A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Max Moroff), 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 Mid-Season Update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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3. Shane Baz, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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5. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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6. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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7. Will Craig, 3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Elias Diaz, C, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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9. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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10. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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11. Calvin Mitchell, OF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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12. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Bristol – [insert_php]
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13. Edgar Santana, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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14. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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15. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis– [insert_php]
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16. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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17. Jordan Luplow, LF, Pirates – [insert_php]
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18. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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19. Max Kranick, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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20. Steven Jennings, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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21. Adrian Valerio, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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22. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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23. Conner Uselton, OF, GCL Pirates – Disabled List
24. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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25. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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26. Eduardo Vera, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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27. Logan Hill, LF, Altoona – [insert_php]
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28. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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29. Lolo Sanchez, CF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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30. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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Indianapolis lost 3-2 to Columbus, with all three opposing runs coming on a three-run homer. Steven Brault made his first start in 15 days and looked great through five innings, but he really looked tired in the sixth. He probably should have been taken out before he served up a three-run shot to Richie Shaffer, who now has 24 homers on the year. Brault has only allowed three runs in three of his starts this season (never more than three). He gave up just three hits and struck out seven batters. He came into the game with the best ERA in the league, but now drops down to 2.20 through 106.1 innings, which has him ranked second in the league.
The Indians scored both of their runs in the eighth inning. Elias Diaz singled, then moved to third on a two-out single by Gift Ngoepe, which was nearly the third out, hitting off of the third baseman’s glove. Christopher Bostick followed him with a two-run double. Ngoepe had a double earlier in the game. Phil Gosselin had two hits. Kevin Newman went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Edwin Espinal collected his first Triple-A double.
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Altoona won 6-5 over Erie behind the hitting of Jerrick Suiter and solid pitching from Alex McRae. Suiter has been one of the best hitters in the entire system over the last two months. On this night, he drove in two runs with two doubles, giving him 15 doubles for Altoona. He also had a walk in this game. On the season for the Curve, Suiter is hitting .306/.394/.491 in 70 games.
McRae went six innings and while he allowed four runs, just two of them were earned. McRae committed an error of his own and Cole Tucker made two errors, as he is having a bit of trouble very early in his Double-A career as one of the youngest players in the league. Tucker has five errors and a .196 average in his first 11 games with Altoona. McRae gave up just four hits and a walk, with the big blow being a two-run homer with two outs in the sixth. He threw 56 of his 92 pitches for strikes and posted a 10:5 GO/AO ratio.
Pablo Reyes and Jordan George each had two hits and scored two runs. Reyes stole two bases to give him 15 steals on the season, while George hit a double and drove in a run. Elvis Escobar had a single, double and an RBI.
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Bradenton lost 7-4 to Palm Beach on Tuesday night.Cam Vieaux started and looked great through five innings, giving up just three singles and no runs. The sixth inning even started fine with a ground out to first base. Five batters later, he had allowed two doubles, a single and walked two batters. All five runners came around to score, giving him the loss. Jess Amedee followed him and allowed back-to-back doubles to give Palm Beach six runs in the inning.
The top three hitters didn’t have a great night at the plate. One day after reaching base safely in all five plate appearances, Stephen Alemais went 0-for-4 with a walk. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a single and run scored in five at-bats. Will Craig had one walk in four trips to the plate. The rest of the order had some decent nights, with Kevin Krause, Ty Moore and John Bormann each collecting two hits. Krause hit his eighth home run of the season, and also singled, walked twice and scored two runs. Alfredo Reyes picked up his 17th stolen base.
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West Virginia lost 4-2 on Tuesday night to Lexington. There was some good news prior to the game. Adrian Valerio returned from his ankle injury that occurred on July 22nd. So he didn’t end up missing that much time with his third injury this season, giving him five more weeks to get in games before the season ends. He went 0-for-4 at the plate, but the important part was just seeing him back in the lineup. Valerio will soon get some company in the lineup, as newly acquired Oneil Cruz was assigned to West Virginia today, along with reliever Angel German. Neither player was active for this game, but they are expected to join the team very soon.
Mike Wallace started on the same day as his younger brother Gavin (see below) for the second straight time and the older Wallace took the loss in the sibling rivalry again. He gave up four runs over seven innings, though Mike does get some bonus points for a career high ten strikeouts. His previous best was seven, which occurred twice last year. Reliever Ronny Agustin pitched a perfect eighth inning with two strikeouts, giving him 31 strikeouts in 19.2 innings.
