I normally limit the featured section of this article to a single player. On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates had top pitching prospects Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler on the mound, so it felt appropriate to expand the focus.
Skenes made his fourth start for Indianapolis, pitching 3.1 shutout innings. He allowed one hit, two walks, one batter to reach via error, and struck out eight. The best way to summarize his stuff is to point out that Kyle Nicolas threw his hardest pitch at 99.2 MPH. Skenes threw 39 pitches harder than that, including 34 that hit triple digits. His fastball averaged 100.5 MPH, touching 102.1, with four whiffs on 14 swings and 12 called strikes. He had four whiffs on seven swings with the slider, and was 3-for-3 on whiffs with his changeup, which he threw 11 times tonight to a lefty-heavy lineup.
The only downside was that Skenes needed 65 pitches to get through 3.1 innings. He was at 58 pitches after three innings, and was pulled after two batters in the fourth. The Pirates have been slowly progressing his pitch totals, which I wrote about on Tuesday. He’s yet to go beyond 3.1 innings.
The overall numbers from Skenes are phenomenal. In 12.2 innings, he’s yet to allow a run, while striking out 27 batters. He’s only allowed five hits and four walks this year.
Bubba Chandler pitched five innings for Altoona tonight, allowing two runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five, including two in the first inning after back-to-back weak two-out singles.
Both of the runs from Chandler came in the third, after a leadoff double, a walk, and an RBI single to start the inning. He induced a double play for two outs, but allowed another RBI single for his second run. That was followed by his fourth strikeout of the day.
Chandler finished with 62 pitches and 41 strikes. There were some lofty velocity numbers mentioned on the Bowie broadcast, saying Chandler hit 100 MPH a few times. The Altoona announcers mentioned he was 96-97 MPH, so the Bowie gun might be a little juiced. Chandler did have good stuff, regardless of the velocity number.
It was an impressive night for both of the top 100 prospects, on a night when three of the four affiliates won.
PIRATES PROSPECT WATCH
INDIANAPOLIS won 6-5, led by 3.1 shutout frames from Paul Skenes.
- 3B Malcom Nunez went 3-for-4 with his fifth double of the season, and two RBIs. He also had a throwing error in the field.
- 1B Jake Lamb went 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs. One of those came on a sacrifice fly.
- DH Nick Gonzales went 1-for-3 with a walk. This extends his hitting streak to ten games. He has reached base safely in all 17 games this year, with hits in all but one.
- 2B Ji Hwan Bae picked up two hits in four at-bats.
- RHP J.C. Flowers pitched 1.1 shutout innings, striking out two. His fastball averaged 92.5 MPH, touching 94. His slider was his most effective pitch, with a 43% CSW on seven pitches.
ALTOONA won 7-6 against Bowie, with Bubba Chandler allowing two runs in five innings, with five strikeouts.
- C Abrahan Gutierrez went 2-for-4 with an RBI double to bring in the first Altoona run of the game.
- 1B Seth Beer hit his first homer of the year, as part of a three run second inning.
- 3B Jackson Glenn homered in the third inning with a runner on base, giving Chandler a 6-0 lead at the time.
- CF Tres Gonzales picked up two hits, with a run scored and an RBI.
- RHP Valentin Linarez pitched two innings, allowing a run on two hits, with a walk, a strikeout, and a home run allowed.
GREENSBORO won 9-6, fueled by a five run third inning.
- RHP Patrick Reilly allowed four runs in 4.1 innings, with three walks and seven strikeouts. Reilly walked the first two batters of the game, before striking out two. He allowed a three run homer, prior to his third strikeout of the frame. He settled down after that, only allowing another run in the fifth inning, which scored off Dominic Perachi.
- Outside of Reilly’s inherited runner scoring, LHP Dominic Perachi pitched 3.2 shutout frames, with one hit, two walks, and two strikeouts.
- LF Sammy Siani had a four hit game, with two doubles.
- 1B Josiah Sightler capped off the five run third inning with a two run homer, his first of the year. Sightler had two hits and a walk, with three RBIs on the night.
- 2B Termarr Johnson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an opposite field RBI double.
BRADENTON lost 8-4 in 11 innings, allowing five runs in the top of the 11th, and getting one back before dropping the game.
- RHP Antwone Kelly allowed three runs on four hits in four innings, with a walk and four strikeouts. He was hurt by two home runs. Kelly averaged 93.7 MPH, touching 97.3.
- LHP Connor Oliver, who the Pirates acquired at the start of the season, pitched three shutout innings, only allowing one walk, and striking out two. Oliver had four whiffs on his slider on nine swings out of 11 pitches, adding a called strike for a 45% CSW. The slider averaged 85.5 MPH with an average spin rate of 2436 RPMs.
- C Omar Alfonzo went 2-for-5 with an RBI. His hits had exit velocities of 105.3 and 101.9 MPH. He also had a 112.0 MPH groundout.
- 3B-1B-C Garret Forrester got time all over the field today, picking up two hits and a walk on three at-bats.
- SS Andres Alvarez went 2-for-4 with a walk and a double. Alvarez is currently on a rehab assignment from Double-A.
STATCAST HEROES
Paul Skenes had 11 whiffs, but wasn’t the system leader tonight. According to Josh Norris at Baseball America, Greensboro’s Patrick Reilly had 13 whiffs through four innings. STATS
RHP Garrett McMillan, drafted in the 14th round last year, pitched three shutout innings with three strikeouts. He also led the team in whiffs tonight with 11. Six of those came from his fastball, which sat 91.6 MPH, touching 93, with a lot of movement. STATS
TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE
- Indianapolis plays at 7:05 PM EST, with RHP Quinn Priester as the listed starter. This will change, with Priester getting the call to Pittsburgh to replace Marco Gonzales.
- Altoona sends RHP Sean Sullivan to the mound at 7:05 PM in Bowie. Sullivan is in his second year as a starter in Altoona.
- Greensboro will start RHP J.P. Massey at 6:30 PM at home. Massey was a participant in the Future’s Game last season.
- Bradenton starts RHP Carlson Reed at 6:30 PM at home. Reed was drafted in the fourth round last year.
