All four full-season Pittsburgh Pirates affiliates will face a top three offense in their respective leagues this week.
Triple-A: Indianapolis Indians
Starting with Triple-A, prepare yourselves for a heavy dose of the Chicago Cubs organization this week. The Pirates will be visiting Wrigley Field, and the Indianapolis Indians are traveling to the Iowa Cubs. The Indians fought their way back to .500, but have since lost five in a row. The headlining top 30 prospect for the Cubs affiliate is rising top 100 RHP Ben Brown. Brown has only made seven Triple-A starts, with two of those coming against the Indians. He’s ran into some control issues — walking 11 batters in his last 8.1 innings — but still striking out a lot of hitters. The good news for the Pirates affiliate pitching staff is that a good chunk of the potent Iowa offense is rostered in MLB at the moment: Nick Madrigal, Christopher Morel, and Matt Mervis.
Opponent: IOWA (CUBS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .844 OPS
Rank: 3/20
Team ERA: 5.45
ERA Rank: 13/20
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- BEN BROWN | RHP | 4
- MLB Pipeline Top 100: #99
- Baseball America Top 100: #66
- BRENNEN DAVIS (7-Day IL) | OF | 7
- ALEXANDER CANARIO (60-Day IL) | OF | 10
- DANIEL PALENCIA | RHP | 13
- CALEB KILIAN | RHP | 17
- CHASE STRUMPF | 2B/3B | 23
- RILEY THOMPSON | RHP | 26
- RYAN JENSEN | RHP | 27
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE
Altoona Curve takes on what will likely the be the headlining series of the week. The New York Yankees affiliate Somerset Patriots have the Yankees’ top two prospects, four of their top five, or six of top 10. The biggest name is Jasson “The Martian” Dominguez. Dominguez is only 20 years old, but even with youth on his side, he hasn’t exactly lived up to the ultra-high expectations placed on him. Dominguez currently has a .757 OPS with the Eastern League average of .729 OPS. 2020 first round pick Austin Wells began the year injured, but has continued to hit upon returning.
Opponent: SOMERSET (YANKEES)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .773 OPS
Rank: 2/12
Team ERA: 4.04
ERA Rank: 5/12
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- JASSON DOMNINGUEZ | OF | 1
- MLB Pipeline Top 100: #34
- Baseball America Top 100: #56
- AUSTIN WELLS | C | 2
- MLB Pipeline Top 100: #96
- Baseball America Top 100: #91
- EVERSON PEREIRA | OF | 4
- TREY SWEENEY | SS | 5
- RICHARD FITTS | RHP | 8
- YOENDRYS GOMEZ | RHP | 9
- CLAYTON BEETER | RHP | 13
- TYLER HARDMAN | 3B/1B | 18
- CARSON COLEMAN (60-Day IL) | RHP | 26
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS
In the South Atlantic League, the Greensboro Grasshoppers go on the road to battle the South division lead Greenville Drive. The Boston Red Sox affiliate leads the league in team OPS, but it should be noted that a couple of the big hitters have since been promoted: Marcelo Mayer and Nathan Hickey to name a few. The Grasshoppers are only a game back of the North division leading Hudson Valley Renegades, with two series to go in the first half.
Opponent: GREENVILLE (RED SOX)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .760 OPS
Rank: 1/12
Team ERA: 4.53
ERA Rank: 8/12
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- EDDINSON PAULINO | INF/OF | 8
- BLAZE JORDAN | 3B/1B | 10
- WIKELMAN GONZALEZ | RHP | 11
- BRAINER BONACI (7-Day IL) | INF | 16
- DALTON ROGERS | LHP | 23
- ANGEL BASTARDO | RHP | 29
SINGLE-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
The Bradenton Marauders welcome to town the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, and with regards to top prospects, the Minnesota Twins affiliate brings the lightest squad. The biggest name is 2020 fifth overall pick and 2021 trade deadline acquisition Austin Martin. Martin is on rehab assignment, so he may only be in town for a quick trip. Otherwise, it should still be a good test for the Marauders with the Mighty Mussels top 3 among team ERA and team OPS in the league.
Opponent: FORT MYERS (TWINS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .750 OPS
Rank: 1/10
Team ERA: 3.92
ERA Rank: 3/10
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- AUSTIN MARTIN (Rehab) | SS/OF/2B | 11
- DANNY DE ANDRADE | SS | 15
- RAFAEL CRUZ | 3B/1B | 23
- RICARDO OLIVAR (7-Day IL) | C/OF | 26
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
By Tim Williams
I woke up to the news that Stan Savran passed away. The link is an excellent summary of the man from Kevin Gorman.
As someone who operated outside of Pittsburgh, I didn’t know Stan personally. I was invited onto his show on many occasions. I’ve done a lot of radio shows, but going on the show with Stan was always one of those rare moments when I felt like I made it. Part of that was the anxiety of knowing I would be going on such a big show with such a revered sports caster. Each time, Stan was the nicest guy.
In my career, radio stations and hosts will routinely use the “exposure” line to get you to do their show. The idea is that if you do a show, you expose your operation to an audience that might not otherwise have heard of you. The payment you receive, when you’re just a blogger, are those free views. In Stan’s case, you knew that you were getting exposure to a big, long-time audience, and that his view of you would carry a lot of weight with those people. Despite this knowledge, Stan was one of the rare hosts who almost acted like it was a favor to him for you to do his show. There was a palpable love he had for the subject of all things Pittsburgh sports, and for the job itself.
I didn’t know Stan, but I always respect the type of people who treat others well when they’re on top of the game. Stan was the game in Pittsburgh sports radio. But if you ever had the honor of talking to him, even in those brief minutes before going live on the air, you realized that he was just a highly talented guy who lived to provide Pittsburgh with sports discussion. Rest in peace, Stan.
*****
The Prospect Watch has long been a staple of this site, providing the nightly game recaps throughout the minor leagues. You can now find those nightly recaps on Pirates Prospects Live.
Yesterday, the Prospect Watch returned with a new format, providing reports on three players in the system each day. We kicked things off yesterday with three international prospects at the lower levels.
**Prospect Watch: David Matoma, Jun-Seok Shim, Tsung-Che Cheng
Looking for yesterday’s minor league action? Check out P2Live.
The Florida Complex League has started, and Wilbur Miller has a preview of all the players to follow at the rookie level Pirates affiliate.
**Pirates 2023 Minor League Preview: FCL Pirates
The Pirates had two minor league pitchers win weekly awards for their performances last week.
**Thomas Harrington and Greiber Mendez Win Pitcher of the Week Awards
Missed yesterday? Anthony Murphy wrote about Roansy Contreras, Osvaldo Bido, and Quinn Priester.
**Contreras to the Pen, Bido to Pittsburgh, What About Priester?
Song of the Day
I always like the change of pace on days when Jeff Reed picks the song of the day.
