If the weather holds up on Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates will once again send three top 100 prospects to the mound on the same night.
Jared Jones is scheduled to pitch for the Pirates at Philadelphia. Paul Skenes is scheduled to pitch for Indianapolis against Toledo. Bubba Chandler is scheduled to pitch for Altoona at home.
Jones and Skenes have pitched on the same day three times now. Chandler joined them on the schedule after Altoona started their season. It will probably be difficult to keep all three on the same day going forward, but it will be interesting to see if the Pirates make an effort to keep Skenes and Jones pitching on the same day.
The Pirates were off on Wednesday, but it was a good night in the minors, with Lonnie White Jr. leading the way with his third homer in five games. If the pitching is cancelled on Thursday, I’ll be watching the hitters in Greensboro behind LHP Hunter Barco.
PROSPECT WATCH
Three of the four minor league affiliates won on Wednesday night.
Indianapolis won 4-3.
- LHP Eric Lauer pitched 3.2 no-hit shutout innings, walking four. He struck out five, limiting the free runners. This was Lauer’s first start of the year, after his previous two outings came in long relief of Paul Skenes.
- RHP Kyle Nicolas had a similar yet shorter outing to Lauer. He threw 1.1 no-hit shutout innings, with two walks and one strikeout.
- 2B Nick Gonzales went 2-for-5 with two doubles, giving him seven on the young season. He hit the first double 99.4 MPH and the second 101.7 MPH.
- 1B Jake Lamb went 2-for-4 with an RBI. He had singles of 104.2 and 99.7 MPH.
- LF Billy McKinney went 2-for-5 with an RBI. He also had one of the hardest hit balls of the night at 104.1 MPH.
Altoona won 9-8.
- RF Aaron Shackelford went 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk, knocking in three runs. Shackelford comes with the disclaimer that he’s 27 and hit 26 home runs at this level two years ago, with 23 doubles.
- 1B Seth Beer, who is also 27 years old, went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. I like that the Pirates have older veteran players mixed into their lineups, rather than a 1-9 of “prospects” getting their first looks at the level. It worked tonight with Shackelford and Beer knocking in five runs combined.
- SS Tsung-Che Cheng went 1-for-2 with three walks and his third stolen base of the year. He made another nice play in the field, but had two errors on the game, giving him three this year.
- C Abrahan Gutierrez went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. He’s batting .313 this year.
- RHP Po-Yu Chen got the start, allowing five runs, four earned in 3.1 innings. He gave up five hits, two walks, one homer, and struck out one.
Greensboro won 7-1.
- CF Lonnie White Jr. went 3-for-5 with a double, and his third home run of the season. The 2021 over-slot slugger has a .300 average witha. 1.291 OPS on the season. I wrote about him at the start of the season, and have him as my number nine prospect in the system.
- 3B Jack Brannigan went 2-for-4 tonight, raising his season average to .375 and his OPS to 1.128. He also walked once and didn’t strike out. I wrote about Brannigan this week in what was my favorite article of this week’s drop. It came from a conversation I had with him last year, with last year’s manager Robby Hammock, and with Pirates farm director John Baker. They discussed his plus defense on the left side, but Brannigan discussed his adjusted approach to hitting, aimed at reducing strikeouts. It seems to be working early in the season.
- SS Mitch Jebb went 2-for-3 with two walks and no strikeouts. The patient, high contact hitter ran into some strikeout issues in the early games. Wednesday night was a stat line more his style.
- RHP Alessandro Ercolani pitched four shutout innings, allowing two hits, a walk, and striking out five. Ercolani is one of the more promising young pitchers to watch in the lower levels.
- 1B Charles McAdoo went 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs. He had a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the third, followed by a single with the bases loaded in the fifth, extending the lead to 3-0.
Bradenton lost 2-1.
- C Omar Alfonzo went 2-for-4 with a double. I wrote about Alfonzo recently in the Saturday Sleepers series.
- 1B Esmerlyn Valdez also went 2-for-4, and is batting .375 with an .899 OPS in 16 at-bats on the young season. He hit .312 with an .895 OPS last year in the FCL.
- LHP Magdiel Cotto, last year’s 11th round pick out of Kentucky, pitched two innings, allowing a run on two hits and three walks. His fastball averaged 92.7, getting up to 94.7, but it was rarely in the zone.
- RHP Hung-Leng Chang made the start, going 3.2 innings and allowing one run on three hits, with two walks and three strikeouts. Chang was sitting 91.5 with his fastball, touching 94.8. He picked up four whiffs on eight swings with his changeup.
- 2B Jesus Castillo went 1-for-4 with a stolen base. The speedy infielder stole 39 bases last year, and is up to three on the young season.
