A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Colin Moran, Edgar Santana, Dovydas Neverauskas), 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 our 2018 Prospect Guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Mitch Keller, RHP, Altoona – DNP
2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – 0-for-4
3. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – 1-for-4, 2B, RBI
4. Shane Baz, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Altoona – 3-for-4, 3B
6. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – 0-for-4
7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Altoona – DNP
8. Lolo Sanchez, CF, West Virginia – 1-for-4, RBI, BB
9. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Altoona – Disabled list
10. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – 0-for-1
11. Luis Escobar, RHP, Bradenton – DNP
12. Clay Holmes, RHP, Pirates – In Majors
13. Braeden Ogle, LHP, West Virginia – DNP
14. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO
15. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Indianapolis – 1-for-4
16. Max Moroff, INF, Indianapolis – DNP
17. Kyle Crick, RHP, Indianapolis – 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO
18. Adrian Valerio, SS, Bradenton – 0-for-7
19. Calvin Mitchell, OF, West Virginia – 0-for-3, RBI
20. Oneil Cruz, SS, West Virginia – 0-for-4, 4 K
21. Nick Burdi, RHP, Pirates (disabled list) – DNP
22. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – DNP
23. JT Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
24. Will Craig, 1B, Altoona – 2-for-4, 2B
25. Stephen Alemais, 2B/SS, Altoona – 1-for-3, BB
26. Jason Martin, OF, Altoona – 0-for-4
27. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – DNP
28. Eduardo Vera, RHP, Bradenton – 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
29. Mason Martin, 1B, West Virginia – 0-for-4
30. Conner Uselton, OF, Extended Spring Training – DNP
Indianapolis won 4-1 in their early Wednesday game. Nick Kingham made his second straight strong start, allowing one run on three hits over six innings. This was completely different than his debut, which included three walks, a hit batter and ten strikeouts. Kingham was throwing more strikes, which led to a more efficient outing. He threw just 80 pitches total (55 strikes) and had no walks and six strikeouts. Tanner Anderson followed with two shutout frames and Kyle Crick picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.
Indianapolis scored two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Jacob Stallings and Eric Wood hit back-to-back doubles, then Jerrick Suiter made it 2-0 with an RBI single. In the sixth, Erich Weiss tripled, then scored on a Jose Osuna sacrifice fly. Kevin Kramer then singled and scored on another double by Stallings, which capped the scoring for Indianapolis. Both Stallings and Wood already have four doubles this season. Stallings is 7-for-14 at the plate so far.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Altoona lost for the second time this season, dropping a 2-1 decision to Harrisburg. The Curve had their chances, getting doubles from Cole Tucker and Will Craig, while Ke’Bryan Hayes added a triple. They went 0-for-7 as a team with runners in scoring position and they left six runners on base. Hayes had three hits, breaking a 1-for-20 slump to start the season. Stephen Alemais went 1-for-3 with a walk and he is now 9-for-20 with a 1.000 OPS on the season.
JT Brubaker started and went five innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks. He had five strikeouts tonight, after striking out eight batters in his season debut. Brubaker threw 52 of his 80 pitches for strikes on Wednesday and he posted a 6:2 GO/AO ratio. Bret Helton, Jake Brentz and Sam Street combined to face one over the minimum over the final four innings.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bradenton lost game one of a doubleheader by a 5-4 score. Eduardo Vera started and had a tough outing, giving up four runs over the first two innings, before finishing strong with four shutout frames. He gave up seven hits and two walks, with four strikeouts and a 7:4 GO/AO ratio. Vera threw 79 pitches, with 51 going for strikes. Ronny Agustin came in during the seventh inning and allowed two hits and two walks for the walk-off loss.
On offense, the Marauders scored all of their runs in the second inning. They had just three hits in the game and all of them happened in that second frame. Lucas Tancas singled, Arden Pabst doubled and Jared Oliva hit a two-run triple. Casey Hughston is now 0-for-16, though he did pick up a sacrifice fly in this game.
Tyler Gaffney left early, with no reason given. He was hit by a pitch in the fourth, but didn’t leave until the sixth and he was able to pick up his second stolen base, so his departure might not be related to the HBP.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
In game two, Bradenton won 1-0 in a real pitching duel. Singles by Bligh Madris, Albert Baur and Trae Arbet were the only base runners in the game for the Marauders and Arbet scored the only run on a sacrifice fly by Jared Oliva. Casey Hughston went 0-for-3 to extend his hitless streak and Jason Delay played his fourth game without picking up his first hit of the season.
James Marvel started and had a terrific outing by scattering five hits over six shutout innings. He had six strikeouts and threw 55 of his 77 pitches for strikes. It was a nice rebound from getting knocked out of his season debut in the fifth inning, while allowing three runs. Jordan Jess got the save with a scoreless seventh. Neither team drew a walk in the game.
You can view the season preview here.
West Virginia played a morning game on Wednesday with Domingo Robles on the mound. He was trying to bounce back from a rough start that wasn’t helped out by the defense behind him in the season opener. He pitched better in his second start, looking strong until running into trouble in the sixth inning. Robles finished with three runs on eight hits over 5.2 innings. He didn’t walk any batters and picked up four strikeouts, throwing 54 of his 75 pitches for strikes. The final two runs he allowed came from a hit-by-pitch, single and a double, all with two outs in the sixth.
Joel Cesar followed Robles with 2.1 scoreless, no-hit innings. Blake Cederlind pitched a scoreless ninth, before Blake Taylor lost it in the tenth. All of MiLB uses the “runner at second” rule in extra innings now, so Taylor’s run was unearned. The Power lost 4-3.
The offense had a rough day with 18 strikeouts, led by Oneil Cruz with four, and three from Lolo Sanchez and Kyle Watson. Cruz is 2-for-21 with 12 strikeouts and five errors through his first six games. Despite the strikeouts, Sanchez contributed on offense in this game, with an RBI single and a walk. Dylan Busby had a single, double and a run scored. Deon Stafford had an RBI double and a walk. Calvin Mitchell drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly. Rodolfo Castro had a single, stolen base and was the only Power player not to strike out.
Here’s the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
