A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Colin Moran and Edgar Santana), or loses his prospect eligibility (Kyle Crick and Dovydas Neverauskas), 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 – 1-for-4, 2B
3. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – DNP
4. Shane Baz, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Altoona – DNP
6. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – DNP
7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Altoona – DNP
8. Lolo Sanchez, CF, West Virginia – 0-for-2
9. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Altoona – Disabled list
10. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – 0-for-3, BB
11. Luis Escobar, RHP, Bradenton – DNP
12. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
13. Braeden Ogle, LHP, West Virginia – DNP
14. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
15. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Indianapolis – 3-for-4, 2B, BB
16. Max Moroff, INF, Pirates – In Majors
17. Adrian Valerio, SS, Bradenton – 1-for-5, RBI
18. Calvin Mitchell, OF, West Virginia – 1-for-4
19. Oneil Cruz, SS, West Virginia – 0-for-3, BB
20. Nick Burdi, RHP, Pirates (disabled list) – DNP
21. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – DNP
22. JT Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – DNP
23. Will Craig, 1B, Altoona – DNP
24. Stephen Alemais, 2B/SS, Altoona – DNP
25. Jason Martin, OF, Altoona – DNP
26. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – DNP
27. Eduardo Vera, RHP, Bradenton – DNP
28. Mason Martin, 1B, West Virginia – 0-for-4
29. Conner Uselton, OF, Extended Spring Training – DNP
30. Cody Bolton, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
Indianapolis played a morning game against Syracuse on Tuesday and won 4-0 behind the starting pitching from Tyler Eppler. In his last start, Eppler was knocked out of the game after three innings. That was after 9.2 shutout innings in his first start. He had his best performance of the season in this game, throwing six shutout frames on two hits and two walks. Eppler had five strikeouts and a 7:3 GO/AO ratio. He now has a 1.93 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 18.2 innings.
AJ Schugel was out next and he threw two shutout innings on only 17 pitches. Johnny Hellweg finished it off with a scoreless ninth. He has thrown eight shutout innings this season.
On offense, Kevin Kramer had the big day with three hits, two runs scored and an RBI. His second double of the season was one of five doubles in the game. The Indians also picked up doubles from Eric Wood (his sixth), Austin Meadows (fifth), Jerrick Suiter (third) and Erich Weiss (first). The double by Suiter started the scoring, second home two runs in the second inning.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Altoona had their game postponed due to rain. They will make it up as part of a doubleheader on May 4th.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bradenton lost 4-3 to Tampa on Tuesday. Starter Oddy Nunez had a tough second inning, but he cruised the rest of the outing, finishing with a strong performance. In six innings, he allowed two runs on four hits and no walks, while striking out six batters. He had a 6:3 GO/AO ratio and needed only 72 pitches to get through his night. The strikeout total is a nice sign, since he had just four strikeouts in his first 11.2 innings. Here’s video by Tim Williams of Nunez from his tough second inning.
After Bo Schultz extended his season scoreless streak to 9.2 innings, Jess Amedee took the loss by allowing two runs. Schultz was sitting 95-97 MPH.
On offense, Bradenton scored one run in each of three innings. In the second inning, a Hunter Owen hit-by-pitch was followed by back-to-back singles from Alfredo Reyes and Jason Delay for the first run. In the fourth inning, Reyes homered. The Marauders attempted a comeback in the ninth by getting two runners on base to start the inning. They then bunted the runners into scoring position, attempting for the tie, but it failed when only one run scored on two grounders to end the game. Adrian Valerio picked up the final RBI.
Tyler Gaffney has reached base in all 13 games after a hit and two hit-by-pitches tonight. He also stole his fifth base of the season. Gaffney has been plunked seven times.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
West Virginia lost 2-0 to Rome on Tuesday morning, with both runs coming with two outs in the ninth inning. Domingo Robles started and went five innings, giving up two hits and two walks, while strikeout of seven batters. He gave up just two hits over six innings in his last game and had nine strikeouts. Adam Oller followed Robles and gave up just one hit in four innings. Unfortunately, that hit was a two-run homer in the ninth.
The offense was bad in this game, with three singles a double, three walks and 12 strikeouts. They had just three at-bats with runners in scoring position and all seven runners were left stranded. Ryan Peurifoy had a single and double. Rodolfo Castro had a single and a walk. The 3-5 hitters, Deon Stafford, Dylan Busby and Mason Martin, went 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts.
Here’s the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
