Every week we have live reports from all over the system, while I provided additional views of the minors via MiLB.tv, which included Altoona and Morgantown this week. We also had live coverage of Indianapolis, Altoona and West Virginia in the past week. All of these reports are combined and used each week to highlight the top performers during that time span. We go with the top ten hitters and pitchers, giving you the 20 best players from last week.
HITTERS
Johan De Jesus, INF, Bristol – The Pirates liked De Jesus enough as a young shortstop to give him a $200,000 bonus on his 16th birthday. His first two seasons in the DSL were a bust, as he showed no signs of being a prospect or making progress. Things got worse though, as he was suspended the entire 2015 season due to PEDs. When De Jesus returned in 2016, it seemed like he was just playing out the string before being released, but he caught a lucky break (for him) right before the GCL season started. Infielder Luis Perez needed shoulder surgery and that led to De Jesus being promoted to take his spot. His stats were poor last year, but they needed a warm body and once a player makes it to the U.S., it usually gets them extra time to stick around. De Jesus went to Bristol this year, still just 20 years old, and he has hit well so far. This past week, he picked up eight hits, including two doubles, two triples and a home run. He has never had a week like that, so we will see if it’s something starting to click for a player who is still young, or just a fluke week. – John Dreker
Jordan George, 1B, Bradenton – George celebrated his 25th birthday over the weekend. You don’t want to be in High-A ball at that age, but if that’s where you’re at, might as well make the most of it. George did just that last week, hitting two homers and extending his hit streak to 12 games. He’s getting more playing time since Logan Hill was promoted and Danny Arribas was released, and George has earned that time. He’s hitting .290/.385/.452 in 58 games. He’s still a long shot to make it, but most 35th round picks don’t have the type of success he is currently having in High-A either. The recent power surge at least helps his case, as all of his value is in his bat due to marginal defense and below average speed. George is a .303 lifetime hitter, who has more walks than strikeouts in his career. He has hit seven homers this season, compared to two in his first two years combined. – JD
Tristan Gray, 2B, Morgantown – Gray has been the best looking 2017 draft pick so far, which isn’t what you expect from your 13th round pick. He is hitting .364/.438/.618 through his first 16 games and that stat line matches what we have seen from him early on. Gray makes a lot of hard contact with a smooth left-handed swing, stinging line drives all around the ballpark. Many of his outs have been hard hit as well. He has also shown power with four doubles, two triples and two homers. It’s an extremely small sample size, but he has gone 7-for-12 against southpaw pitchers. He’s starting to look like a late round steal, although it’s easy to forget how early it is in the season. His defense has been solid so far and he appears to have average speed. He’s a big player for a second baseman at 6’3″, and looks like he could still fill out his frame a little. His dad was drafted by the Texas Rangers, so he comes from some good bloodlines. – JD
Edison Lantigua, OF, Bristol – Lantigua has been the best hitter on Bristol during the early part of the season and he’s also easily the best prospect on offense for the team. So far he is hitting .296/.432/.549 in 20 games, with four doubles, one triple and four homers. He has already drawn 16 walks. The 20-year-old left-hander has always been a player of interest ever since he was signed for a $275,000 bonus in 2013. He put up strong stats in 2014 in the Dominican, then had a thumb injury that cost him time and affected his swing in 2015, making it a lost season in the GCL. He repeated the level in 2016 and had a better season, which has carried over so far this year. Lantigua had just two homers in those first three seasons combined, as his line drive swing was more geared towards using the entire field. It’s too early to call it a breakout season for him, but the power, walks and average are the signs you like to see. – JD
