The Pirates made a trade today that added to the Indianapolis roster, while losing catching depth. The Pirates designated Tyler Heineman for assignment earlier this week, then dealt him to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday. Drew Maggi returns to Altoona as a hero, but rains decided not to let them play. It’s doubtful he was with the team already. MLB players have time to report to the minors, plus Monday is an off-day for the minors. Bradenton had a doubleheader today. Indianapolis was postponed. It will be made up at a later date.
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
Prospect Watch: Big Days for Josh Palacios and Mike Jarvis, Good Start for Luis Ortiz
TRIPLE-A: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
INDIANAPOLIS VS COLUMBUS
Game Recap:
The game was postponed due to rain. Makeup was announced as June 21st.
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE
ALTOONA @ READING
Game Recap:
This game was canceled due to rain. They will not be making it up on the schedule.
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS
GREENSBORO VS ROME
Final Score: Greensboro 12, Rome 1
Greensboro Starter: Anthony Solometo (0-1, 4.76)
Pitching Line: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 SO
Box Score
Top Performers:
- Tsung-Che Cheng 2-for-4, HR, RBI, BB
- Jackson Glenn 4-for-4, 3 HR, 6 RBI, BB
- Jase Bowen 1-for-4, 2B, HBP
- Hudson Head 2-for-5, HR, RBI
- Sammy Siani 2-for-3, BB, SB
- Maikol Escotto 0-for-2, 2 BB
Game Recap:
Anthony Solometo tossed four shutout innings on Sunday. He allowed two hits and three walks, while striking out six batters. It wasn’t the most efficient shutout performance, with 72 pitches/45 strikes. He had 12 swing-and-misses from the opposition. He has a 3.86 ERA and 26 strikeouts over 21 innings this year.
Grant Ford (2 IP), Michell Miliano, Jack Carey and Cy Nielson handled the rest of the one-sided game. Nielson allowed the lone run.
Jackson Glenn came into this game with one homer and a mediocre .765 OPS, especially for playing in a hitter-friendly park. He improved great on those numbers by smacking three homers. He drove in six runs. He had a chance for some history, but he was walked in the eighth with a 12-0 score at the time. He finished the game with a 1.030 OPS.
Tsung-Che Cheng hit the first pitch of the game for his fourth homer. Mike Jarvis hit a second inning grand slam. It was his sixth homer of the year. Hudson Head hit his third homer of the year in the fourth. Jarvis stole his eighth base. Sammy Siani picked up his seventh steal. Jase Bowen hit his fifth double.
LOW-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
BRADENTON @ DUNEDIN
Final Score: GAME ONE: Dunedin 18, Bradenton 2
Bradenton Starter: Luis Peralta (0-0, 0.00)
Pitching Line: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Box Score
Top Performers:
- Jesus Castillo 0-for-3
- Rodolfo Nolasco 0-for-3
- Termarr Johnson 1-for-3
- Shalin Polanco 0-for-3
- Javier Rivas 0-for-2
- Jauri Custodio 0-for-2
Game Recap:
Luis Peralta made his second start of the season, after getting a bit of a late start due to a minor Spring Training issue. He threw two shutout innings in his debut, then extended to three innings in this game. He allowed one run on two hits and one walk, while striking out two batters. He’s usually a big strikeout guy, but it also comes with walks, so this was a different type of outing for him.
Starter JP Massey followed in relief and his day did not go well, partially due to poor defense, partly due to the bullpen not picking him up, but mostly due to himself. He gave up nine runs (four earned) in 1.2 innings on seven hits, two walks and one strikeout. Massey threw 58 pitches in his short outing. Carlos Lomeli was next, trying to strand two inherited runners with two outs in the fifth. He gave up both inherited runs and three runs of his own against the first three batters he faced, blowing this game wide open.
Lomeli recorded the final out in the fifth, then got replaced by Yoldin De La Paz. He didn’t do any better, allowing five runs in his only inning, though the poor defense hurt him as well, with just one earned run allowed.
The pitching was bad, the defense was bad and the hitting was bad as well, with no walks, 11 strikeouts (in seven innings) and they went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Alexander Mojica had a good day, with two doubles and an RBI. He had just one double prior to today. Wyatt Hendrie homered after returning from the Injured List yesterday.
Final Score: GAME TWO: Bradenton 4, Dunedin 3
Bradenton Starter: Derek Diamond (1-2, 5.54)
Pitching Line: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
Box Score
Top Performers:
- Jesus Castillo 0-for-2, 2 BB
- Enmanuel Terrero 1-for-2, BB, SB, HBP
- Jauri Custodio 1-for-4, SB
- Javier Rivas 1-for-3, RBI
Game Recap:
Derek Diamond got the game two start. He went five innings on two runs, five hits, one walk and four strikeouts. He has a 5.00 ERA through 18 innings this year, going at least four innings in each game, including two relief appearances. He threw 49 of 78 pitches for strikes. Yunior Thibo finished out the seven-inning game with one run over two innings for the 4-3 victory
Tres Gonzalez doubled in two runs in the first, then scored on a Javier Rivas single. Nick Cimillo homered for the first time, providing the difference in the one-run game. Enmanuel Terrero picked up his sixth stolen base. Deivis Nadal stole his fifth base.
