With Steven Brault getting recalled for last night’s game, I thought I could bring back the Prospect Status updates for today. I stopped because Max Moroff was the only prospect for a little while and he barely plays enough to bother doing an update weekly.
I wanted to expand it a little today though, because of our mid-season top 50 prospect list. We already had Josh Bell, Tyler Glasnow, Trevor Williams and Jose Osuna all lose their prospect status this year. Yesterday, I covered the players who have left the system since the preseason list was published in our Prospect Guide. Now I wanted to look at the chances of other top 50 prospects losing that prospect status before the year is over, going beyond the only two in the majors right now. These guesses below all assume that the players stays healthy and remains with the Pirates after the trade deadline passes.
Steven Brault – I’d be shocked if Brault doesn’t lose his prospect status, and the way he has been pitching for the last 2 1/2 months, it should have happened already. The reason it would be shocking is that he isn’t that far away from graduating from prospect school. He threw 33.1 innings last year for the Pirates, leaving him 17 innings short going into this season. He got in one inning last night to cut that number down a little. That’s a total he could easily reach out of the bullpen if that’s the only way the Pirates use him this season. Even if he is sent back down soon for a position player, he will still be back up in September and would be a long relief option. I’d say he is 100%.
Elias Diaz – Being a catcher and the obvious first option for getting recalled if an injury happens, it gives Diaz a better shot to lose his prospect status. That’s the only way it happens, because I can’t see him getting 46 at-bats in September alone, especially not if they are in a pennant race. So right now I give him a 50% chance of graduating, but that number would decrease daily over the next five weeks if he spends them all in Indianapolis.
Max Moroff – Moroff barely plays and I don’t see a scenario where that changes enough to get him over 130 at-bats, even if he remains with the team all season. He had two at-bats last year during his brief recall and through last night (his 50th game with the Pirates this season), he has 55 at-bats. With 64 games left, he isn’t on pace to top 130 at-bats, and expanded rosters in September could take away some AB’s from him. He could get close if the Pirates aren’t in a playoff hunt during the last week of the season. That’s the same time that Hurdle realized Alen Hanson was on the team last year and gave him a handful of starts.
Edgar Santana – When the Pirates called up Santana, I thought it was a guarantee he would surpass 30 appearances. I figured he was the type of player who stays up after they call him up. It didn’t work out that way obviously, so now he would need to make 22 appearances over the last 64 games. Could it happen? Yes…he would just need to be up very soon and pitch great right out of gate. I don’t see the Pirates as sellers at the deadline, which would open up a bullpen spot(s). Sadly, it looks like he will be in our 2018 Prospect Guide, but should get his prospect diploma in April next year.
Johnny Barbato – Barbato didn’t make our top 50, but I’m throwing him in here because he’s on the 40-man roster and needs just three relief appearances to lose his prospect status. I wouldn’t guarantee he loses it just because I wouldn’t guarantee his call-up, but he has pitched well recently, so it seems very likely at this point. If he’s a September call-up, he’s getting into three games.
Gift Ngoepe – Clint Hurdle wrote Ngoepe’s name into the lineup too many times this year, falling hard for his three-hit game right after his debut. Ngoepe struggled badly after that and isn’t hitting at all in Indianapolis now, so while he already has 54 at-bats in the majors, there is zero chance that he isn’t still a prospect next year. I would be shocked if he wasn’t a September option though, but his role would be a defensive replacement and possible pinch-runner.
No one in the minors right now with no service time seems like a player who could come up and play regularly. If Austin Meadows was healthy, this Polanco injury would have opened a spot for him, but he is not an option any time soon. The closest might be Nick Kingham, just because he has no options left, so they will want to get him some experience to avoid an Alen Hanson situation next year. He isn’t going to get 50 innings though, and he hasn’t pitched recently like someone who deserves to get called up, but I can’t see the Pirates giving up on him anytime soon.
There are four other 40-man roster players with some minimal MLB experience. I’d say that Christopher Bostick, Dovydas Neverauskas, Jacob Stallings and Danny Ortiz all have zero chance of reaching the prospect maximums.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 7-3 to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night. The Pirates will send Ivan Nova to the mound tonight for his 20th start. He did not face Colorado when these two teams met earlier in the season. Nova has a 3.63 ERA in ten road starts. The Rockies will counter with lefty Kyle Freeland, who has a 3.67 ERA in 110.1 innings, with 69 strikeouts and a 1.37 WHIP. He faced the Pirates on June 12th and allowed five runs over 5.2 innings.
In the minors, Luis Escobar starts for West Virginia, coming off of a game in which he threw 5.1 shutout innings. His 109 strikeouts ranks him second in the South Atlantic League. JT Brubaker allowed one run over five innings in his last start, picking up six strikeouts. Domingo Robles will go for Bristol tonight. He allowed one run over five innings in his last outing. Ike Schlabach is the likely starter for Morgantown. He has gone six innings in each of his last three starts, allowing a total of one run. The GCL and DSL Pirates are both off on Sundays.
