A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time or loses his prospect eligibility (Colin Moran, Edgar Santana, Kyle Crick, Max Moroff 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 – 0-for-5
3. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – 0-for-4
4. Shane Baz, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Altoona – 0-for-4
6. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – 1-for-4, SB
7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Altoona – DNP
8. Lolo Sanchez, CF, West Virginia – 2-for-3, SB, RBI
9. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Altoona – Disabled list
10. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – 2-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 – 2-for-3, BB, SB
16. Adrian Valerio, SS, Bradenton – 1-for-5
17. Calvin Mitchell, OF, West Virginia – 1-for-6, 2 RBI, BB
18. Oneil Cruz, SS, West Virginia – 2-for-8
19. Nick Burdi, RHP, Pirates (disabled list) – DNP
20. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO
21. JT Brubaker, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
22. Will Craig, 1B, Altoona – 1-for-3, 2B
23. Stephen Alemais, 2B/SS, Altoona – 0-for-3
24. Jason Martin, OF, Altoona – 0-for-3
25. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – DNP
26. Eduardo Vera, RHP, Bradenton – DNP
27. Mason Martin, 1B, West Virginia – 0-for-2
28. Conner Uselton, OF, Extended Spring Training – DNP
29. Cody Bolton, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
30. Steven Jennings, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
Indianapolis lost 3-1 to Louisville on Monday night. The Indians didn’t have any trouble getting on base all night with ten hits and two walks. They even went 3-for-3 in stolen bases. The problem was that all of their hits were singles and they went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Jordan Luplow, Kevin Kramer, Erich Weiss and Pablo Reyes each had two hits. Luplow and Kramer added walks.
Austin Coley started the game and had a solid outing, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks in five innings. He had three strikeouts and a 4:4 GO/AO ratio, while throwing 45 of his 70 pitches for strikes. Dovydas Neverauskas and Damien Magnifico each tossed a scoreless frame, while Bo Schultz allowed an unearned run in his only inning.
Kevin Newman had a single and stole his fifth base tonight. He also committed two errors at second base. Coming into the night he had one miscue there in 12 games and one error in 11 games at shortstop.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Altoona lost 2-0 to Bowie. Joe Musgrove made his second rehab start and went four innings, allowing one run on two hits, giving up a solo homer in the first inning. He was supposed to have a pitch limit of 65 pitches, but when he got through his outing in just 34 pitches (28 strikes), Musgrove had to finish up in the bullpen. He walked none and struck out four batters.
Dario Agrazal followed and out-pitched Musgrove, giving up one unearned run over five innings, allowing two hits and no walks. He had an 8:4 GO/AO ratio and two strikeouts. Agrazal is doing everything right this year except the one thing that got him promoted to Altoona last year. He really picked up his strikeouts with Bradenton last May, striking out at least six batters in six of his last seven starts. He has a 1.26 ERA, a .185 BAA, an 0.81 WHIP and a 1.51 GO/AO ratio, but it comes with just 16 strikeouts in 35.2 innings.
Altoona had just one hit in the game, but it was somewhat significant. Will Craig doubled for the sixth time this season. If you read The 21 from earlier today, we mentioned how he well he was hitting the ball recently, collecting three doubles during the week. On a night when the only other base runner was Christian Kelley with a walk, Craig put up an extra-base hit against dominating pitching. Cole Tucker continued to slump, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He’s now 2-for-40 with 14 strikeouts in his last 11 games, which is easily his worst career stretch.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bradenton won 7-5 over Dunedin. Albert Baur had the big night, smacking two home runs. They came one day after Arden Pabst homered twice in the same game. Baur, who now has four homers on the year, also added a single and drove in three runs total. Bligh Madris, Alfredo Reyes and Jason Delay each collected two hits. Reyes stole his seventh base of the season, while Tyler Gaffney swiped his eighth bag.
Cam Vieaux got the start and put together a nice effort by going six innings with three runs allowed on five hits, two walks and a hit batter. He struck out six batters, posted a 7:4 GO/AO ratio and threw 67 of his 97 pitches for strikes. Vieaux has a 3.86 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 32.2 innings this season. Ronny Agustin allowed two runs in 1.1 innings, while Matt Eckelman threw 1.2 scoreless frames, with four strikeouts. He has a 1.35 ERA this season.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
West Virginia had a doubleheader on Monday. They walked it off in game one with a 4-3 victory in nine innings. The Power tied it up in the bottom of the seventh on a Calvin Mitchell single, sending it to extra innings. Hickory scored a run in the top of the ninth, then an RBI single by Chris Sharpe tied the game and turned into Sharpe on third base with no outs after a fielding error. Lolo Sanchez won it with a sacrifice fly.
Sanchez went 2-for-3 with his fifth stolen base. Mitchell drove in a pair of runs in the game, plating the other on a sacrifice fly. Kyle Watson and Sharpe each scored a pair of runs.
Gavin Wallace returned from a short stint on the disabled list and allowed two runs over 5.2 innings. He walked four batters, which is extremely unusual for him. He had seven walks total in 88 innings as a pro coming into this game. Blake Weiman tossed 1.1 scoreless, while Beau Sulser allowed one unearned run over two innings for the win.
Here’s the boxscore from the MiLB site.
In game two, the Power walked it off again, this time on a bases loaded wild pitch. Starter Travis MacGregor has been one of the nicest surprises this season for the Pirates and he put together a solid performance on Monday night. In five innings, he allowed two runs on seven hits, with no walks and six strikeouts. MacGregor threw 59 of 85 pitches for strikes and posted a 4:1 GO/AO ratio. He now has a 2.63 ERA in 27.1 innings, with 42 strikeouts and six walks.
Blake Cederlind tossed a scoreless sixth. Evan Piechota finished off a quick seventh for the win in the 3-2 victory over Hickory.
The Power had just five hits in the game and their only RBI came from Dylan Busby, who went 2-for-3 in this game. The seventh inning started with a walk to Kyle Watson. Oneil Cruz tried to bunt him into scoring position, but ended up with a single. After two outs, Deon Stafford was hit to load the bases. Watson then scampered home on the wild pitch for the win.
You can view the season preview here.