Carlos Munoz, DH, West Virginia – It seems like Munoz has been featured in The Twenty a lot, but on the season, he has a .276/.386/.404 slash line, which is good for the South Atlantic League, but not great. It’s probably because he has always been a streaky hitter, so he’s either doing just well enough to make this list, or having a really bad week that brings down his overall stats. He had 11 hits last week, which included a game in which he drove in five runs. On the season he has an impressive 43:32 BB/SO ratio. It appears that Munoz is just playing out his time with the Pirates. He’s a minor league free agent at the end of the season and they have been using him mostly as the DH, giving first base time to Albert Baur. Besides being a DH with well below average speed, Munoz has gone 148 plate appearances without hitting a homer. When he was at his prospect peak, he was showing power, while maintaining the high OBP and very low strikeout rates. That power part has disappeared. – JD
Victor Ngoepe, SS/2B, GCL Pirates – Ngoepe is very similar to his older brother. He has strong defensive skills up the middle, with a lot of speed and a smooth glove. His offense lags behind, just like his brother, but he does show occasional signs of some offensive potential. That happened this week, as he went 5-for-18, walking four times and hitting his first career home run. He’s still behind his brother from an offensive standpoint. Gift had a .622 OPS in his only year in the GCL, while Victor had a .585 OPS last year, and is at .607 this year. He also isn’t getting priority time at shortstop, losing time to Rodolfo Castro. The skills are still there, but he’ll need to hit more consistently to follow his brother’s path. – Tim Williams
Hunter Owen, 3B, West Virginia – Owen had a streak of six straight games with a double snapped on Sunday. He snapped it by hitting his tenth home run of the season. His power is starting to pick up and he now has a .288/.385/.489 slash line in 79 games. The OBP number is helped a lot by 24 hit-by-pitches, which is the highest total for a Pirate minor leaguer since Nyjer Morgan had 33 in 2004. Owen has fewer walks (22) than HBP, so that might be an area where his numbers drop off as he climbs the system and pitchers have better control. You would like to see him move up, especially from someone who turns 24 in September, but he isn’t going to push Ke’Bryan Hayes off third base, so Owen would need to move to a new spot. His defense has improved slightly at the hot corner, although he is still considered below average at this point. His best spot would still be as a corner outfielder. – JD
Jeremias Portorreal, RF, GCL Pirates – Portorreal has shown some offensive upside this year, putting up a .764 OPS in the pitcher friendly GCL, along with a .169 ISO. The power has started to show up in his game, and that continued this week with a triple and a home run. He has seen some strikeout issues, with a strikeout in almost a third of his at-bats this season. He has only played 17 games, but has a strikeout in 15 of those games. He will need to cut down on the strikeout issues going forward, while maintaining the power increase that he’s shown lately. – TW
Lolo Sanchez, CF, GCL Pirates – Sanchez was the top international signing by the Pirates during the 2015-16 class, and has been hitting well in his second pro season. He currently has an .855 OPS in 63 at-bats, with a .143 ISO. In addition to the offense, he shows a lot of speed and range in the outfield, looking like a guy who can stick in center field. This week he went 10-for-24 with a double and four walks. Sanchez has displayed good plate patience, striking out only six times this year, and going without a strikeout in each of his last seven games. – TW
Jerrick Suiter, RF, Altoona – Suiter didn’t just have a good week, he has had a great seven week stretch. He has been the best hitter in the entire system since June 1st. That comes from an adjustment he made at the plate to add power to his swing, which has resulted in seven homers this season, nearly equaling his total from his first three seasons combined. Not only has he added power, but he has been getting on base, leading to a .316/.407.506 slash line in 54 games with Altoona. Suiter has been seeing a lot of time in right field, especially since Connor Joe was injured. He is below average defensively out there, so any added time can only help his case. Suiter’s best position is first base, where he is likely the best defensive first baseman the Pirates have at any level. That’s a position where he will have trouble finding playing time, although if he keeps hitting like he has over this long stretch, they will find a spot for him. – JD
PITCHERS
