Statcast Heroes: Oneil Cruz, Rowdy Tellez, Triple-A Pitching Depth, Javier Rivas

The Pittsburgh Pirates went 2-4 over the last week, while scoring just one run in three different games. They had some good starts from the pitchers, but the offense couldn’t match the output. Down in Triple-A, there is growing pitching depth, with that rotation having a big week.

This week’s Statcast Heroes looks at the standouts on offense in Pittsburgh, the pitching in Indianapolis, and a few high-upside prospects in Single-A.

Oneil Cruz With the Long Ball

Oneil Cruz had two monster home runs this past week. The first came on Saturday afternoon, when the shortstop hit a 445 foot shot at PNC Park, which was believed to reach the river without a bounce. The homer had a 11.6 MPH exit velocity.

Cruz then homered two days later in Cincinnati, this time hitting one further. Monday’s homer traveled 458 feet, with a 112.3 MPH exit velocity.

The homers from Cruz were two of his three hits on the week.

Rowdy Tellez is Hitting

This past week, Rowdy Tellez had three of the top exit velocities and two of the top distances on the team. The first baseman went 2-for-16, with a bit of a slump from the rest of his month.

Tellez is batting .340/.389/.500 during the month of June. He’s not hitting for a lot of power, with one homer, five doubles, and a .160 isolated power. His average is up, and he’s consistently been one of the hardest hitters on the team.

This was a good week to see him maintain consistency with hitting the ball hard, even if he only went 2-for-3 on his hardest hits. After struggling for the first two months of the year, the Pirates will need to see Tellez hitting closer to his June numbers for the remainder of the year.

The Triple-A Rotation is Growing

This week, the Indianapolis rotation had good results against the Iowa Cubs. The results really stood out in the swing and miss totals.

Domingo German got things started with 12 whiffs in his start on June 18th. He made a second start this past week, with 10 whiffs on June 23rd.

Braxton Ashcraft followed German, picking up 15 whiffs on June 19th. One day later, Jake Woodford matched Ashcraft with 15 whiffs of his own.

Luis Cessa had nine whiffs on June 21st, and Martin Perez made a rehab start with eight whiffs a day later.

The Pirates didn’t have any of these starters in Triple-A on Opening Day. German was late to start his season, after signing late. Woodford and Cessa were signed at the start of this month to boost the Triple-A rotation depth. Ashcraft was promoted from Altoona, and made his second start this past week. Perez is on a rehab assignment.

At the start of this month, the rotation depth was thin. The group is looking a lot better these days, capable of providing the Pirates with help if needed. The most immediate help with be Perez returning to the MLB rotation, which could happen by this weekend.[ppp_patron_only level=”5″ silent=”no”]

Alika Williams Has a Big Game

Alika Williams had three of the top exit velocities this past week for Indianapolis, along with two of the top distances. All of the results came from the same game on Sunday.

Williams got things started with a 109.2 MPH single in the second inning. He had a 104.8 MPH double in the fourth inning that traveled 391 feet. He also had a 104.7 MPH forceout, to complete the top velocities. His third hit of the day was a triple, with a 98.7 MPH exit velocity, traveling 401 feet.

Williams was activated from the injured list and optioned to the minors last week. This was a good response to the full-time return to Triple-A.

Javier Rivas Hitting Hard and Hitting

Javier Rivas is no stranger to the Statcast Heroes feature. He’s consistently one of the hardest hitters in the Bradenton lineup, though this hasn’t translated to consistent results at the plate this year.

Rivas had two of the top exit velocities this past week, along with four of the furthest tracked balls. What’s even better is that he’s getting hits from his hard contact.

In the past week, Rivas hit .304/.333/.522 with one homer and two doubles. He’s been hitting all month, with a .385/.444/.723 line and five homers during the month of June. These are great results from the 6′ 6″, 21-year-old shortstop.

Khristian Curtis Leads the Single-A Pitchers

He didn’t have the best stats this past week, but Khristian Curtis had some of the best stuff in Bradenton. Curtis pitched 4.2 innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits and a walk. He struck out seven.

Curtis threw five of the ten hardest pitches in Bradenton this past week, while also having the highest single-game whiff total. He averaged 95.1 MPH on his four-seam fastball, topping out at 97.8, and picking up 10 whiffs on 29 swings against the pitch.