STATCAST HEROES
Indianapolis saw Matt Gorski and Malcom Nunez hitting the ball hard, but getting nothing from the hits into the ground. They each picked up singles on 70-80 MPH exit velo hits. STATS
Bradenton keeps getting hard hit outs from Javier Rivas, who was mentioned in the weekly Statcast Heroes feature on Wednesday. STATS
DAILY VIDEO RUNDOWN
Jake Lamb picks up an RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Insurance courtesy of Jake Lamb. 👊 pic.twitter.com/RTYl2xAuMR
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) April 11, 2024
Billy McKinney gives Indianapolis a late lead.
https://twitter.com/indyindians/status/1778233759722045578
Altoona posted an entire highlights package, because they are an 80-grade media operation.
Lonnie White Jr.’s third homer of the season went 105 MPH off the bat.
Lonnie White Jr. just hit his 3rd HR in 5 games, raising his OPS to 1.291. Do with that info what you will. pic.twitter.com/6u3rDhArnM
— BigBobsCards (@BigBobsCards) April 11, 2024
Hung-Leng Cheng picks up two strikeouts for Bradenton.
Two strikeouts in two scoreless frames for Hung-Leng Chang! pic.twitter.com/Ynhm153AOX
— Bradenton Marauders (@The_Marauders) April 10, 2024
ROSTER MOVES
**Carmen Mlodzinski had his rehab assignment ended and he was optioned to Indianapolis. The Pirates have one bullpen spot open in the majors, after optioning Ryder Ryan after yesterday’s game. My guess is that Colin Holderman returns from the IL for tonight’s game, after being on the taxi squad earlier this week, according to Alex Stumpf.
TODAY: PIRATES (9-3) AT PHILLIES (6-6)
Game Time: 6:40 PM EDT
Watch: SportsNet-PIT, MLB Network
Listen: KDKA-FM 93.7
Pirates Starter: Jared Jones, RHP (1-1, 3.86)
Phillies Starter: Ranger Suarez, LHP (1-0, 4.09)
In the Minors…
- Paul Skenes makes his third start of the year for Indianapolis at 6:35 PM EST in Toledo. It’s the free game of the day on MiLB.tv, and it will be interesting to see if the top pitching prospect goes more than three innings. In fact, with Jackson Holliday in the majors, Skenes is now the top prospect in the minors in MLB Pipeline’s ranking. The Pirates have limited him to three innings and between 40-50 pitches in his previous two starts. He’s yet to give up a run, with one hit, one walk, and 11 strikeouts in six innings.
- Altoona will send RHP Bubba Chandler to the mound at 6:00 PM, providing a repeat of the trio of top 100 pitching prospects. Chandler allowed two runs in 3.1 innings during his last outing, while showing good stuff with four strikeouts as he attacked with his mid-90s fastball.
- Greensboro sends LHP Hunter Barco to the mound at 7:00 PM in Winston-Salem. The 2022 second rounder went three shutout innings with six strikeouts in his first start. Barco returned from Tommy John last year, and will likely be on an innings limit for the start of this season.
- Antwone Kelly takes the mound for Bradenton at 11:00 AM in Lakeland. The right-hander got hit around in his last outing, which was in relief. He did throw 94-95 MPH with his fastballs, touching 97, with seven whiffs on 13 swings between the four seam and sinker.
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
Statcast Heroes has been one of my favorite articles to write this year. I haven’t really had time to dive into the new data until last fall. This week’s Heroes article focused on Martin Perez, Joey Bart, Nick Gonzales, Javier Rivas, and Tyler Kennedy. My favorite part is the look at the top ten lists in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Bradenton.
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THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
Last week’s premium article drop looked at the top 50 prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. This week looks at five hitters who can grade inside the top 30, plus a look at the path from rookie ball to the majors.
**Williams: The Path From Rookie Ball to the Major Leagues
In this subscriber-exclusive column, I give my view of the journey from Rookie Ball to the Major Leagues, and the elements that every player deals with along the way.
**Jack Brannigan is the Next Gold Glove Quality Third Baseman in the Pirates System
The Pirates have Gold Glove third basemen in Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo. They’ve got another candidate in the system in power hitter Jack Brannigan.
**Mitch Jebb Brings Elite Speed and Swing Decisions to Greensboro
With so many three-true-outcome approaches in pro ball, 2023 second round pick Mitch Jebb brings a refreshing style of contact, speed, and hustle.
**Jase Bowen Has a Power/Speed/Defense Combo to Dream Upon
Following a 20-20 season in Greensboro, and with the ability to play center field or first base, Jase Bowen is a prospect with a lot of upside to dream upon.
**Tres Gonzales Brings Advanced Hitting Approach to Altoona
One of the most advanced hitters I watched last year was Tres Gonzales. His approach isn’t flashy, but he gets the job done with contact, on-base skills, and a bit of power.
**Rodolfo Nolasco Has Huge Power and Huge Swing and Miss
Some of the best raw power in the system belongs to Rodolfo Nolasco. He showed that with 20 homers in Single-A in 2023. He’ll need to improve the swing and miss to repeat at the higher levels.
SONG OF THE DAY
