Bradenton wrapped up their season on Sunday, one day ahead of the other three full-season teams. They all finish this afternoon and two of them have big games as far as playoffs are concerned. You can read more about those below in the Playoff Push and Schedule sections. We will have a season recap and top ten prospect list later this month for the Marauders, but this morning I wanted to look at some things of interest for the 2017 season.
The Marauders came into this season loaded with prospects. Their starting rotation of Mitch Keller, Taylor Hearn, Gage Hinsz, Dario Agrazal and Pedro Vasquez had five top 50 prospects, with the first three ranking in our top ten during the mid-season update. The position players in the infield included three more top ten prospects in Cole Tucker, Will Craig and Ke’Bryan Hayes, plus second baseman Mitchell Tolman and catcher Christian Kelley were top 50 prospects.
That hitting group combined with the rest of the team to hit .260 for the season, which led the Florida State League. The Marauders also led the league last year with a .265 average and in 2015 with a .271 average. That’s a decent drop for the top club each season, but the overall OPS of the league went up over the 2015 numbers. The Marauders had a nine point lead with their final .341 OBP and a 12 point lead with a .720 OPS. Going back to 2015, they led with a .696 OPS. Bradenton also led the league with 489 walks and 160 stolen bases. They finished second in runs scored, a full 62 behind Dunedin, although some of that difference comes from Dunedin playing six more games. Bradenton was hit with eight rain outs on the year.
The pitching side didn’t fare as well, but they weren’t bad as a group. They finished seventh in the 12-team league with a 3.59 ERA, which was just below the 3.52 league average. Their 1.24 WHIP was fourth in the league and they were tenth in strikeouts, although the missing games could have helped them move up a couple spots there.
Where they really dominated the league was the fielding part. Bradenton committed 78 errors as a team. The next lowest total was 97, but unlike before, the missing games didn’t hurt them in this comparison, because the second best team was Lakeland and they had 11 rain outs. So they actually made 19 more errors in three fewer games. Every other team made over 100 errors. In case you were wondering, three of Bradenton’s canceled games were against Lakeland.
As far as individual leaders, Mitchell Tolman and Ke’Bryan Hayes finished tied with 66 runs scored, which ranked fourth in the league. Will Craig led the team with 124 hits, which ranked eighth in the league. He also led with 62 walks, which was third best in the league, and he was hit by a pitch 16 times, which led the league. Basically, he got on base a lot. Craig finished third in OBP, while Tolman was also in the top ten, tying three others players with a .364 OBP, which was fifth best. Tolman was seventh with a .756 OPS. Logan Hill finished tied for second with 16 homers, while Cole Tucker led the league with 36 steals. Craig was sixth with 26 doubles and Casey Hughston tied for the league lead with nine triples. He tripled on Sunday for his tenth of the season, though it came after he was promoted to Altoona.
On the pitching side, Bret Helton had a 3.25 ERA, which ranked second among qualified pitchers, although the league had an unusually small group of pitchers reaching the minimum. It was nearly half of the previous season, which means this year had a lot of promotions and/or injuries. Bradenton dealt with both, as four of their five starters were hurt at some point and two of them were promoted. Pedro Vasquez finished ninth with 107 strikeouts, one ahead of Taylor Hearn, who last pitched for Bradenton on July 13th, missing the rest of the season with an oblique strain.
PLAYOFF PUSH
The Pirates trail in their division by 10.5 games. They are 7.5 games back for the second wild card spot.
Indianapolis won their division
Altoona clinched a playoff berth. They lead their division by one game with one game remaining. The division winner gets home field advantage. If Bowie wins and Altoona loses, then Bowie gets home field.
Bradenton’s season is over.
West Virginia is in first place with one game remaining. They need to win today and Greensboro needs to lose for the Power to make the playoffs.
Morgantown is in third place, 3.5 games back. They can be eliminated today. Their season ends September 7th.
Bristol’s season is over.
The GCL season is over.
The DSL season is over.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 3-1 over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. The Chicago Cubs now come to town and Chad Kuhl will be on the mound making his 28th start of the season today. He has a 3.83 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break. Kuhl has a 4.86 ERA in 14 starts at home. The Cubs will counter with right-hander Jake Arrieta, who has 3.36 ERA in 158 innings, with 153 strikeouts and a 1.18 WHIP. He has allowed ten runs over 22 innings in four starts against the Pirates this season.
