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, Pirates – In Majors
3. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – 0-for-5
4. Shane Baz, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Altoona – 4-for-5, 3 2B
6. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – 2-for-4, 2 SB
7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Altoona – 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO
8. Lolo Sanchez, CF, West Virginia – 1-for-4
9. Bryan Reynolds, OF, Altoona – 0-for-4 BB
10. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – 0-for-4
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-4
16. Adrian Valerio, SS, Bradenton – 0-for-4, RBI
17. Calvin Mitchell, OF, West Virginia – 1-for-4, HR, RBI
18. Oneil Cruz, SS, West Virginia – 1-for-4
19. Nick Burdi, RHP, Pirates (disabled list) – DNP
20. Dario Agrazal, RHP, Altoona – DNP
21. JT Brubaker, RHP, Indianapolis – 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 4 SO
22. Will Craig, 1B, Altoona – 0-for-4, BB
23. Stephen Alemais, 2B/SS, Altoona – 2-for-3, 2 2B, RBI, BB
24. Jason Martin, OF, Altoona – 0-for-4, BB
25. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Indianapolis – DNP
26. Eduardo Vera, RHP, Altoona – DNP
27. Mason Martin, 1B, West Virginia – 0-for-4
28. Conner Uselton, OF, Extended Spring Training – DNP
29. Cody Bolton, RHP, West Virginia – DNP
30. Steven Jennings, RHP, Extended Spring Training – DNP
Indianapolis lost 4-0 to Scranton/WB on Friday night.
JT Brubaker has had some issues throwing strikes since being promoted to Indianapolis after pitching great for Altoona this year. It hurt him on Friday night, as he allowed three runs on five hits and five walks in 4.1 innings. He now has a 3.81 ERA in five starts with the Indians, walking nearly as many batters (16) as he has struck out (17).
The bullpen ran out three guys who have an ERA under 2.00 this season. Tanner Anderson (1.91) tossed 2.2 scoreless innings. Dovydas Neverauskas gave up a run, which raised him to a 1.29 ERA. Bo Schultz has a 1.84 ERA after his scoreless inning.
The offense had nothing going all night. Kevin Newman continued to pick up singles at a high rate, collecting two in this game to give him a .312 average. He also swiped two bags, giving him 12 steals on the year. The rest of the offense was singles from Jacob Stallings, Erich Weiss and Eric Wood, who stole his fourth base. They went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and had no walks and 11 strikeouts. Kevin Kramer went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Altoona won 4-3 over Hartford.
Taylor Hearn nearly had a strong outing, but a two out bases clearing hit in the sixth cost him his shutout performance. In his previous four starts combined, Hearn had a 1.50 ERA. He nearly improved on that, but as his pitch count got up into the high 90s, he ran into trouble. His final line was three runs on four hits and three walks in 5.2 innings. Hearn struck out six and had a 7:1 GO/AO ratio. He now has 52 strikeouts in 50 innings this season.
Ke’Bryan Hayes had a big game on offense, going 4-for-5 with three doubles. He raised his average to .276 and he now has 14 doubles on the season. Stephen Alemais had a solid game, hitting two doubles (seven on the season), to go along with a walk and an RBI. Logan Hill hit a two-run homer, his ninth of the season. Bralin Jackson had two hits and an RBI.
Montana DuRapau returned strong from his 50-game suspension, going two shutout innings with four strikeouts. His only base runners were a single and a hit batter.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
Bradenton won 8-4 over Charlotte.
Jung Ho Kang made his first appearance with Bradenton since returning to the Pirates. He went 0-for-3 with two walks, two strikeouts and a ground out to third base. He played third base and fielded a grounder cleanly from the second batter of the game, then didn’t have another defensive play all night. Tim Williams has video and a live recap of the game here.
Cam Vieaux got the start and went six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. He was hurt by two homers. Vieaux struck out eight batters in the game, one start after putting up nine strikeouts. His strikeout rate wasn’t high last year in his first run with Bradenton, but he now has 52 of them in 56.2 innings. He threw 62 of 92 pitches for strikes in this game.
On offense (besides Kang), Jared Oliva, Albert Baur and Tyler Gaffney each had two hits. Oliva and Baur each drew walks as well, while Gaffney was hit by a pitch. Both Gaffney and Baur scored two runs. Oliva stole two bases to give him 14 on the season, while Alfredo Reyes stole his 15th base. The Marauders picked up three of their runs on sacrifice flies.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
West Virginia lost 10-3 to Greensboro.
Due to rain, Gavin Wallace waited four extra days to make his start. A rain delay at the start wasn’t enough to push it to five days, but a second delay in the fourth inning limited his outing. Wallace tossed three shutout innings on one hit, no walks and one strikeout. He threw 29 of 45 pitches for strikes and had a 5:1 GO/AO ratio. Evan Piechota followed him and it wasn’t his night. He gave up three runs in the fourth and another three in the fifth, before settling down in the sixth when he only gave up two runs.
The only good thing about play resuming after the fourth inning rain delay was Calvin Mitchell hitting his seventh home run. Deon Stafford had an RBI before the delay, going 1-for-3 with a walk. Rodolfo Castro had two hits, including his fifth double.
Here is the boxscore from the MiLB site.
You can view the season preview here.
