Some good pitching performances from Cody Bolton, Kyle Nicolas and Luis Peralta. And Jacob Gonzalez keeps hitting.
TRIPLE-A: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
Game Time: 6:35pm
Starting Pitcher: Osvaldo Bido
- Final Line: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Notable Performances:
- Oneil Cruz 1-5, SB
- Kevin Newman 0-2, BB
- Ji-Hwan Bae 2-4
- Mason Martin 2-3, 2B, BB, SB
- Cal Mitchell 2-4, 3 RBI
- Canaan Smith-Njigba 1-3, 2B, BB, SB
- Travis Swaggerty 1-3, BB
- Carter Bins 2-4
- Cody Bolton 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K
- Hunter Stratton 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
- Yerry De Los Santos, 1 IP, 1 K
Game Recap:
Five Indianapolis (18-17) pitchers combined for a two-hitter in a 7-0 win over Toledo. Cody Bolton was the listed starter, but Osvaldo Bido threw the first inning. Bolton then threw the next four. (This practice is making the “today’s starting pitcher” routine an exercise in futility.) Bolton had an excellent outing, allowing just a hit and two walks, and fanning six. Cam Vieaux followed with a scoreless inning and Hunter Stratton with two. Stratton fanned four; in six innings in May, he’s allowed no earned runs and struck out ten. Yerry De Los Santos pitched a scoreless ninth. Most of the offense came from the 3-5 hitters, Ji-Hwan Bae, Mason Martin and Cal Mitchell. They each had two hits, with Martin getting a double and Mitchell driving in three. Canaan Smith-Njigba had a double, and Carter Bins contributed two hits and two RBIs. He has an .878 OPS since he moved up to AAA. Kevin Newman began his rehab, playing short and going 0-for-2 with a walk before departing.
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE
Game Time: 6:00pm
Starting Pitcher: Kyle Nicolas
- Final Line: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Notable Performances:
- Jared Triolo 1-3, 2 BB
- Nick Gonzales 3-4, 2 2B, HR (3), SF, 3 R, 3 RBI
- Liover Peguero 0-5
- Blake Sabol 2-3, 2 HR (4), 2 BB, 4 RBI
- Andres Alvarez 1-4, HR (5)
- Connor Scott 2-4, 2B
- Tucupita Marcano 1-2, BB
- Tahnaj Thomas 1 IP, 1 H
Game Recap:
Altoona (15-19) got a strong start from Kyle Nicolas and two bombs from Blake Sabol as the Curve pummeled Richmond, 12-2. Nicolas fanned eight over four innings, allowing one run. He now has 35 Ks over 28.2 IP, with a 1.08 WHIP. Sabol and Nick Gonzales had big days. Sabol hit his third and fourth home runs of the year, walked twice and drove in four. Gonzales had two doubles, his third homer, and a sacrifice fly, along with three runs and three RBIs. The mysterious Andres Alvarez hit his fifth longball and Connor Scott had two hits, including a double. Alvarez is now slugging .627. Travis MacGregor scuffled through two and two-thirds innings, but allowed only one run. Zach Matson and Tahnaj Thomas combined to go two and a third scoreless innings.
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS
Game Time: 11:00am
Starting Pitcher: Jared Jones
- Final Line: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Notable Performances:
- Maikol Escotto 0-4, BB
- Endy Rodriguez 0-4
- Matt Gorski 2-4, HR (10)
- Jacob Gonzalez 3-4, HR (4)
Game Recap:
Greensboro (14-19) lost to Bowling Green, 6-2. Jared Jones had a pretty good start, but his defense was a hindrance. He allowed just three hits and two walks over five innings, but two runs came in due to errors. A solo home run accounted for a third run. Santiago Florez allowed a run in two innings of relief and Garrett Leonard gave up the other two. The offense came on a pair of solo home runs, one by Matt Gorski and the other by Jacob Gonzalez. Gorski’s was his tenth and Gonzalez’ was his fourth since moving up to Greensboro a week ago. The Hoppers had seven hits, three by Gonzalez and two by Gorski. Gonzalez is batting 652/680/1304 since his promotion. Hudson Head and Jack Herman each had a single and a walk. The Hoppers whiffed 14 times and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
LOW-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
Game Time: 6:30pm
Starting Pitcher: Luis Peralta
- Final Line: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
Notable Performances:
- Tsung-Che Cheng 2-4, 2B
- Rodolfo Nolasco 0-2, 2 BB
- Jase Bowen 2-4, 2B
Game Recap:
Bradenton (16-18) continued to struggle at the plate and lost to Palm Beach, 4-0. Luis Peralta has been alternating starts in which he’s been outstanding with complete meltdowns, but for once just had a good outing. He gave up two runs in five innings, with no walks, which has been an issue. On the year now, in 20.1 IP he’s walked 16 and fanned 39. The hitters got just six hits and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Tsung-Che Cheng and Jase Bowen each had a single and a double.
didn’t realize jerez played 1b today. that’s uhhh…..interesting
finally some good stat lines around the minors. starting to see some players heat up
Nicolas looks pretty interesting. And Peralta has some loony BB and K #s.
Nicolas really has that fastball everyone is trying to develop these days.
Was one of the more exciting minor league days we’ve had this season. Felt like some of the days last year where it felt like they’d just tee off on opposing pitching
Hold up, hold up, hold up. Lloyd McClendon is the Mud Hens coach?! Lol
After a rough 4 appearance stretch in April, Hunter Stratton appears to gotten back on track. 8 IP with 14 K’s, 4 BB’s, and only 1 run (unearned) this month.
