They played a doubleheader in Australia on Sunday, and all six Pittsburgh Pirates saw action. Sydney had just two hits in the second game. Both games were seven-inning contests. The playoffs continued in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Australia
Sammy Siani went 1-for-3 with his eighth double and a run scored in game one of Sunday’s doubleheader. He had a rough second game, going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. He has a .294/.366/.532 slash line through 32 games. He leads his team with his .898 OPS
Jase Bowen went 0-for-3 in both game one and game two. He has a .230/.297/.350 slash line through 28 games.
Ernny Ordonez went 1-for-3 with his first home run in game one, which was a walk-off shot. He had one run and one RBI. He went 1-for-3 in game two, collecting a single. He’s batting .274/.317/.354 through 32 games.
Want to be entertained? Head to Blacktown…
back-to-back walk-offs for the @SydneyBlueSox pic.twitter.com/JASa5jMDxI— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) January 8, 2023
Dylan Shockley went 1-for-2 in game one with a solo homer, his third of the season. He went 0-for-3 in the second game. He has a .213/.311/.382 slash line in 29 games.
Dylan Shockley ties up the ball game! pic.twitter.com/sFVXxN8Vxp
— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) January 8, 2023
Jesus Castillo went 0-for-2 in game one, then walked in both of his plate appearances in the second game. He’s hitting .132/.225/.165 in 28 games.
Solomon Maguire went 0-for-2 in game one, and he was 0-for-2 with a walk in the second game. He has a .238/.282/.313 slash line in 26 games.
Puerto Rico
Josh Palacios went 1-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk in his team’s 3-2 loss. He homered in the first inning, then his team was unable to score again. He went 1-for-4 with a double in the playoff opener yesterday.
Tsung-Che Cheng went 0-for-2 with a sacrifice bunt in his team’s 2-1 loss. He went 2-for-3 in the opener.
Mexico
Fabricio Macias went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. He went 9-for-23 with a two doubles and a walk in six playoff games. His team lost the game 3-1 and they were eliminated from the playoffs.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Off topic, but the Marlins just signed Cueto for their pitching staff. Maybe they are freeing up pitching to go after Reynolds!
Supposing Shim was to be #1 Korea signing who hits 100 etc does sign with Pit – is he FCL, DSL, or straight to Bradenton?
My guess would be extended spring training, then to Bradenton. Maybe he debuts in the FCL before he moves up after 1-2 games. They won’t have him just jumping into pro ball with 100+ innings his first season
Jesus wept, the Brew crew signed JVM! Start printing the Series tix!
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/brewers-sign-josh-vanmeter-to-minor-league-deal.html
So your telling me we might see JVM at PNC this coming season after all?
More likely at Indy. The Brewers are a major league team.
I have faith that he will find his way onto the Brew Crew big league roster and we can watch him screw up for the other team at PNC 😁
The twittle machine is reporting that the Pirates are “about to sign” the primo Korean pitcher, Shim something-something. “About to” probably means Sunday. (I’m not sure whether they actually do the big signing day on a Sunday or hold off until Monday.)
In any event, the Pirates do seem to be establishing a presence in Asia. Their recent signings — Chen, Cheng and Chang — weren’t BS, Yoslan Herrera type signings. So far, they’ve all been remarkably similar to what was advertised.
I am a big fan of this
Yes, it will be after the signing period starts on Sunday. There are no international signings allowed right now. He was eligible to sign up until December 15th with any team that may have had bonus pool space left (aka not the Pirates), but $$ convinced him to wait for the new signing period
I’ll have an int’l preview, but I’m not sure how much more they will have besides Shim, Mola and the Cuban outfielder unless they brought back trading for pool space. I’ve seen it said that they can trade for bonus space, but last time I asked I was told no. Those three will probably take up a good portion of their spending. I’m sure there will be something else good because otherwise their class was just Mola before September when Shim agreed and November when the Cuban outfielder became available. Part of me does wonder if they will have to make a trade (assuming it’s possible) before they can sign, so we might not hear every signing right away.
They’ve been signing huge numbers of guys for several years now and I’m not sure that’s the best approach. If they’re blowing most of the pool on several top guys, that might work out better.
I don’t know if there is any right way on the international side. Guys like Elias Diaz and Luis Ortiz get $15K each and make it, Heredia gets $3M and doesn’t. Michael de la Cruz was a legit great signing for $700K, but he gets his first big payday in the off-season after he debuts and did nothing but party. He was supposed to put on weight in the off-season and he came back ten pounds lighter and much worse shape. Then he comes to the U.S. and couldn’t adjust to the new country and just wants to go home. I’d take nine guys like MDLC every year if I could for $700K and hope 2-3 have their head on straight.
Some of that was just incompetence in scouting and development. Remember Julio De La Cruz? Got the same bonus as MDLC, same year, I think even the same birthday. He never remotely resembled a $700K guy. Mistakes like those two and Heredia were the norm with the last FO. I think these guys have a much better handle on it, to the extent you can in the int’l Wild West.
Is Shim 6’4″, 215 lbs. (i.e., am I looking at the right guy on the list of top international prospects)? That’s quite the physique for an 18-year-old and suggests upside to be a power pitcher. Is that how he’s projected?
He already hits 100 MPH, so yes. Power is there.
Is there a scouting report on him? I’d love to know what pitches he already throws.
So maybe hits 105-107 by the time he finishes filling out??
Just kidding!
Seriously though, does the kid know where it is going?
I’ve heard that he was going to be the #1 player in the Korean league draft before he pulled his name, so I’d say he’s been pretty good for a while now
Thanks for the additional info. Crossing the fingers that he does sign then 🤞🤞🤞
He’s definitely signing
I trust you and your sources but until that signature is on a Pirates Contract, no guarantees, lol! 🤞🤞🤞
I’m still pulling for Macias cause of that arm