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.
If this power surge from Cheng is legit then he could soar up some prospect lists by the end of the season. I already loved his game and if homers are added to the package/tools he already has he’s definitely going to be a future big leaguer.
Derek Diamond saves the bullpen! No bells involved, I guess.
Oh Solometo! Greensboro is almost as HOT as the varsity club. That league looks easy for our hitters while Solo dominated. The Class of 2025 is looking good so far
In future prospect news, Dylan Crews hits 2 more HR’s this weekend in SEC play. Giving him 13 on the year to go with his .490 batting average.
Poor Paul Skenes throws 6 innings of 1 run ball with no walks and 9 K’s and loses ground in his battle to be the next Pirates superstar.
Living in SEC Country, this strikes me as a down year for SEC Pitching. Skenes is the best and always was thought to be the best going into the season. But the SEC was always a conference where the 3rd or 4th best pitcher was still a solid first round pick – don’t see that so far this year.
Looking at it from the other side, is Crews an exceptional, generational hitter, or an excellent hitter taking advantage of the down season of SEC SP’s?
If only we could see Crews face Skenes for a few games to get proper perspective.
The reason I’ve landed on Crews is the fact he is outperforming all the other SEC hitters in many important categories. This plus his ability to control the strike zone, makes him basically a slam dunk pick at this point.
With that being said, I won’t be devastated if Skenes or Langford are chosen instead as they very well could have better careers when it’s all said and done.
I wonder the last Collegiate player from a power conference that put up hitting numbers like Crews has….
Off the top of my head, Adley Rutschman put up some silly numbers his sophomore year at Oregon State, then his junior year teams just stopped pitching to him
Amazing season without a doubt
However he’s third on his own team in HR’s
Team batting average is above 0.300 with an OPS north of 1.000
https://lsusports.net/sports/bsb/cumestats/season/2023/
They’re the #1 team in the nation for a reason.
As good of a season as some of his teammates are having, nobody is within 100 points of him in OBP, or 300 points in OPS. He’s head and shoulders clear of the 2nd best hitter on the team.
Closest comparison I can make is Crews is hitting like steroids era Bonds. Making Pitchers pay a hefty toll for throwing him a strike.
Good points
Here are the SEC leaders to illustrate how crazy the college numbers are
https://a.espncdn.com/sec/baseball/2023/lgplyrs.htm
Those numbers are crazy. I wonder why the numbers are so inflated. Are all of these guys that good or is there a factor that is inflating the numbers? Also, with these inflated offensive stats wouldn’t that a make a pitcher dominating more impressive than usual? I am not advocating for against anyone to be the first pick right because a lot can happen between now and the draft.
This is just a guess, but I think the transfer portal has pushed a lot of good players to a few teams, especially with programs in the SEC. Berry last year and Skenes/White this year are just a few of the guys who came from other programs outside the conference. So I think you’ll end up seeing some video game numbers by a lot of these players.
At the moment Crews is not Top 10 in homers in the SEC
Because they don’t pitch to him. Probably why he has 50 walks to 21 Ks. Dude is the best hitter in the country hands down
21 ks in only 202 PAs.
Don’t worry, when the competition picks up so will the k rates
Good starting point, tho. Beats being at 20-30%. And they call ME pessimistic. 🤣🤣🤣
Hard to see any scenario short of catastrophic injury keeping him from being the Pirates pick.
Not sure how to factor this information into the overall picture …
https://img.mlbstatic.com/opprops-images/image/upload/opprops/jakkmki6uj0cfjxthaxf.pdf
And separately this series
https://img.mlbstatic.com/opprops-images/image/upload/opprops/q5dddgqwuopvfz3we6so.pdf
I take it that you’re not a Crews fan?
I am a fan of Crews right up to the point where he’s a must-be #1 pick or compared to Mike Trout
He’s not at that level (at least not yet)
He’s something like 15th in HRs in the SEC
And his exit velocity (near the top end) is about 3mph less than Wyatt Langford (per BA)
And he’s probably not a CF nor a base stealer
So who’s a good MLB comp for Crews?
Bryan Reynolds?
Randy Arozarena?
Hunter Renfroe?
I’ll take another Brian
Reynolds.
I agree.
But I wouldn’t call Brian Reynolds a “must pick” at 1-1
My two takeaways from these are:
1. Small sample sizes.
2. Why did Jack Wilson’s kid not play in a Power 5 Conference?
Jacob Wilson has a chance to be really good
Obviously he’s been able to get attention without having to go “away” for college