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Morgantown wasted a strong outing from Gavin Wallace in their 3-2 loss to Williamsport on Tuesday night. Wallace threw five shutout innings on 58 pitches (41 strikes) allowing just three singles and facing two over the minimum. He only had one strikeout, but put up a nice 8:3 GO/AO ratio. Blake Weiman had an odd outing, striking out five batters over two innings, while also allowing all three runs.
Chris Sharpe led off the game with a home run, his second of the season. The Black Bears didn’t score again until the seventh inning when Tristan Gray doubled, then scored on a Lucas Tancas single. Gray had three hits in the game, while Tancas had a pair of singles. Morgantown went 0-for-2 in steal attempts and also had a runner picked-off. Bligh Madris went 0-for-4. He has reached base safely in 11 of his last 13 games, with both of those failed games being starts by Gavin Wallace.
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Bristol now has a 9-31 record with 28 games left to their schedule, leaving them four losses away from clinching a losing season. Jacob Taylor started and gave up three runs in the second inning and four more in the fourth, leaving with one out in that fourth frame. He now has an 8.85 ERA in six starts. Pirates 11th round pick Alex Manasa gave up a solo homer in his only inning, but he also struck out three batters.
The Pirates struck out 14 times at the plate on another bad night for the offense. Yondry Contreras struck out three times, though he also hit his fifth double, walked and stole his second base. While the stats aren’t anything to be excited about, the Pirates have pushed Contreras a level each year and he is putting up his best average, OBP and slugging numbers this season.
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The GCL Pirates won game one of a doubleheader on Tuesday by a 2-1 score. Steven Jennings made his fifth start and went three innings without allowing a hit. He walked one and struck out two batters. Through 13.1 innings, he has a 3.38 ERA, with 13 hits, five walks and nine strikeouts. Reports from the game had him sitting 89-92 MPH (same as previous outings), while mixing his pitches well. Samuel Reyes followed him and threw the final four innings, allowing one run on four hits.
The Pirates jumped out quickly in this game, getting a lead-off single from Lolo Sanchez, followed by an RBI double by Mason Martin. After a balk and an Austin Meadows walk, Martin scored on a ground out by Calvin Mitchell. After that point, the Pirates had just three hits the rest of the way, including doubles by Meadows and Mikell Granberry. Martin finished 1-for-4, Sanchez and Granberry added walks to their totals. Meadows played five innings in right field and grounded out in his only other at-bat.
Game Two Recap: Sixth round pick Cody Bolton started game two and allowed one run on one hit and one walk in three innings. He had two strikeouts and now has a 1.64 ERA through four starts. Things got ugly shortly after he left, with Angel Vasquez and Vince Deyzel combining to allow eight runs in the fifth inning. That led to a 9-5 loss and a split of the doubleheader.
Besides Bolton starting, there was another big highlight for this game…actually two of them. Rodolfo Castro hit a solo homer in the sixth, then connected on a three-run homer in the seventh. The 18-year-old infielder has been putting up solid stats this GCL season, but these were his first two homers of the year and it equals the total he put up during the DSL season last year as a rookie.
Felix Vinicio and Manny Bejerano combined for five hits, though neither factored into any of the scoring. Mikell Granberry had two walks and scored two runs, giving him a 1-for-3, three walk day. Lolo Sanchez was 1-for-4 with a single, while Jeremias Portorreal walked and scored a run.
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The DSL Pirates won 8-3 despite a tough start for pitcher Santiago Florez. After pitching well early in the season, Florez has seen some control issues pop up lately and they got bad on Tuesday. He lasted just 2.2 innings due to six walks, yet managed to allow just one run and didn’t give up any hits. Reliever Pablo Santana put in 4.1 innings, giving up two runs, with one of them being earned.
The Pirates put up runs in four consecutive innings, capping it off with four runs in the sixth frame. Larry Alcime had a two-run single in the sixth, then came around from second to score on a ground out. Ruben Gonzalez replaced Samuel Inoa early in the game behind the plate and ended up driving in two runs on two hits and a walk in three plate appearances. Inoa left with a hand injury, which originally happened last week, but acted up again today. Sherten Apostel continues to not see pitches, getting walked twice and HBP in four trips to the plate. He has been walked 18 times in his last 11 games. Jean Eusebio had a hit, walk and a HBP. He has hits in six consecutive games and has drawn 24 walks this season.
