A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time, 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, Bristol – [insert_php]
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13. Max Kranick, RHP, GCL Pirates – [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, Bristol – [insert_php]
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24. Barrett Barnes, LF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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25. Max Moroff, 2B, Pirates -[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. Jin-De Jhang, C, Altoona – [insert_php]
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Indianapolis won 5-2 with Steven Brault going six innings and the offense providing three home runs. This was actually one of the worst starts for Brault, who gave up two runs on five hits and three walks. He’s been that good this season that this qualifies as a bad start for him. He struck out seven batters in this game, but had some control problems at times, throwing 58 of his 95 pitches for strikes. One of the hits he allowed, which led to the second run, was a slow roller against the shift, where Brault got a pitch inside that shattered the bat into pieces. His ERA now sits at 2.06 through 100.1 innings. His 95 strikeouts places him fifth in the league.
The Indians got two hits from each of the top four hitters in their lineup. Lead-off batter Eury Perez raised his average to .336 with two doubles, and he stole two bases to give him 21 on the season. Christopher Bostick had two hits, an RBI and a stolen base in the second spot. Jordan Luplow had a single and his fourth home run for Indianapolis, giving him 20 on the season. Joey Terdoslavich, who was named the International League Player of the Week earlier in the day, hit his sixth homer, and Eric Wood added his 13th home run of the season.
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ALTOONA, Pa. – After falling two games back in the division race by losing three of four to Bowie over the weekend, the Curve rebounded nicely against last place Harrisburg on Monday evening in Altoona. Cody Dickson made his fourth start of the season for the Curve after pitching the majority of the season in the Indianapolis bullpen.
Dickson has not been good so far for the Curve since being sent down to fill a spot in the starting rotation, pitching to a 10.97 ERA in 10.2 IP (13 earned runs given up). Tonight, Dickson was able to figure things out, going five innings without allowing an earned run. Harrisburg was able to score a run in the second inning after a Dickson walk and error throwing to first place on a sacrifice bunt attempt. He walked a batter in every in except the fifth inning; however, Dickson only allowed two hits and struck out seven batters, a season high and one shy of matching a career high in strikeouts.
“He was down in the zone all night,” Manager Michael Ryan said of Dickson. “He mixed speeds well and threw some good breaking balls.”
Dickson had ten groundouts compared to zero fly outs tonight, so it is well noted that he was able to stay down in the zone. He was able to keep the Senators off-balanced for his five innings of work.
“Really, I was just doing my best to attack, read swings, and mix pitches the best I could,” Dickson said. “It was nice being able to go five – I’ve had some starts where three or four were the max. I used my fastball to get ground balls, and tried to get ahead and get bad swings.”
Casey Sadler worked three scoreless innings, allowing a lone single as his only blemish against him. Not only has Sadler been able to get steady work so far since going to Altoona, he’s been a good example to the younger players on the team.
“For our younger guys, they watch how him and Cumpton go about their business,” Ryan said. “If you watch tonight, there were three or four pitchers around him, and he’s talking about the hitters. He’s one of those guys that you can learn from. It’s very valuable. Hats off to Casey for being so open and sharing the information he has.”
Pablo Reyes continued his hot streak, homering in the second inning to left center field. It was Reyes’ third home run in his last four at-bats, adding onto his game-tying and game-winning homers from Saturday evening against Bowie. Reyes in 16-for-49 in July (.327 AVG) with an OPS of 1.010 entering tonight’s game. He left tonight’s game early, dealing with a knee problem. He has been receiving treatment for the knee, but it seemed to creep up on him more tonight.
Kevin Newman, Elvis Escobar, Jerrick Suiter, and Jin-De Jhang all contributed two hits tonight. Suiter had the only other extra base hit with a line drive double to center field in the fifth. Suiter and Newman both had impressive two-out at-bats that brought in runs, both with line drive singles back up the middle with runners in scoring position.
For the team as a whole, it was a good way to wipe away the weekend and start the week fresh.
“It was a good way to start a series,” Ryan said. “It seems like all year, we’ve been having trouble in the first game of series. After a tough weekend, it was to flip the page and start the series right.”
Ryan went on to say that his team got exposed over the tough weekend, and they will learn from and fix their mistakes. -Sean McCool
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Bradenton won 7-5 over Dunedin on Monday night. Cam Vieaux started and had some trouble, but made it through 6.2 innings and threw 104 pitches. He surrendered four runs (three earned) on ten hits and four walks. Vieaux had five strikeouts and an 8:3 GO/AO ratio. Jess Amedee got the win with a scoreless inning, stranding one inherited runner. Seth McGarry gave up one run in 1.1 innings, but he did his job by stranding two inherited runners in the eighth inning. He has a 1.23 ERA in 36.2 innings this season.
Cole Tucker was 2-for-5 with three runs scored and his 36th stolen base. He picked up his 15th double. Ke’Bryan Hayes went 2-for-4 with a walk and his fifth double. He scored two runs and picked up an RBI. Mitchell Tolman had two hits, two walks and he drove in two runs. He collected his 11th double and scored a run. He is batting .328/.400/.483 this month in 14 games. Jordan George had a pair of hits and a walk to extend his hit streak to 13 games.
