosario, his delivery has deception, and his changeup gets high marks.
3. Kevin Kramer – I had to include Kramer on this list despite the time he will miss. He put up some great numbers before hitting a slump just prior to his hand injury. His performance matched those numbers and then some, because even his outs were hit well.
4. JT Brubaker – We liked Brubaker when we saw him sit 90-94 MPH, with a slider he could use as a strikeout pitch and a solid changeup. His velocity is now in another bracket, sitting higher than his previous high-end velocity. He stepped it up to 95-97 recently, hitting those numbers late in games. He’s also becoming a better pitcher and not just a thrower. He’s learning how to do better with his pitch selection, which was an issue in the past.
5. Corner Infielders – Both Wyatt Mathisen and Edwin Espinal lost a lot of weight this off-season and it seems to be helping both of them. Mathisen has a .307 average and a .391 OBP, while Espinal has a .286 average, with 22 doubles and seven homers. He should really be moving up soon, so the Pirates know what he can do over a long stretch in Triple-A. He’s a minor league free agent at the end of the season and still just 23 years old.
BAD
1. Kevin Newman – I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone in the first spot. He’s hitting .241/.306/.318 and he’s only attempted four stolen bases, being successful twice. The only thing going right is that the defense is solid. He’s a nice, steady shortstop. His value comes from the ability to get on base, then use his speed once he gets there and he’s doing neither.
2. Yeudy Garcia – Garcia had off-season shoulder surgery of some sort. We asked multiple times what exactly it was and got responses ranging from nothing, to minor surgery to just “shoulder surgery”. Supposedly he was healthy for Opening Day and the results have still been very poor. This is a guy who used to throw 93-95, touching 97 MPH and worked off his fastball. Now he throws 90-93, touching 94 MPH and has trouble throwing strikes, which causes him to sometimes get slider happy and make mistakes.
3. Injuries – Speaking of Garcia, he is now on the DL with an oblique injury. He joins Brandon Waddell, who has been injured twice, and Kevin Kramer on the disabled list. There was also a DL trip from JT Brubaker and Michael Suchy had hamate surgery. You hope it’s nothing, but Dario Agrazal left his first start early due to tightness in his right pec/side. There was also Jin-De Jhang missing the first six weeks due to a Spring Training injury.
4. Jared Lakind – Lakind looked great at times last year and that earned him a free agent contract with the Pirates after he reached minor league free agency. He also got an invite to MLB Spring Training. He has been bad for most of the season, now holding a 5.67 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP.
5. Jin-De Jhang – He has been back for over a month now and the bat hasn’t got going yet. Granted he’s a singles hitter, who doesn’t draw walks or run well, but he has hit for average in the past and rarely strikes out. Right now he has a .198/.250/.221 slash line.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 4-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday afternoon. The Pirates now travel to St Louis for a weekend series, where they will send Jameson Taillon to the mound tonight to make his ninth start of the season. He gave up four runs on eight hits over five innings in his last start. His last road start was on May 3rd when he allowed six runs over five innings in Cincinnati. The Cardinals will counter with Adam Wainwright, who has a 5.75 ERA in 72 innings, with a 1.64 WHIP and 61 strikeouts.
In the minors, Clay Holmes gets the start for Indianapolis, trying to rebound from two poor starts. His start was rained out yesterday. He walked six batters in his last start and couldn’t make it through five innings. In his prior outing, Holmes reached his single inning pitch limit in the first. Travis MacGregor will get the start for Bristol. The 2016 2nd round pick spent last season in the GCL, where he had a 3.13 ERA in nine starts. Cam Vieaux was promoted to Bradenton yesterday and he will make his High-A debut today.
MLB: Pittsburgh (33-40) @ Cardinals (33-38) 8:15 PM
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (3.38 ERA, 16:39 BB/SO, 45.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (40-31) @ Louisville (28-43) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (4.09 ERA, 31:57 BB/SO, 55.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (38-31) vs Hartford (31-39) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.21 ERA, 16:46 BB/SO, 61.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (37-31) @ Lakeland (31-36) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (NR)
Low-A: West Virginia (31-36) vs Lexington (34-36) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Blake Cederlind (5.84 ERA, 15:42 BB/SO, 37.0 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (3-1) @ Williamsport (1-3) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Stephan Meyer (NR)
Rookie: Bristol (0-1) @ Johnson City (1-0) 7:00 PM
DSL: Pirates (8-9) vs Rays2 (9-7) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is the last out from Taylor Hearn’s five no-hit innings. You also get to see the strong arm of Alfredo Reyes
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
6/22: Francisco Cervelli placed on the disabled list. Jacob Stallings Recalled
6/22: Evan Piechota, Chris McDonald, Nelson Jorge, Jhoan Herrera and Luis Perez transferred from Morgantown to Bristol.
6/22: Justin Maffei and Anderson Feliz assigned to Indianapolis. Austin Meadows and Gift Ngoepe placed on disabled list.
6/22: John Bormann assigned to Indianapolis.
6/22: Pirates sign five draft picks.
6/21: Pirates sign eight draft picks.
6/21: Pirates release Chase Simpson
6/21: Altoona activates Michael Suchy from disabled list.
6/20 Pirates sign Conner Uselton and Calvin Mitchell.
6/20: Pirates announce nine draft signings.
6/20: Dario Agrazal promoted to Altoona. Yeudy Garcia placed on disabled list.
6/19: Tomas Morales assigned to Altoona. Zane Chavez placed on disabled list.
6/18: Chris Stewart activated from the disabled list. Jacob Stallings optioned to Indianapolis.
6/16: Pirates sign Shane Baz.
6/16: Justin Maffei assigned to Altoona.
6/15: Ronny Agustin assigned to West Virginia.
6/14: Matt Frawley sent to New York Yankees as part of earlier trade.
6/14: Francisco Cervelli activated from disabled list. A.J.Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note. Both players were pitchers, Ken Jungels (1942) and Bill Harris, who pitched for the Pirates from 1931 until 1934. Harris was used mainly in relief for the Pirates, starting 22 times and coming out of the bullpen 61 times. He had a 3.45 ERA in 276.2 innings. He didn’t have a great Major League career, but if you throw in his minor league stats, he had 281 career wins.
On this date in 1956, the Pirates sent second baseman Curt Roberts and pitcher Jack McMahan to the Kansas City A’s in exchange for second baseman Spook Jacobs. This trade did almost nothing for the Pirates, as Jacobs started 11 games and struggled with the bat. That got him a demotion to the minors, which opened a spot for minor league second baseman Bill Mazeroski to make his Major League debut.
On this date in 1909, the Pirates won 3-1 over the Cardinals to push their record to 39-13 on the season, the best record in baseball. In the last 100 games of that season, which was every game after June 23rd, Pittsburgh went 71-29. That was also the best record in baseball over that time. Hall of Fame pitcher Vic Willis threw a complete game against the Cardinals and Honus Wagner had two walks and two hits, including a double that drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.
