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Pirates Prospects Daily: Minor League Opponents Packing a Punch and Medical Kits

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The upper levels of the Pittsburgh Pirates affiliates have been running into a gauntlet of high ranking opposition, and this week is no different even while there’s quite a few high profile injuries.

The Indianapolis Indians are coming off a week of facing a quality St. Louis Cardinals Triple-A squad, that saw them go 1-5 in the series. Now they’ll turn around and take on Cleveland Guardians affiliate Columbus Clippers who are among the top 5 in both team ERA and team OPS. The Clippers have four of the Guardians top ten prospects — all Top 100 prospects — with George Valera currently on the injured list. There would have been a fifth Top 100, but LHP Logan Allen was recently promoted for his big league debut. That said, it’s not out of question that Top 100 RHP Gavin Williams may move up this week from Akron. A final name of note is infielder Tyler Freeman. He was a Top 100 prospect over the previous three seasons, but saw his stock decline while also surpassing active MLB service time limits for Pipeline’s list.

The Altoona Curve are coming off of winning four of five — Saturday was postponed due to rain — against the Bowie Baysox, and looking to continue against the last placed Reading Fightin Phils. At first glance they appeared to be going up against a stacked Reading Fightin Phils rotation in Andrew PainterMick Abel, and Griff McGarry, but two of the three are currently on the shelf with injuries. The Philadelphia Phillies 2020 first round pick Abel is the lone standing healthy starter of the trio.

Greensboro Grasshoppers are currently sitting atop the South Atlantic League standings on the shoulders of finally streaming their home games. That along with winning four of six games in the previous week. Their opponent week, Rome Braves, are currently in a four-way tie for last place. The Atlanta Braves affiliate isn’t prospect heavy, but the Grasshoppers will see 2021 seventh round pick AJ Smith-Shawver. He’s so far thrown nine shutout innings with 17 strikeouts.

Just as with Greensboro, the Bradenton Marauders enter this week in first place of the Florida State League. Their opponent is the Dunedin Blue Jays, who carry four of the Toronto Blue Jays top 30 prospects, but two of those four are currently injured. The Blue Jays affiliate currently have the league best team ERA, but also the league worst team OPS.

Triple-A: Indianapolis Indians

Opponent: COLUMBUS (GUARDIANS)
Opponent Stats

Team OPS: .839 OPS
Rank: 5/20
Team ERA: 4.21
ERA Rank: 4/20

Top Prospects

Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking

  • GEORGE VALERA (7-Day IL) | OF | 3
    • Pipeline Top 100: #45
    • Baseball America Top 100: #68
    • ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #86
  • BO NAYLOR | C | 4
    • Pipeline Top 100: #58
    • Baseball America Top 100: #64
    • Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #45
    • ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #91
  • TANNER BIBEE | RHP | 5
    • Pipeline Top 100: #59
    • Baseball America Top 100: #81
    • Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #69
    • ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #93
  • BRAYAN ROCCHIO | SS/2B | 6
    • Pipeline Top 100: #69
    • Baseball America Top 100: #73
    • Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #54
    • ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #64
  • JHONKENSY NOEL | OF/3B/1B | 20
  • HUNTER GADDIS | RHP | 28

DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE

Opponent: READING (PHILLIES)
Opponent Stats

Team OPS: .705 OPS
Rank: 4/12
Team ERA: 3.95
ERA Rank: 9/12

Top Prospects

Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking

  • ANDREW PAINTER (60-Day IL) | RHP | 1
    • Pipeline Top 100: #4
    • Baseball America Top 100: #6
    • Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #12
    • ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #10
  • MICK ABEL | RHP | 2
    • Pipeline Top 100: #42
    • Baseball America Top 100: #36
    • Fangraphs Pre-Season Top 100: #25
    • ESPN Pre-Season Top 100: #46
  • GRIFF MCGARRY (7-Day IL) | RHP | 3
  • JOHAN ROJAS | OF | 6
  • CARLOS DE LA CRUZ | OF | 9
  • ETHAN WILSON | OF | 14
  • ANDREW BAKER | RHP | 17

HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS

Opponent: ROME (BRAVES)
Opponent Stats

Team OPS: .660 OPS
Rank: 9/12
Team ERA: 4.76
ERA Rank: 6/12

Top Prospects

Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking

  • AJ SMITH-SHAWVER | RHP | 4
  • IGNACIO ALVAREZ | 3B/SS | 15
  • BRANDOL MEZQUITA | OF | 17
  • GERALDO QUINTERO | 3B/2B | 19
  • BLAKE BURKHALTER (Full-Season IL) | RHP | 22
  • DRAKE BALDWIN | C 23

SINGLE-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS

Opponent: DUNEDIN (BLUE JAYS)
Opponent Stats

Team OPS: .538 OPS
Rank: 10/10
Team ERA: 2.10
ERA Rank: 1/10

Top Prospects

Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking

  • TUCKER TOMAN | SS | 5
  • ADRIAN PINTO | SS/2B/OF | 16
  • MANUEL BELTRE (7-Day IL) | SS | 20
  • IRV CARTER (7-Day IL) | RHP | 27

Pirates Prospects Daily

By Tim Williams 

There were no games on Monday, but I broke down the variability and versatility of the Pirates lineup.

**In our weekly top performers series, l Henry Davis and Po-Yu Chen Lead the Way.

**Pirates Draft Prospect Watch: Dylan Crews and Jacob Wilson Show Off the Power

**From yesterday: Approach Leading Way To Power For Henry Davis

Song of the Day

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Bucs'N'Pucks (Jeff Reed)
Bucs'N'Pucks (Jeff Reed)
Raised in Cranberry Twp, PA, Jeff attended Kent State University and worked in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, before moving to New Orleans in September of 2012. His background is as an Engineering Designer, but he has always had a near unhealthy passion for Pittsburgh sports. Hockey and Baseball are his 1A and 1B, combined with his mathematical background, it's led to Jeff's desire in diving into analytics. Jeff is known as Bucs'N'Pucks in the comments, and began writing for Pirates Prospects in 2022 after contributing so many useful bits of information in the comment section.

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