Austin Coley, RHP, Altoona – For a guy that came into the season being told that he will be working out of the bullpen, Austin Coley has taken advantage of the opportunity that presented itself back in April and has been a steady force in the Curve rotation all year. Coley has a 3.11 ERA – fifth best in the Eastern League – in 92.2 innings this season, working mostly out of the starting rotation all year. He has given up two or fewer runs in 12 of his 16 starts, and his start this past week was more of the same. He only allowed two solo home runs, and otherwise, he was very effective against the best hitting team in the league. He doesn’t have a ton of velocity, but command of his breaking ball has helped the perception of a hotter pitch to the batter. Last season, he struggled in getting all three pitches over the plate for strikes, but he has greatly improved upon his changeup and curveball command this year. – Sean McCool
Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – Escobar pitched a scoreless inning during the Futures Game last weekend, showing some impressive high-90s velocity and a little bit of wildness. He started once last week and the velocity was back to his normal range and there was still a bit of wildness. Escobar’s normal range is still very good for a starter at any level, sitting 93-95 MPH. He allowed just one run over five innings, being limited due to a high pitch count. It wasn’t the best outing, but he showed signs of pitching lessons paying off. He can put away batters with all of his three offerings, but he likes to use the curveball as his go to pitch. They wanted him to use his fastball up in the zone more often with two strikes, then save the curve for the next time hitters are seeing him. His fastball usually has a great downward plane, so it’s almost like two different pitches when he’s blowing it by hitters with mid-90s heat. In his start on Wednesday, that high fastball was very effective. – JD
Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Indianapolis – Glasnow is not going to be at Triple-A much longer if he continues to throw gems like he did on Friday, tossing seven shutout innings against Louisville. But it’s some of the other details of the start that make it impressive. First and foremost, zero walks. That was the first time Glasnow did not allow a run and did not walk anybody in the same game since doing so July 16, 2015 with Double-A Altoona. And he only struck out six batters, a low amount by his standards. Louisville is an aggressive-swinging team, which Glasnow felt helped lead to no walks. But Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett commended Glasnow for still pitching to contact and not trying to avoid bats and be too fine, which can lead to command issues. Glasnow’s velocity was good, hitting 100 MPH in the first inning and sitting 96-97 MPH in his final innings. He also contributed at the plate, hitting a triple into the right-centerfield gap. Glasnow later called that play one of the more fun moments he’s had playing baseball recently, commenting on the fan reaction when he started rounding second base. Glasnow had a similar type of outing June 26 against Durham. A few more similar ones and he might not be around Indianapolis much longer. – Brian Peloza
Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – Hearn makes the list this week thanks to a big strikeout performance, but in the process, he pitched himself out of this feature for a little while. Hearn was rolling through his start on Thursday, striking out a career-high ten batters in 4.2 shutout innings. He was up to 79 pitches already, but it wasn’t due to any wildness. He didn’t walk any batters and only allowed four hits. Batters were just having trouble putting the ball in play, occasionally fouling pitches off, which led to a lot of 5-6 pitch at-bats. He was pulled from the outing and it was later revealed that he left with a strained right oblique, which landed him on the disabled list. Without know the severity, we don’t know how long he will be out, but with just under seven weeks left in the season, he probably won’t be putting in too many innings the rest of the way. He left that game as the FSL leader with 106 strikeouts. The injury was bad timing for Hearn, who has just recently started having success with a new slider. – JD
Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – Holmes was in the middle of arguably his best outing of the season when shoulder fatigueness ended it prematurely. He likely would not have been allowed to throw a complete game, but his pitch efficiency was making that an option. Typically, the organization wants the Triple-A pitchers to be at a 7-inning, 110-pitch limit. Holmes needed just 62 pitches to cruise through the first six innings, a workload that makes the possibility of a pitch game feasible. But Holmes’ only made it two pitches into the seventh inning. Indianapolis catcher Elias Diaz called for fastballs, but they both came in sub-90 MPH, from a pitcher who should be sitting 94-95 MPH. The second subpar fastball led to a single; which brought out the trainer and manager; and eventually led to an early departure. Holmes said it’s too early to know if he will miss a start. That’s an unfortunate turn, because Holmes was throwing well. He did not allow a walk after giving up six in his previous start. Ideally, this episode of shoulder fatigue is a small bump in the road for Holmes and not a frequent occurrence. – BP
