A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Colin Moran), or loses his prospect eligibility (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 – 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO
2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – 1-for-3
3. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – 0-for-2, 2 BB
4. Shane Baz, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Altoona – 2-for-4
6. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – 2-for-4, SB
7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Altoona – DNP
8. Lolo Sanchez, CF, West Virginia – 2-for-7, RBI, 2 SB
9. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Altoona – Disabled list
10. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – 1-for-2, 3B, BB, HBP 2 SB
11. Luis Escobar, RHP, Bradenton – DNP
12. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – DNP
13. Braeden Ogle, LHP, West Virginia – DNP
14. Nick Kingham, RHP, Pirates – In Majors
15. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Indianapolis – 0-for-1
16. Adrian Valerio, SS, Bradenton – 1-for-4, SB
17. Calvin Mitchell, OF, West Virginia – 1-for-7
18. Oneil Cruz, SS, West Virginia – 1-for-5, HR, RBI, 2 BB
19. Nick Burdi, RHP, Pirates (disabled list) – DNP
20. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – DNP
21. JT Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – DNP
22. Will Craig, 1B, Altoona – 0-for-2, 2 HBP, SB
23. Stephen Alemais, 2B/SS, Altoona – 1-for-3, RBI
24. Jason Martin, OF, Altoona – 1-for-3, HR, RBI, BB
25. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – DNP
26. Eduardo Vera, RHP, Bradenton – 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
27. Mason Martin, 1B, West Virginia – 1-for-4
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 won 3-2 over Gwinnett on a walk-off two run double from Erich Weiss. Casey Sadler started the game and he’s been struggling so far this season, but this may be the game where he turned things around. He threw five shutout innings on just 63 pitches, with four hits, one walk, two strikeouts and an 8:2 GO/AO ratio. AJ Schugel had a tough outing, giving up two runs in his only inning, putting Indianapolis down a run. Bo Schultz tossed two shutout frames, while Josh Smoker picked up the win with a scoreless top of the ninth.
Weiss has been struggling this season in limited playing time. He actually started this game on the bench, coming in on a double switch after Schugel left. Weiss didn’t have an RBI this season prior to his game-winning hit. Two other slumping players had decent days at the plate. Kevin Newman had two singles, a stolen base and a run scored. Jordan Luplow reached base three times, including his third triple of the season. Pablo Reyes had two hits, including his first double since joining Indianapolis.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Altoona won 5-2 over Erie on Thursday night. Starter Mitch Keller got roughed up in his last start, mostly due to his own control issues. He gave up three runs in four innings and walked five batters. On Thursday night, Keller cruised through six shutout innings before running into a little trouble in the seventh. He finished with two runs on four hits and two walks, with three of those runners reaching in the final inning. Keller had six strikeouts, an 8:6 GO/AO ratio and he threw 58 of 88 pitches for strikes. He now has a 2.73 ERA and a .192 BAA through 29.2 innings.
The Curve put up their runs in four different innings, giving them a 5-0 lead after five innings. Cole Tucker led off the game with a walk, then scored the first run after singles from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jordan George. Jason Martin hit his second home run of the season in the third inning. In the fourth, Logan Hill singled, then moved to third base on a stolen base and a ground out. He was brought home by a Stephen Alemais sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Will Craig was it by a pitch (happened twice in this game) and he scored on Logan Hill’s third homer, which capped the scoring.
Tucker, Hayes, Martin, Craig, Hill and Christian Kelley all reached base twice in this game.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bradenton won 2-0 over Dunedin on a two-run homer from Bligh Madris and outstanding starting pitching by Eduardo Vera.
Vera has been efficient and effective with his pitches this season, going six innings in each of his last five starts after tonight. He went seven innings in this game, allowing three hits and no walks, while striking out three batters. He had an 8:7 GO/AO ratio and threw 62 of his 81 pitches for strikes. Vera now has a 2.43 ERA and an 0.84 WHIP in 37 innings.
Madris had the only extra-base hit for the Marauders, connecting on his homer in the fourth inning after Adrian Valerio reached base on an error. Madris and Alfredo Reyes each had two hits. Valerio picked up a single and stole a base.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
West Virginia won 8-7 in 15 innings on Thursday night. Ryan Peurifoy, who hit a walk-off homer on Tuesday and then homered in his next at-bat on Wednesday, picked up the win on the mound this night.
Ike Schlabach started the game and had his third straight solid start. He went six innings for the first time, allowing one earned run on five hits and a walk, with five strikeouts. Schlabach threw 63 of his 88 pitches for strikes. In his last three starts, he has allowed three runs over 16 innings. Drew Fischer followed with two shutout innings, but Blake Weiman allowed three runs over his two innings to tie the game late and send it to extra innings. Joel Cesar tossed four innings without an earned run and then Peurifoy won it in the 15th.
The Power got homers from Rodolfo Castro (his third), Oneil Cruz (fifth) and Chris Sharpe (second). It wasn’t a great night for the Power, who stranded 16 runners and struck out 21 times, but they did just enough for the win. The only starter without a hit was Peurifoy, who did draw a walk. Lolo Sanchez had his first multi-hit game since April 16th, going 2-for-7 with three runs scored. Dylan Busby was the only other player with two hits, while Cruz also had two walks to go along with his homer.
Here’s the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