Stratton, 25, struggled to a 7.00 ERA in April and as you stated, he has completely turned that around. I think he and Yerry De Los Santos, 24, will see time in the Pirates BP soon.
Another interesting Pirate BP prospect is LHRP Zach Matson, 26, in AA. Last year with the Rockies AA affiliate in Hartford he had a 15.55/4.09 K/BB/9. His 2021 was the story of a bad start and then in the last 17 games he dropped his ERA from over 11 to 5.73. He could be bumped up to AAA very soon.
Matson’s third appearance had me questioning his ability, but he’s been on point ever since then.
#FREESABOL.
Gonzales trying to boost his numbers in one day. 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and just hit a HR. (And no K’s)
He has to. If he goes 2 for 4, or 3 for 5 his average will fall. He has to keep his average up.
5th PA a sac fly. Aka not a K!
This will be only his 6th game this season without at least 1 K 😶
I was just saying to Tim that for as bad as his season has been, one big day put him 17 points over league average OPS for the Eastern League.
Yeah. For anyone box score watching and not paying attention to the season as a whole, they’d think he’s been ok. Not up to expectations, but also not as bad as he had looked leading up to this big game.
SABOL WILL DEMAND RESPEKT!!!!!
You see that?! Sabol did not like the disrespect of leaving him off the AA who’s likely to succeed aside from Tank list!!!!
i wonder when chandler, solometo, white and bishop will join full season ball
Well Chandler is learning how to catch, White SS and Solometo is transitioning to middle relief.
well, versatility is important don’t ya know!
They’re on the Brennan Malone development timeline.
very reassuring!
Sssshhhhhh!!!! Classified info!!!!
Fabricio Macias will be joining Bradenton today on rehab
Sweeeet. Been wondering what he’s been up to. Didn’t know if he got relegated to lost prospects from upper level OF depth.
Any update on Shortridge?
No update, but he was put on the 60-day IL (his milb page mistakenly says 7-day) so we knew he was going to be pitching for the first two months of the season. My guess is that he begins in the FCL on rehab
No updates could be a good thing. Unlike Cederlind seeing setbacks, and Priester working on “tweaks”
It’s almost as weird that we drafted Gonzalez as that he’s having this breakout spring. Makes me think some Pirate scout musta seen some physical/personal issue that was holding him back. He stunk prior to this year
Kevin Newman will be with Indianapolis today on rehab
Garrett Leonard is 25, will be 26 in September, and is still getting slapped around in Hi A (as he did last year). Might get Manasa treatment where they send him up to get shellacked a time or 2 in upper levels, then eventually released.
Minor moves in the minors. Francisco Acuna returned to Greensboro. Claudio Finol is on the development list again, which just means he’s in Greensboro but not active.
yeah maybe it’s time to move gonzalez up to altoona lol. quick ascent for sure, but he’s going to be 24 soon….gotta see if this breakout is for real
At what point to do you DFA Yoshi & just plug Jacob Gonzalez in to the DH spot. Dude just mashing
Jacob Gonzalez with his 8th HR, 4th since being promoted to Greensboro A WEEK AGO.
He and Gorski should be in Altoona lineup tomorrow. Hell, is there a direct flight to Altoona after this game?
Any idea why the Giants decided to waive him after last season? Seems like the Bucs may have stolen another hitter from the Giants. You are right He needs to head to Toona to see if he can keep hitting against much better pitching. .
He was down in the Arizona version of the FCL last year and he did poorly in a brief stay at High-A. They didn’t waive him, he just went unprotected in the minor league rule 5 draft
Thanks. I looked on his transaction logs and it said that they Pirates claimed him on waivers. Didn’t think about minor league Rule 5
Seems they probably just assumed no one would think to take an almost 24 yr old with poor A ball numbers, and it was our gain. Seemed to be a strong contact guy, with K%’s at or under 20%. Had pretty extreme FB% but I guess they just weren’t going out regularly until this year.
Yeah, makes sense since it was a rule 5 thing and not a true waiver claim. He was listed as acquired by Indy on waivers did not think about rule 5. You are right that they most likely thought that he would pass through based n his stats.
Looked at Jared Jones splits after he gave up another HR, and definitely not a park issue. Bowling Green is about even (per BA’s 2021 park factor article), leaning ever so slightly towards pitcher’s park. Jones is just in a really rough stretch right now.
Just realized They’re actually playing in Greensboro, and now I can’t edit my comment.
The 2020 draft is looking more and more questionable.
Most of 2020 looks pretty questionable. Why should the MLB draft differ?
This season so far has looked more like everyone has hit their top out level. I’m still hopeful in a month or so, warmer weather, that things will kick into gear. Jones I’m not THAT worried about, cause stuff has still looked electric (when we can actually watch), but just may not be on the fast track he might’ve looked like originally. I think he’s still gonna need some minor mechanical tweaks.
Gorski #10 . Everybody else in the system is having a power outage, but he’s bombing away. Don’t see why he’s still in GBO.
So, whose playing time should he get: Frazier, Sanchez, or Scott?
They have a DH, and Gorski has played some at first.
I sighed the moment I saw he was listed in Hoppers lineup. Idk why he’s still there.
I blame Swaggerty getting hurt last year, that kept Fraizer down and rolled down to Gorski.
Doesn’t appear I can upload photos, therefore, here’s the link to where I posted on the bird app
https://twitter.com/NolaJeffy/status/1526563266738147328?s=20&t=IORVV_PpjeOwDCpS2c28mA