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Pirates Prospect Watch: Po-Yu Chen and The Greensboro Power Bats

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I’m in Greensboro this week, covering the Pittsburgh Pirates’ High-A affiliate. You can expect the daily Prospect Watch to be heavy on reports from these games. Yesterday’s action in Greensboro featured Po-Yu Chen on the mound, plus home runs from three hitters. Elsewhere in the system, Roansy Contreras had a good start, Paul Skenes made his second appearance, and the Bradenton offense was on fire.

Player of the Day

PO-YU CHEN, RHP, GREENSBORO

Chen only pitched three innings last night, throwing 72 pitches. About half of those came in the first inning, which was extended after an error by Termarr Johnson. Chen walked his first batter, struck out the second, and got a double play grounder right up the middle. Johnson didn’t field the ball, allowing it to go under his glove as he charged it, putting two runners on with one out.

What I liked about Chen was what came after this. He had a wild pitch that moved the runners to scoring position, but largely pitched around cleanup hitter Willy Vasquez. The only pitches Vasquez could hit were low breaking pitches that dropped out of the zone for balls. Vasquez didn’t offer at those, and walked to load the bases. Chen walked three, but this one seemed more strategic, especially once first base came open. Chen got a sac fly to center field, with a great move by Jase Bowen to get the throw to the infield quickly after the catch.

Bowen looks to the plate as he catches the ball, simultaneously moving into position to throw to the plate with a runner at third. Photo: Tim Williams / PiratesProspects.com
Bowen got the throw to the plate almost immediately, preventing the runner from going. Photo: Tim Williams / PiratesProspects.com

Chen ended the first with a strikeout, recording five on the day. He was 88-91 MPH with his fastball, but mostly works backwards, filling up the zone, and doing a great job of changing speeds and locations. His curve is mid-to-upper 70s, the slider is low-80s, and his split changeup is his best offering, working mid-to-upper 80s.

Ten More to Follow

ROANSY CONTRERAS, RHP, INDIANAPOLIS

Roansy Contreras pitched four innings last night, allowing one run on one hit and two walks, while striking out five. The right-hander has now made two starts for Indianapolis, combining for one run on two hits and four walks in seven innings, with seven strikeouts.

NICK GONZALES, 2B, INDIANAPOLIS

Gonzales had a good night at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a walk and his 16th double with Indianapolis. Gonzales is batting .286/.444/.357 in 28 at-bats during the month of August. More importantly, he has a 16.7% strikeout rate and 19.4% walk rate since going back down to the minors. This is a great early progression from the hitter he was in Triple-A earlier this season, with a 28.6% strikeout rate and a 13.4% walk rate to go with a .257/.370/.450 line. Gonzales took those strikeout issues to the majors in a detrimental way.

JOE PEREZ, RF, ALTOONA

The Pirates recently signed Joe Perez, a 24-year-old who can play third base and the outfield. He was assigned to Double-A, after previously batting .255/.328/.399 with ten homers in Triple-A this year. He went 4-for-5 with a homer last night for Altoona.

SEAN SULLIVAN, RHP, ALTOONA

In his latest start for Altoona, Sullivan pitched 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. The 2021 8th round pick has a 4.07 ERA in 86.1 innings this year, elevating his numbers with a 2.08 ERA in 17.1 innings this month across three starts.

JACK BRANNIGAN, SS, GREENSBORO

I don’t want to make a lot about Brannigan’s home run, because it looked like a foul ball. Instead, I’m going to point out what I liked about the infielder’s approach at the plate. He starts with an open stance, still, bat over the shoulder. He goes into a rhythm with his bat waggle as the pitcher gets set. He’s got a leg kick for timing as the pitcher delivers. At the end of the day, he crushed a pitch for what was ruled his ninth homer at the level. Brannigan also looked sharp in the field on two line drives, which he quickly followed up with a double play.

JOSIAH SIGHTLER, 1B, GREENSBORO

Sightler hit his fifth homer of the year for Greensboro last night in the first inning. The 6′ 3″ first baseman starts with a tall stance from the left side, then dips into his legs as the pitcher is delivering. The dip allowed him to get in position to lift this pitch last night way out of the park.

Josiah Sightler hits his fifth homer of the year for Greensboro. Photo: Tim Williams / PiratesProspects.com

TERMARR JOHNSON, 2B, GREENSBORO

Termarr Johnson has an interesting swing. He’s got a kind of crouched, open stance, with his head tucked in front of a high hand position over his left shoulder. When he swings, it is with authority, as seen by his home run last night, his third in the last three games. Johnson did have some issues in the field, with two balls going under his glove, including one that extended the first inning for Chen as he and Jack Brannigan got mixed up over the middle.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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