Alex McRae, RHP, Altoona – Three days after pitching a scoreless inning in the Eastern League All-Star Game, Alex McRae turned in one of his best outings of the season on Saturday in Altoona. McRae worked into the ninth inning, allowing two earned runs on eight hits. The line doesn’t give the whole story, as McRae was extremely efficient, getting quick outs and not walking any batters. In the ninth inning of the game, McRae did his job by getting two quick ground balls; however, they found holes through the infield. He was pulled because of his pitch count, and Sean Keselica couldn’t hold the runners on base. McRae’s walks are slightly down this season, highlighted by the gem he threw on Saturday. He’s also been a horse for the Curve, too, as he is second in the league in innings pitched. As long as he can continue to pound the zone with his sinker and keep batters off-balanced with the breaking ball, he will get results. – SM
Braeden Ogle, LHP, Bristol – Ogle was featured in an article by John Eshleman last week. He saw him pitch live twice and provided scouting reports and video. In that piece, it was noted that Ogle hit 97 MPH, and he’s been working on a changeup with strong results. He mixes those pitches with a low-80s slider as his breaking ball. That arsenal of pitches helped him this past week when he gave up two runs over six innings against Princeton on Saturday. It was the first time that Ogle has gone six innings in his young career and he was able to do that because of his efficient pitch count, needing just 65 pitches (44 strikes) to get through his night. The overall results have been decent so far for the 19-year-old right-hander, who has a 3.60 ERA in the hitter friendly Appalachian League, along with the second most innings pitched going into last night’s action. – JD
Argenis Romano, RHP, Bristol – Romano didn’t have much success in his first four appearances with Bristol this season, but he had two solid relief outings last week. He pitched a total of five innings, allowing one run on two hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. The 22-year-old is in his third season of pro ball, spending his rookie year in the DSL and then last year he pitched four times in the GCL before being shutdown with a shoulder injury that just required rest. The 6’1″ righty throws in the 90-92 range, which is up slightly from the original DSL scouting reports of him sitting 89-90 MPH. His best pitch is a curveball with a sharp break, which he can throw for strikes or get batters to chase. His changeup is a distant third pitch and part of the reason he is used in relief instead of starting like he did during parts of the last two seasons. – JD
Ike Schlabach, LHP, Morgantown – Schlabach has made a couple Twenty articles already due to strong early results. We have noted that he has simplified his delivery somewhat by lowering his leg kick during his windup. That has led to better control this season, issuing five walks in 26 innings, with four of those walks coming in one start. His strikeouts have gone up compared to last year and batters are hitting just .189 against him this season. In his start on Wednesday, he threw six shutout innings on four hits. He also threw six shutout innings in his previous outing, with both starts coming on the road. The only real complaint you can have with his early results is that he went from a strong ground ball pitcher to a fly ball pitcher, going from a 1.72 GO/AO ratio last year, to 0.72 so far this season. – JD
Pedro Vasquez, RHP, Bradenton – Vasquez continues putting up impressive numbers in Bradenton, and currently has a 2.43 ERA in 96.1 innings. That includes his start this week, which saw him give up one run on two hits in seven innings, with two walks and three strikeouts. Vasquez has seen his velocity tick up lately, hitting the mid-90s more consistently with his usual strong control and good movement. The one thing limiting his upside right now is the lack of a strikeout pitch. He had two outings recently where he struck out 15 in 12 innings, but has followed that up with six strikeouts in 13 innings. His control, movement, and good enough secondary pitches should get him to the upper levels, with the upside of a reliever or depth starter. He will need better strikeout results to improve on that upside. – TW
