It’s probably a good thing for Trevor Williams that he isn’t pitching right now. Okay maybe not good, but he would need to be pitching pretty well lately to keep up with the other four prospect starters for Indianapolis. Early on, Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault are putting up some impressive numbers. They are even better when you look at just their last start each:
Brault 5 IP 0 R 9 K
Taillon 6 IP 0 R 6 K
Kuhl 5 IP 1 R 6 K
Glasnow 6 IP 0 R 11 K
If you’re not scoring at home, that is a total of 22 innings, with one run and 32 strikeouts. The most interesting part about those starts is that Glasnow was the only one who looked like he was at his best. Taillon left his fastball up and the curve wasn’t sharp. Kuhl and Brault ran up their pitch counts and limited their outings to five innings.
That success from the starters has carried over into the team pitching stats, where Indianapolis leads the league with a 2.30 ERA. It actually has them 57 points ahead of the second best team in the league in ERA. The difference between Indianapolis and the second best team, is actually bigger than that between the second best team and the eighth best team in ERA. Indianapolis also leads the league with a 1.11 WHIP, nine points better than the next best team.
When you look at offense, Indianapolis is second in hitting with a .739 OPS. The top two teams are actually well ahead of the others, as no other team has a .700 OPS. The offense shouldn’t be a surprise with all the quality players in the lineup. What might be a surprise is that Indianapolis isn’t in first place. Columbus is actually a half game better than them despite being seventh in ERA and ninth in OPS. They have scored the same amount of runs (59) they have allowed, yet they have an 11-7 record. Indianapolis has scored 79 runs and allowed 42, leading to a 10-7 record. What that basically tells you is that it is still very early in the season.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates won 9-4 over the Rockies on Tuesday night. Jon Niese will get the start today, his fifth of the season. He struggled a bit in his last start despite picking up the win. Niese allowed four runs on ten hits and two walks in 5.1 innings. The Rockies will counter with Jon Gray, who has made one start this season. He allowed five runs over five innings at home against the Dodgers last week, though he did pick up ten strikeouts.
In the minors, Mitch Keller will get the early start for West Virginia, but not before they complete yesterday’s game, which was suspended in the third inning. That game will go nine innings, followed by Wednesday’s regularly scheduled game, which is now seven innings. Keller will make his fourth start, coming off his second outing in which he threw five shutout innings with ten strikeouts. He has allowed seven base runners in 15 shutout innings this season.
For Indianapolis, Steven Brault tries to build off a solid start last week in which he threw five shutout innings with nine strikeouts. He has had some issues with high pitch counts in each game, going a total of 13.2 innings in three starts.
For Bradenton, Austin Coley will make his fourth start. He began the year with two poor outings in which he had some control issues. He turned things around in his last start, allowing one run over five innings while not walking a batter.
MLB: Pittsburgh (12-9) @ Rockies (9-11) 8:40 PM
Probable starter: Jon Niese (4.24 ERA, 7:17 BB/SO, 23.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (10-7) @ Norfolk (6-13) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Steven Brault (2.63 ERA, 7:14 BB/SO, 13.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (9-10) vs Erie (9-10) 6:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: David Whitehead (3.21 ERA, 13:11 BB/SO, 14.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (8-11) vs Palm Beach (11-8) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (6.92 ERA, 5:11 BB/SO, 13.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (14-4) vs Rome (5-13) 10:35 AM (season preview)
Probable starter: Mitch Keller (0.00 ERA, 0:23 BB/SO, 15.0 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is Jameson Taillon’s sixth/last strikeout from his start on Saturday
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
4/25: Pedro Florimon added to Indianapolis roster. Antoan Richardson released.
4/25: Austin Meadows added to Altoona roster. Justin Maffei assigned to Morgantown.
4/25: Jake Burnette placed on disabled list. Logan Ratledge assigned to West Virginia.
4/22: Pirates recall Jason Rogers. Cole Figueroa optioned to Indianapolis.
4/21: Pirates release Michael Morse.
4/21: Jhondaniel Medina assigned to Altoona.
4/21: Cory Luebke assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
4/20: Jared Hughes assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
4/19: Julio Vivas added to West Virginia roster. Logan Ratledge assigned to Morgantown.
4/18: Jung-ho Kang assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
4/16: Trevor Williams placed on disabled list. Jhondaniel Medina promoted to Indianapolis.
4/15: John Kuchno promoted to Indianapolis. Frank Duncan added to Altoona roster.
4/14: Cory Luebke placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Rob Scahill.
4/14: Pirates sign Justin Masterson.
4/14: Chad Kuhl assigned to Indianapolis.
4/13: Michael Morse designated for assignment. Pirates select contract of A.J. Schugel.
4/13: West Virginia places Cesilio Pimentel on disabled list. Eric Karch added to roster.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
One former Pittsburgh Pirates player born on this date, pitcher Paul Miller, who played for the Pirates from 1991 until 1993. He was a member of two playoff teams, though he never pitched in the postseason. Miller was drafted in the 53rd round and was one of the rare players drafted that late to make the majors. He played parts of three seasons, yet only got into a total of ten games. He threw 26.1 innings and had a 4.10 ERA.
On April 27, 1993, the Pirates beat the Braves by a 6-2 score in 11 innings and pitcher Tim Wakefield threw a staggering total of 172 pitches in the game. He pitched into the 11th and needed Paul Wagner to help him close out the game.
Exactly 100 years earlier, the Pirates opened up their season at home against Cy Young and lost 7-2 in front of a crowd of almost 5,000 fans. You can find descriptions of each game in the link above, along with the 1893 lineup, each of whom has a link to their bio under their name.
100 years ago today, the Pirates and Reds were rained out at Forbes Field, which benefited both teams. The game was set to begin at 3:30 PM and the Reds arrived into town via train at 3:00 PM. The Pirates had multiple injuries and illnesses and were set to play with Otto Knabe, who wasn’t under contract yet, Jimmy Smith, who played just one game up to that point, and possibly a pitcher in the outfield. Roster limits were 21 players at that time, and the Pirates had to release pitcher Harry Moran earlier that day to get down to the limit. Moran never played for the Pirates, though he was around for the first two weeks of the season.
