P2Daily: This Is What It’s All About

This is a very exciting week when it comes to minor league baseball, and it’s really going to reflect well on this site.

Not only did the FCL and DSL season’s get underway on Monday, but on the full season side of things, Greensboro and Bradenton are both being streamed this week.

That means an opportunity to watch all four full season teams on MiLB TV, which means plenty of good looks for us to get some great content out here.

Speaking as someone who has sat on the reader side of things, these are the kind of weeks that this site gets to flex its muscles as to what it can bring to the table.

Now sitting on the writing side of things and getting a chance to talk even more with the rest of the staff, it’s no shock that this is the go-to place year in and year out for coverage of the Pirates system.

As we start getting into the thick part of the season, I’m so excited in getting an opportunity to be a part of that coverage now.

Now onto the week ahead, at least from the full season side of things. As I stated before, we get a very rare Greensboro sighting, as it’s been over a month since their last game was streamed live.

Those on Twitter already know how excited I am for that.

When you look at the schedule and see Greensboro and Bradenton are being streamed this week. Get ready for a lot of breakdowns coming up #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/11OYQpNmHR

— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) June 6, 2022

When it comes to the Greensboro games, there are three things that I’m going to be watching closely at this week.

1. Justin Meis/Sean Sullivan

A pair of college pitchers taken in the 2021 draft, Sean Sullivan put in a brilliant performance for the Grasshoppers on Sunday, pitching five innings of one-run baseball while striking out seven. Sullivan is an intriguing name from the draft class that understandably gets overlooked. He has the typical home/away splits from pitching so much at Greensboro (5.40 home ERA, 3.86 on the road). He’s someone I’m keeping a close tab on.

Source: Pirates 2021 10th-round pick Justin Meis has been promoted to High-A Greensboro.

Meis recorded a 3.51 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 10 games (seven starts) spanning 41 innings for the Bradenton Marauders this season.

— Austin Bechtold (@AustinRBechtold) June 6, 2022

Justin Meis is a hometown kid from Bethel Park who was taken in the 10^th round by the Pirates last year. He pitched well out of the bullpen last year but has been in the rotation this season for Bradenton. He reportedly got the bump up to Greensboro, so he at least gets a chance to settle into High-A away from First National Bank Field. He pitched on Sunday as well, so it won’t till be later in the week we see him.

Maikol Escotto

I was a big Dariel Lopez guy going back to last year, as I love his power to the opposite field. This year I’ve paid more attention to Escotto, based off his age and with his defense looking like it’s taken a step forward. That’ll be one of the bigger things I watch this year, how he fares at shortstop, because I believe he has a great shot at sticking at the position long-term.

Hudson Head

There is a small group of players on Greensboro I wouldn’t have minded seeing stick in Bradenton to start 2022, and Head was one of them. His toolset is crazy intriguing, but the strikeouts have increased from his already high-rate last year, with the walks decrease by a good amount.

Would like to see him string together some great at-bats this week.