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 – 2-for-5, RBI
3. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – 0-for-2, BB, HBP
4. Shane Baz, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Altoona – 0-for-4
6. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – 2-for-5, 2B, 3 RBI
7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Altoona – DNP
8. Lolo Sanchez, CF, West Virginia – DNP
9. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Altoona – 1-for-4, 3B, RBI
10. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – 0-for-4, BB
11. Luis Escobar, RHP, Bradenton – DNP
12. Clay Holmes, RHP, Pirates – DNP
13. Braeden Ogle, LHP, West Virginia – DNP
14. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
15. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Indianapolis – 1-for-4, 2B, BB
16. Max Moroff, INF, Indianapolis – 2-for-2, 3B, 3 BB
17. Kyle Crick, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
18. Adrian Valerio, SS, Bradenton – 1-for-3
19. Calvin Mitchell, OF, West Virginia – DNP
20. Oneil Cruz, SS, West Virginia – DNP
21. Nick Burdi, RHP, Pirates (disabled list) – DNP
22. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – DNP
23. JT Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – DNP
24. Will Craig, 1B, Altoona – 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, BB
25. Stephen Alemais, 2B/SS, Altoona – 2-for-4, 2B
26. Jason Martin, OF, Altoona – DNP
27. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
28. Eduardo Vera, RHP, Bradenton – DNP
29. Mason Martin, 1B, West Virginia – DNP
30. Conner Uselton, OF, Extended Spring Training – DNP
Indianapolis got their second straight stellar outing from a starting pitcher and this time they held the lead for their first victory. Tyler Eppler matched Nick Kingham’s opener performance by striking out ten batters while throwing shutout ball. Eppler went 5.2 innings, allowing six singles and a walk. He threw 67 of his 92 pitches for strikes and had a 5:1 GO/AO ratio, which is unusual for the flyball pitcher. Richard Rodriguez retired all seven batters he faced, five by strikeout. Tyler Jones retired the side in order in the ninth.
The offense was strong in the 10-0 victory, with Max Moroff having another solid day. He reached base all five times on Saturday and he is now 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple and three walks. Jacob Stallings had two doubles, a single, three runs scored and he drove in a pair. Kevin Newman drove in three runs with a single and a double. Austin Meadows had two hits and an RBI. Kevin Kramer had a double and a walk.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Altoona got a strong season debut from Brandon Waddell in their 5-1 victory over Akron. He went 5.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out seven batters. Waddell threw 59 of his 88 pitches for strikes and had a 5:4 GO/AO ratio. Bret Helton threw 2.1 scoreless innings in relief, then Sean Keselica finished the game off with a perfect ninth.
The big hit of the game was a three-run homer in the sixth inning by Will Craig, his first of the season. He also reached base later on a walk and scored a run. Stephen Alemais and Pablo Reyes each had two hits and scored a run. Alemais picked up a double, while Reyes stole his first base of the season. Bryan Reynolds had a triple and an RBI. Ke’Bryan Hayes is 1-for-13 tomorrow.
Cole Tucker had a walk, hit-by-pitch and a run scored. The hit-by-pitch came from Jordan Milbrath, who was just Tucker’s teammate in Spring Training last month before he returned to the Indians as a Rule 5 pick. Milbrath gave up a run on two hits in his only inning.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bradenton moved to 2-1 on the season with a 5-3 victory over St Lucie. Oddy Nunez made his first start in High-A ball and it didn’t go as expected. After a quick eight-pitch first inning, the skies opened up and by the time they game restarted, he had been sitting too long to come back out. Mike Wallace relieved him and allowed one run over five innings for the win.
The Marauders got all the offense they would need in the bottom of the first inning. Bligh Madris got them on the board with an RBI single that scored lead-off hitter Jared Oliva, then Alfredo Reyes followed with a three-run homer. They added one more insurance run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Madris. Hunter Owen and Lucas Tancas each had two hits. Trae Arbet is 0-for-7 with five strikeouts.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
West Virginia had their game postponed due to snow. They will play a doubleheader on Sunday.
Here’s the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