In the minors, Altoona sends JT Brubaker to the mound and West Virginia goes with Eduardo Vera. Both games are important for the playoff, though it’s more important for the Power. They need a win and a Greensboro loss to Hickory to make the playoffs. Altoona needs a win or a loss by Bowie to get home field advantage in the playoffs. Morgantown lists Ike Schlabach for the second straight day (he didn’t pitch yesterday) so we will see. The GCL Pirates, Bradenton, Bristol and the DSL Pirates have all finished play. Indianapolis, Altoona and West Virginia each play their final regular season game today. Morgantown’s season goes until Thursday.
MLB: Pittsburgh (65-72) vs Cubs (75-61) 4:05 PM
Probable starter: Chad Kuhl (4.54 ERA, 61:117 BB/SO, 134.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (79-62) @ Toledo (69-71) 1:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Drew Hutchison (3.36 ERA, 53:121 BB/SO, 155.1 IP)
AA: Altoona (73-66) vs Harrisburg (60-79) 12:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (4.51 ERA, 43:103 BB/SO, 123.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (70-62) (season preview)
Low-A: West Virginia (68-67) @ Delmarva (59-77) 2:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Eduardo Vera (3.45 ERA, 14:105 BB/SO, 125.1 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (38-34) vs Williamsport (35-35) 1:05 PM (season preview)
Rookie: Bristol (17-49)
GCL: Pirates (26-34)
DSL: Pirates (36-34) (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is Eric Wood with an RBI single. While he has had a somewhat disappointing season, he will finish with more extra-base hits than last year during his breakout season in Altoona. He went into Sunday with 25 doubles, five triples and 16 homers.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
9/3: Josh Harrison placed on disabled list. Christopher Bostick recalled from Indianapolis.
9/3: Austin Meadows placed on disabled list.
9/3: Anderson Feliz and Justin Maffei promoted to Indianapolis. Mitchell Tolman and Casey Hughston promoted to Altoona
9/3: Kevin Kramer assigned to Morgantown on rehab.
9/2: Kevin Kramer and Taylor Hearn assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
9/1: Pirates activate Wade LeBlanc and Joaquin Benoit from disabled list.
9/1: Hunter Owen added to West Virginia. Shane Kemp promoted to Bradenton.
8/31: Juan Nicasio claimed on waivers by Philadelphia Phillies
8/29: Mikell Granberry promoted to Bristol. Jason Delay promoted to Morgantown.
8/29: Brent Gibbs placed on disabled list. Raul Hernandez promoted to West Virginia.
8/29: Daniel Zamora promoted to Altoona.
8/28: Adam Frazier placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Dovydas Neverauskas.
8/28: Johnny Barbato optioned to Indianapolis. Jordan Luplow recalled.
8/28: Hunter Owen assigned to Morgantown.
8/27: Casey Sadler promoted to Indianapolis.
8/27: Barrett Barnes assigned to Indianapolis.
8/26: Francisco Cervelli placed on the disabled list. Elias Diaz recalled from Indianapolis.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a couple games of note. Starting with the players, we have 1904 left fielder Jack Gilbert. He played pro ball for 17 seasons, but he only got into 28 big league games. The Pirates gave him a 25-game trial at the end of the 1904 season, starting him in place of HOF left fielder/manager Fred Clarke, who was sick at the time. Gilbert hit .241 with 13 runs and 12 walks.
Also born on this date, 1896 pitcher Elmer Horton. He pitched two games at the end of the 1896 season for the Pirates, then went on a post-season barnstorming tour, serving as one of three pitchers the team had at the time. In November, he was part of a big trade with Baltimore, in which the Pirates got back star center fielder Steve Brodie in exchange for Jake Stenzel, who is the Pirates’ all-time batting leader.
On this date in 1890, the Alleghenys came home for the first time since August 12th and they broke a 23-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Spiders. The Alleghenys would go on the road again after that win and post a 1-11 record. They were scheduled to play two more home games against Cleveland, but rain postponed those contests.
From the worst team in franchise history to the best, and the results were definitely flipped for both teams on September 4th. The 1902 Pirates had an 87-29 record, with a 26-game lead in the NL. The had basically clinched at that point, as they ended up playing 24 more games that year. On September 4th however, they did not look like the best club in franchise history. The Pirates lost 1-0 and tied 0-0 against Boston, a team with a 57-55 record going into the day. The tie was called after nine innings due to darkness at 5:25 by Hall of Fame umpire Hank O’Day, who took a lot of verbal abuse from the crowd for his decision. The local newspaper declared that they could have played another two hours before it was too dark to play.
The big headline from the day before was that the Pirates were too good and fans weren’t showing up because they figured they were going to win. Seems odd to say, but the games weren’t important in the standings, so it turned off fans from going to games at the end of the year.