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West Virginia won 4-0 behind the pitching of Luis Escobar and the hitting of Hunter Owen. Escobar threw 5.1 shutout innings in this game, leaving after 87 pitches, with 54 going for strikes. He did a good job of keeping runs off the board, allowing four hits, two walks, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch. There was at least one runner on base during all six innings he pitched. Escobar struck out five batters to give him 109 on the season and he posted an impressive 8:1 GO/AO ratio. Jordan Jess and Julio Eusebio combined for nine strikeouts over the final 3.2 innings.
If you read The Twenty this morning, I talked about Owen being blocked at third base, where his defense is below average. I also mentioned that he needs to be in a corner outfield spot because I’ve seen him handle that spot well. That article turned out to be good timing because he was in left field for the first time tonight. He homered for the 11th time this season and collected his 19th double. This is his eighth straight game with an extra-base hit. Carlos Munoz had two hits and two runs scored. Adrian Valerio went 1-for-4.
Jared Lakind, who was released by the Pirates just over a week ago, signed with the Marlins and made his debut with them in this game. I’m guessing he started low after some time off. He gave up one run in two innings.
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Morgantown got a strong outing from Ike Schlabach in their 4-2 win on Monday. Schlabach has had terrific results this season, with one odd stat that stood out from the rest. He has been known as a ground ball pitcher in the past and this year he has been getting more fly balls. That changed on Monday, as in his six innings of work, he posted a 9:1 GO/AO ratio. Schlabach allowed one run on four hits and two walks, with five strikeouts. He now has a 1.97 ERA in 32 innings and has allowed one earned run in his last 18 innings of work.
The Black Bears had ten hits on the night, with seven players picking up one hit each. Jared Oliva had three hits out of the lead-off spot, while Deon Stafford was the only player to come up empty, although he did pick up an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Oliva had a run scored, an RBI, his fifth double and his sixth stolen base. Dylan Busby had off the last two games after a four-strikeout night on Friday. He went 1-for-4 with a run scored. Bligh Madris had a single, walk, RBI and an outfield assist. Robbie Glendinning had two walks, a single and a run scored.
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Bristol started the bottom of the first inning with singles by Yondry Contreras and Jason Delay, followed by a three-run homer from Ben Bengtson. That gave them a 3-0 lead, but by the end of the game, they were on the wrong end of an 11-3 score. The Pirates also had a single and a walk after the home run, so it looked like it would be a big night for their offense. After putting five runners on in the first inning, they collected one single and three walks the rest of the game, with a caught stealing and a double play immediately erasing two of those runners.
Hunter Stratton started and held that 3-0 lead into the fifth inning. In the fifth, the first three batters reached against him and he left with the bases loaded and no outs. Mason Ward came on and allowed two of those runners to score, plus one run of his own. Things fell apart when Miguel Hernandez came out for the seventh inning. He walked four batters and hit another before being removed. Just six of his 24 pitches went for strikes and all five runners ended up scoring. By the end of the night, outfielder Henrry Rosario was on the mound making his third appearance.
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The GCL Pirates lost 7-4 to the Tigers West on a big day for 17th round pick Mason Martin. After signing for a $350,000 bonus, Martin quickly got into games and started off slow with a lot of strikeouts in his first few games. He homered on Saturday, but really looked good on this day. Martin went 4-for-4, falling a triple short of the cycle. He homered in the second inning, singled in the fourth and then hit a two-run double in the fifth. In the seventh inning, he hit another single with one out, so it looked like he would get a second shot at the cycle, but the final eight Pirates were retired in a row.
Martin’s performance overshadowed a strong outing by Cody Bolton in his second pro start. The sixth round pick threw three shutout innings, allowing a single and a walk, with two strikeouts and a 5:2 GO/AO ratio. The only hit he allowed was an infield single.
Austin Shields pitched in relief and had some control issues mixed with a costly error behind him. The Pirates committed three errors in this game and all three led to unearned runs. Shields allowed one hit and two walks, with a hit batter and wild pitch also mixed in. Three runs scored against him, but only one was earned.
Rodolfo Castro had two hits, including a double and a triple, to give him a .309 average. Stephen Alemais went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. Calvin Mitchell missed his third game with an eye infection.
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The DSL Pirates lost 8-7 on Monday despite scoring the final six runs of the game. Starter Osvaldo Bido and reliever Luis Arrieta had tough games, partially due to their own defense. Over five innings of combined work, they allowed all eight runs and committed three errors, which led to four unearned runs. After Arrieta left, three relievers combined to retired the final 12 batters in order.
The comeback by the Pirates fell one run short, but they had plenty of chances to score. They went 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base. All-Star third baseman Sherten Apostel went 3-for-3 with two walks and his eighth double. He has driven in 37 runs in 33 games. Francisco Acuna had four walks, a run scored and an RBI. Jean Eusebio had two walks and a run scored. All-Star catcher Samuel Inoa had a single, walk and a run scored. Kyle Simmons picked up three hits. Larry Alcime had a single, walk and run scored. Pedro Castillo went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. He missed the last two weeks with a quad injury.