Out of 89 pitches, Curtis threw 53 fastballs, 19 sliders, and none of his other four pitches more than six times. The slider went 2-for-8 on whiffs, with four more called strikes for a 32% CSW. Curtis has a six pitch mix, but he mostly shows promise with a fastball/slider combo. That pitch pair could get him to the upper levels as a reliever, but he could also continue developing as a starter with his other offerings.

Weekly Leaders

Every week, I’ll be recapping the leaders across four categories in both the majors and the minors. All stats run 6/18/24-6/24/24, and can be found at Baseball Savant.

Top Exit Velocities

Cruz and Tellez were hitting the ball hard, but so was Bryan Reynolds, who currently has a 21-game hitting streak. Joey Bart is hitting the ball hard in his rehab with Triple-A. Shalin Polanco had the hardest hit in Bradenton with his seventh homer of the year.

MLB

1. Oneil Cruz – 117.8 MPH (6/23, Groundout)
2. Oneil Cruz – 112.3 MPH (6/24, Home Run)
3. Bryan Reynolds – 111.6 MPH (6/18, Double)
4. Oneil Cruz – 111.6 MPH (6/22, Home Run)
5. Rowdy Tellez – 109.6 MPH (6/21, Groundout)
6. Rowdy Tellez – 108.9 MPH (6/22, Single)
7. Bryan Reynolds – 108.3 MPH (6/22, Groundout)
8. Bryan Reynolds – 107.3 MPH (6/21, Home Run)
9. Rowdy Tellez – 107.1 MPH (6/19, Double)
10. Yasmani Grandal – 106.7 MPH (6/19, Double)

Triple-A

1. Alika Williams – 109.2 MPH (6/23, Single)
2. Joey Bart – 109.0 MPH (6/23, Lineout)
3. Seth Beer – 107.9 MPH (6/19, Single)
4. Malcom Nunez – 106.8 MPH (6/20, Double)
5. Liover Peguero – 105.7 MPH (6/18, Single)
6. Joey Bart – 105.4 MPH (6/21, Single)
7. Alika Williams – 104.8 MPH (6/23, Double)
8. Alika Williams – 104.7 MPH (6/23, Forceout)
9. Matt Gorski – 104.2 MPH (6/18, Home Run)
10. Grant Koch – 103.6 MPH (6/22, Single)

Single-A

1. Shalin Polanco – 109.5 MPH (6/18, Home Run)
2. Omar Alfonzo – 109.1 MPH (6/18, Single)
3. Javier Rivas – 108.2 MPH (6/21, Double)
4. Esmerlyn Valdez – 107.3 MPH (6/18, Home Run)
5. Esmerlyn Valdez – 107.0 MPH (6/19, Double)
6. Javier Rivas – 106.3 MPH (6/20, Single)
7. Axiel Plaz – 105.7 MPH (6/19, Home Run)
8. Keiner Delgado – 104.6 MPH (6/19, Single)
9. Omar Alfonzo – 104.6 MPH (6/23, Lineout)
10. Omar Alfonzo – 104.5 MPH (6/21, Groundout)

Top Distances

Don’t treat the Single-A distances as gospel. A lot of hits will return with no reading, including a lot of home runs. For example, we know that Shalin Polanco had the hardest hit on his homer, but there was no recorded distance. It definitely would have been in the top ten this week if there had been a recorded distance.

MLB

1. Oneil Cruz – 458 (6/24)
2. Oneil Cruz – 445 (6/22)
3. Bryan Reynolds – 439 (6/21)
4. Bryan Reynolds – 407 (6/19)
5. Rowdy Tellez – 403 (6/19)
6. Rowdy Tellez – 391 (6/24)
7. Nick Gonzales – 388 (6/21)
8. Bryan Reynolds – 387 (6/18)
9. Jack Suwinski – 386 (6/21)
10. Ke’Bryan Hayes – 382 (6/18)

