P2Daily: How The Pirates Minor League Teams Performed Relative To Their League

Numbers don’t always paint the full picture, especially without some sort of context. A prospect may have a really high average, but you can always ask what level they are at and how old they are. That adds more to painting the picture. How they are performing compared to the rest of their league also adds clarity.

Maybe they just have a .705 OPS but the league is extremely pitcher friendly, and that number is still batting above average compared to the other hitters.

I decided to take each team and compared their overall OPS and ERA to their league and who were some of the players who performed above average.

Indianapolis Indians

Team OPS – .752 – 10th of 20 teams – League Average .750

Team ERA – 4.59 – 10th – League Average 4.64

Indianapolis finished with a 71-74 record, so the fact that they finished right in the middle of the pack in both OPS and ERA really isn’t all that surprising. They finished right above average in both categories, having a total of 12 players finishing higher than the league’s mark in their respective stat.

Baseball-Reference (where the data was taken) has a little more of a relaxed requirements for qualifying, helping add a few lines to the list. Cam Vieaux (3.06) and Cody Bolton (3.09) led the way on the pitching side of things, with Osvaldo Bido finishing just better than league average while striking out 122 batters in 111 1/3 innings.

The Indians had seven hitters finished above league average in OPS with Cal Mitchell (.937) and Bligh Madris (.848) leading the way. Only Jared Oliva finished the season with the team and recorded a higher than .750 OPS.

Altoona Curve

Team OPS – .744 – 4th of 12 teams – League Average .728

Team ERA – 3.99 – 4th – League Average 4.37

Altoona entered the season with one of the deepest teams prospect wise maybe in all of baseball, and their fourth place finish in both OPS and ERA played to that. Blake Sabol (.833) and Aaron Shackelford (.813) led the way for the Curve hitters and was among five players to post an above average OPS (Nick Gonzales, Jared Triolo and Andres Alvarez).

Even missing the first part of the season, Quinn Priester pitched effectively enough to still log 75 1/3 innings with Altoona before moving up to Triple-A. He led the team in ERA while with Altoona, posting a 2.87 mark. JC Flowers and Mike Burrows both finished with a sub-3.00 ERA and in total eight Curve pitchers finished with an above average mark compared to the Eastern League.

Greensboro Grasshoppers

Team OPS – .737 – 6th of 12 teams – League Average .724

Team ERA – 5.36 – 10th – League Average 4.48

The Grasshoppers play in one of the most hitter friendly ballparks in the minors, so it shouldn’t be too much a surprise they finished above average in OPS. It also really shouldn’t be a shocker they finished below league average in ERA having to pitch in the ballpark half the time.

Cam Junker (3.64), Nick Garcia (3.66), and Justin Meis (4.44) were the only three pitchers to finish better than career average. Junker finished with a team high 12 saves on the season and Garcia logged 113 innings across 25 appearances, striking out 109. Meis got off to a rough start in Greensboro but really found a groove down the stretch.

On the hitting side of things, Endy Rodriguez led the team in OPS, posting a .936 mark. Francisco Acuna (before he was suspended) and Dariel Lopez rounded up the trio to finish with at least an .800 OPS. Overall six players finished above league average, with Abrahan Gutierrez, Jacob Gonzalez and Hudson Head picking up the rear.

Bradenton Marauders

Team OPS – .697 – 3rd of 10 teams – League Average .687

Team ERA – 4.04 – 7th – League Average 3.92

This is maybe the best example of a number not always telling the whole story. Usually at first glance a team OPS of .697 isn’t the most impressive, but Bradenton finished third in the Florida State League and was 10 points above average.

Jase Bowen, Tsung-Che Cheng, Rodolfo Nolasco, and Wyatt Hendrie all finished with an OPS of over .700 on the season.

On the pitching side of things, they finished with a below league average mark when it comes to ERA but did have four players stay above. Anthony Solometo was fantastic in his debut year, and led the team with a 2.64 ERA. Joelvis Del Rosario finished with a 3.68 mark over 93 innings and Johan Montero and Wilkin Ramos also finished above league average in ERA.

Highlight of the Day

The Pirates have really been safe with Cody Bolton this year. In his last outing, he struck out five in three innings pitched. #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/8tPUvokx5g

— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) September 26, 2022