MLB: Pittsburgh (49-49) @ Rockies (57-42) 3:10 PM
Probable starter: Ivan Nova (3.27 ERA, 16:73 BB/SO, 126.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (54-45) @ Gwinnett (49-49) 1:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Drew Hutchison (3.70 ERA, 38:84 BB/SO, 104.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (49-48) @ Bowie (53-36) 2:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (4.96 ERA, 26:74 BB/SO, 81.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (54-41) vs Clearwater (52-45) 1:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Bret Helton (3.50 ERA, 23:62 BB/SO, 74.2 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (43-51) vs Lexington (48-48) 2:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Luis Escobar (4.19 ERA, 38:109 BB/SO, 86.0 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (19-12) vs Batavia (11-20) 4:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Ike Schlabach (1.97 ERA, 7:22 BB/SO, 32.0 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (8-22) @ Burlington (12-17) 6:00 PM
GCL: Pirates (9-14) vs Yankees West (11-10) 12:00 PM 7/24
DSL: Pirates (24-18) vs Cubs1 (21-20) 10:30 AM 7/24 (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is a highlight from Bligh Madris, because frankly, it’s been too long without one. No, I didn’t forget to update this, they just love to feature him in highlights. He has more video than the rest of the Morgantown players combined.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
7/22: Gregory Polanco placed on the disabled list. Steven Brault recalled from Indianapolis.
7/22: Hector Garcia assigned to Morgantown on rehab.
7/21: Adonis Pichardo assigned to GCL Pirates from Bristol. Ryan Valdes, Hector Quinones and Will Reed promoted to Bristol.
7/20: Kevin Newman promoted to Indianapolis. Anderson Feliz and Jackson Williams assigned to Altoona.
7/20: Tomas Morales placed on disabled list.
7/20: Cole Tucker promoted to Altoona. Logan Ratledge assigned to Bradenton.
7/20: Stephen Alemais promoted to Bradenton.
7/20: Pirates release Zane Chavez
7/19: Brandon Waddell and Conner Joe assigned to Morgantown on rehab.
7/18: Starling Marte activated from restricted list. Phil Gosselin optioned to Indianapolis.
7/18: Hunter Owen placed on disabled list. Nick King promoted to West Virginia.
7/15: Taylor Hearn placed on disabled list.
7/15: Cody Dickson activated from Altoona disabled list.
7/15: Raul Hernandez promoted to Morgantown.
7/15: Brandon Waddell assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
7/14: Brent Gibbs placed on disabled list. Yoel Gonzalez added to West Virginia roster.
7/14: Will Reed assigned to GCL Pirates.
7/14: Montana DuRapau promoted to Indianapolis.
7/13: Dany Hernandez promoted to Bristol. Will Reed assigned to GCL Pirates from Bristol.
7/13: Pasquale Mazzoccoli promoted to West Virginia. Andrew Potter released.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus four trades of note. We start with the trades, which I’ll quickly summarize.
2003: The trade that everyone would love to forget happened 14 years ago. The Pirates sent Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to the Cubs for Bobby Hill, Jose Hernandez and Matt Bruback. You can check the link if you want to relive this one. At least the Pirates ended up getting Ramirez back for a little bit, so that was fun to see the end of his career.
1999: Four years earlier, the Pirates made another trade that didn’t work out well long-term, though this one was for a team doing well that suddenly had a need. The Pirates sent Jose Guillen and pitcher Jeff Sparks to the Devil Rays, in exchange for Joe Oliver and Humberto Cota. The Pirates had just lost Jason Kendall to a season-ending injury, so the catching depth was necessary. Guillen ended up having a strong career, though it took him about four years to get on track.
1996: Danny Darwin dealt to the Astros for Rich Loiselle. This trade actually worked out well, as Darwin was a veteran signed to a one-year deal, while Loiselle spent five years with the Pirates, occasionally getting used in the closer role.
1986: The final deal worked out the best, as the Pirates sent pitcher Jose DeLeon to the White Sox for Bobby Bonilla. DeLeon was a decent starter after the deal, but Bonilla was a superstar who helped the Pirates reach the playoffs in 1990 and 1991.
As for the players born on this date, Ginger Beaumont was a star center fielder for the 1901-03 Pirates teams that won three straight NL titles. You can read more on Beaumont in this link, which is in addition to the one at the top. He hit .321 for the Pirates in 989 games and scored 757 runs. He has the eighth highest batting average in team history, falling right between Arky Vaughan and Pie Traynor. On a team with Hall of Fame players Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke, Beaumont hit lead-off and led the NL in hits for three straight seasons from 1902 until 1904. He also led the league in average in 1902 and runs scored in 1903.
The other two players born on this date are 1928 second baseman Mack Hillis and 1934 pitcher Ed Holley. If you want to know more about them, just ask. Spoiler alert: My answer will be to check the link at the top of this section.