Triple-A

1. Matt Gorski – 416 (6/18)
2. Matt Gorski – 410 (6/23)
3. Alika Williams – 401 (6/23)
4. Alika Williams – 391 (6/23)
5. Joshua Palacios – 386 (6/21)
6. Dylan Shockley – 384 (6/23)
7. Canaan Smith-Njigba – 379 (6/20)
8. Liover Peguero – 374 (6/20)
9. Malcom Nunez – 372 (6/22)
10. Malcom Nunez – 370 (6/21)

Single-A

1. Axiel Plaz – 410 (6/19)
2. Shalin Polanco – 353 (6/18)
3. Javier Rivas – 337 (6/19)
4. Keiner Delgado – 337 (6/21)
5. Javier Rivas – 324 (6/22)
6. Javier Rivas – 323 (6/21)
7. Eddy Rodriguez – 302 (6/20)
8. Javier Rivas – 298 (6/21)
9. Keiner Delgado – 297 (6/22)
10. Braylon Bishop – 293 (6/18)
11. Jeral Toledo – 293 (6/21)

Top Pitch Velocities

Jared Jones threw a 100.1 MPH pitch and it didn’t even register in the MLB top ten.

MLB

1. Aroldis Chapman – 102.8 MPH
2. Aroldis Chapman – 102.1 MPH
3. Aroldis Chapman – 101.8 MPH
4. Paul Skenes – 101.5 MPH
5. Paul Skenes – 100.7 MPH
6. Paul Skenes – 100.5 MPH
7. Aroldis Chapman – 100.4 MPH
8. Aroldis Chapman – 100.3 MPH
9. Paul Skenes – 100.3 MPH
10. Paul Skenes – 100.2 MPH

Triple-A

1. Connor Sadzeck – 98.5 MPH
2. Connor Sadzeck – 98.3 MPH
3. Connor Sadzeck – 98.1 MPH
4. Connor Sadzeck – 98.0 MPH
5. Connor Sadzeck – 97.8 MPH
6. Connor Sadzeck – 97.7 MPH
7. Braxton Ashcraft – 97.2 MPH
8. Braxton Ashcraft – 97.2 MPH
9. Connor Sadzeck – 97.2 MPH
10. Connor Sadzeck – 97.2 MPH

Single-A

1. Tyler Kennedy – 98.0 MPH
2. Khristian Curtis – 97.8 MPH
3. Antwone Kelly – 97.5 MPH
4. Khristian Curtis – 97.5 MPH
5. Khristian Curtis – 97.3 MPH
6. Khristian Curtis – 97.1 MPH
7. Tyler Kennedy – 97.0 MPH
8. Antwone Kelly – 96.9 MPH
9. Tyler Kennedy – 96.9 MPH
10. Khristian Curtis – 96.9 MPH

Swing and Miss

Jones, Paul Skenes, and Mitch Keller are a playoff pitching staff.

MLB

1. Jared Jones – 14 (6/22)
2. Paul Skenes – 12 (6/23)
3. Mitch Keller – 9 (6/19)
4. Luis Ortiz – 9 (6/21)
5. Bailey Falter – 6 (6/18)
6. Daulton Jefferies – 6 (6/21)
7. Daulton Jefferies – 6 (6/24)
8. Aroldis Chapman – 4 (6/22)
9. Kyle Nicolas – 4 (6/23)
10. Justin Bruihl – 4 (6/24)
11. Bailey Falter – 4 (6/24)

Triple-A

1. Braxton Ashcraft – 15 (6/19)
2. Jake Woodford – 15 (6/20)
3. Domingo German – 12 (6/18)
4. Domingo German – 10 (6/23)
5. Luis Cessa – 9 (6/21)
6. Martin Perez – 8 (6/22)
7. Nick Dombkowski – 7 (6/21)
8. Ben Heller – 6 (6/22)
9. Michael Plassmeyer – 5 (6/22)
10. Geronimo Franzua – 4 (6/23)

Single-A

1. Khristian Curtis – 12 (6/21)
2. Antwone Kelly – 11 (6/18)
3. Carlos Jimenez – 10 (6/22)
4. Luigi Hernandez – 9 (6/19)
5. Carlson Reed – 9 (6/19)
6. Hung-Leng Chang – 8 (6/20)
7. Connor Oliver – 7 (6/22)
8. Hunter Furtado – 6 (6/19)
9. Garrett McMillan – 6 (6/20)
10. Inmer Lobo – 4 (6/21)

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