The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road for three against the Washington Nationals this weekend. Friday’s game has been postponed due to rain. The two clubs will play a split doubleheader tomorrow. Game one will be at 1:05 PM. Game two at 6:05 PM.
It’s just the minor league side tonight, which had five games until Altoona got rained out. Greensboro has a doubleheader.
**Anthony Murphy looked at the Pirates using depth prior to this season to acquire big league players.
INDIANAPOLIS VS COLUMBUS
Game Time: 7:05 PM EST
Projected Starter: Osvaldo Bido (1-1, 2.81)
Osvaldo Bido is off to a strong start this season, which could lead to his first big league appearance this summer. The Indianapolis lineup certainly hasn’t been as prospect packed as we hoped going into the year, but Endy Rodriguez, Travis Swaggerty and Nick Gonzales should all be back soon.
ALTOONA AT READING
Altoona was postponed due to rain. They play a doubleheader tomorrow
GREENSBORO VS ROME
Game Time: 5:00 PM EST DH
Projected Starter: Valentin Linarez (0-1, 6.75) and Braxton Ashcraft (0-0, 0.00)
Greensboro has a scheduled doubleheader after a rain out yesterday. Valentin Linarez will make one of the starts. The other starter is Braxton Ashcraft in game one. He hasn’t allowed a run in three starts, with 17 strikeouts in 10.1 innings. Linarez has been a pitcher the Pirates really liked as far as potential upside since his DSL days. He has put up solid results throughout his minor league career. Jase Bowen leads the South Atlantic League in homers, and he ranks seventh with a 1.055 OPS. Mike Jarvis is second on the team in OPS, nearly 200 points lower.
BRADENTON AT DUNEDIN
Game Time: 6:30 PM EST
Projected Starter: Thomas Harrington (1-0, 4.26)
Thomas Harrington makes his fourth pro starts today. He was strong in his debut and his last start, but got hit hard for three innings in his second outing. Bradenton has the most potential for any current active lineup right now, but it’s a very raw group overall. Low-A in general has looked rough the last two seasons, so the Pirates aren’t alone in that raw group of players. With smaller rosters for organizations, teams might be holding on to tools more than the fillers who make the lower level games better quality, but don’t have big league upside.
