A few random notes to start your Friday off right.
** If you didn’t notice in the Prospect Watch last night, Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman are leading their leagues in batting average. Newman has a .366 average, while Frazier checks in with .343 average. The Curve aren’t far off in the Eastern League from having the best hitter. Austin Meadows is one point behind the league leader with his .311 average. West Virginia is the black sheep of the family, because you have to go all the way down to the ninth spot to find Tito Polo and his .313 average. He leads the league in slugging and he’s three points out of first place in OPS, so we can forgive him.
** Speaking of Tito Polo, he hit his 12th homer on Thursday and stole his 20th base. Those are impressive totals at this point, but when you look back at recent seasons, it makes those totals stand out more. Only Pablo Reyes reached those two totals last year among all minor league players for the Pirates. In 2014, only Keon Broxton reached both marks. Polo has done it before the first half of the season ended.
** Morgantown begins their season tonight. They haven’t named a starter for tonight and their entire roster isn’t complete yet. They sent 16 players from Extended Spring Training on Monday. Eight draft picks were signed and assigned there, plus Julio Vivas and Billy Roth were sent there from West Virginia on Thursday. That’s only 26 players though. They can have up to 35 on the roster. I expect at least a few more draft picks to go there when they sign, including third round pick Stephen Alemais. He has signed, he just hasn’t been assigned to a team yet. I can’t imagine him going anywhere else besides Morgantown. We are waiting until Saturday for the season preview just because the entire roster hasn’t been announced.
** Speaking of Extended Spring Training, I reached out for some injury updates Thursday night and realized just how ridiculous the Tommy John surgery epidemic was for the Pirates last year. Six of the guys I asked about all had Tommy John surgery and I didn’t ask about three others because their surgery was too recent for any significant progress. That doesn’t include three players who have completed their rehab already and will pitch for a short-season team. It also doesn’t include position player Kevin Krause (he’s going to Morgantown) and Brandon Cumpton, because he had a second injury that held him back. They had 14 players there at the same time who had not played a regular season game yet since their Tommy John surgery.
** Bradenton is within one game of clinching their first half title, which would give them home field advantage in the playoffs. That will have to wait, as they are now on their All-Star break for the next three days. They have four players scheduled for the All-Star game on Saturday. It originally didn’t look like Kevin Newman would be able to play due to his eye injury, but he returned quicker than the Pirates thought because he didn’t require surgery. So now Newman, Connor Joe, Taylor Gushue and Luis Heredia are all on the team.
PLAYOFF PUSH
Bradenton is 5-5 in their last ten games. They are in first place in their division, two games ahead. The first half of the FSL season ends on June 22nd. Their magic number is one.
West Virginia has been eliminated from the first half pennant race. The second half begins on June 23rd.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates lost 6-4 to the Mets on Thursday night. They now travel to Chicago for three games against the Cubs. The Pirates will send Francisco Liriano to the mound for his 13th start. In his last start, he allowed one run over six innings to the Cardinals. He faced the Cubs once this year and gave up eight runs over 4.2 innings. The Cubs will counter with Jake Arrieta, who has a 1.86 ERA in 87 innings, with 90 strikeouts and an 0.95 WHIP. In his last start, he allowed two runs over seven innings against the Braves. He struck out 12 batters in the start prior to that. Arrieta has faced the Pirates twice this year and allowed a total of two runs over 15 innings.
In the minors, Tyler Glasnow gets the starts for Indianapolis. He has allowed one run over 15 innings in his last three starts combined, though he failed to go six innings in any start. Glasnow is third in the International League with a 1.90 ERA. He also ranks second in strikeouts, fourth in walks and just outside the top ten with a 1.20 WHIP.
Cody Dickson has allowed a total of five earned runs in his last seven starts combined. His ERA has been cut nearly in half during this stretch, going from 6.45 on May 2nd, down to 3.34 today. No starter has been named for West Virginia yet, but it’s Logan Sendelbach’s turn in the rotation and he was just added to the roster from Extended Spring Training, which was just a paper move and he never left the team.
Bradenton is on their All-Star break until Monday.
MLB: Pittsburgh (33-33) @ Cubs (44-20) 2:20 PM
Probable starter: Francisco Liriano (4.92 ERA, 41:68 BB/SO, 67.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (36-30) @ Charlotte (34-34) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (1.90 ERA, 36:86 BB/SO, 71.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (35-30) vs Hartford (36-28) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cody Dickson (3.34 ERA, 42:37 BB/SO, 62.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (36-29) vs Jupiter (30-35) 6:30 PM 6/20 (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD
Low-A: West Virginia (34-32) vs Charleston (40-26) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Logan Sendelbach (3.66 ERA, 16:46 BB/SO, 64.0 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (0-0) @ Mahoning Valley (0-0) 7:05 PM
Probable Starter: TBD
DSL: Pirates (3-8) vs Rangers1 (8-2) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is Austin Meadows extending his hit streak to 23 games with a ninth inning double on Wednesday. He’s good.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
6/15: Pirates sign 13 draft picks.
6/15: Casey Hughston and Logan Sendelbach assigned to West Virginia. Julio Vivas and Billy Roth assigned to Morgantown.
6/15: Pirates sign Will Craig, Matt Anderson and nine other draft picks.
6/15: Pirates release Nick Buckner.
6/15: Trey Haley sent outright to Indianapolis.
6/15: Dovydas Neverauskas promoted to Indianapolis. John Kuchno placed on disabled list.
6/14: Pirates place Gerrit Cole on the disabled list. Recall Jameson Taillon.
6/14: Kevin Newman and Wyatt Mathisen activated from disabled list. Trace Tam Sing assigned to GCL Pirates.
6/14: Miguel Rosario promoted to Altoona.
6/14: Pirates release Robert Zarate.
6/13: Sam Street activated from Temporary Inactive List. JT Brubaker assigned to GCL Pirates.
6/11: Pirates acquire Erik Kratz from Angels for cash considerations. Trey Haley designated for assignment.
6/11: Clay Holmes added to Altoona roster. David Whitehead placed on disabled list.
6/11: Pirates place Francisco Cervelli on disabled list.
6/11: Pirates option Kyle Lobstein and Cole Figueroa to Indianapolis. recall Rob Scahill and Arquimedes Caminero.
6/10: Mitch Keller added to West Virginia roster. Logan Sendelbach assigned to GCL Pirates.
6/10: Alex McRae promoted to Altoona.
6/9: Pirates option Jameson Taillon to Indianapolis. Kyle Lobstein recalled from Indianapolis.
6/9: Frank Duncan promoted to Indianapolis.
6/8: Pirates recall Jameson Taillon. Curtis Partch optioned to Indianapolis.
6/8: JT Brubaker promoted to Bradenton. Julio Vivas added to West Virginia roster.
6/6: Clay Holmes assigned to Extended Spring Training. David Whitehead added to Altoona roster.
6/4: Pirates released Nate Irving, Edgar Figueroa, Eric Thomas and Eliezer Ramirez.
6/4: Pirates option Rob Scahill and Wilfredo Boscan to Indianapolis. Recall Curtis Partch and Cory Luebke.
6/4: Ryan Vogelsong transferred from 15-day disabled list to 60-day DL.
6/4: Guido Knudson added to Indianapolis roster.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including one of the best hitters ever. Before we get into the players, there is one trade of note. Two days after the Pirates traded away Hall of Fame pitcher Pud Galvin in 1892, they traded away the player they got in return for him. Cub Stricker was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Adonis Terry. Stricker never even played for the Pirates, but he was a valuable trade piece, as it brought Terry to replace Galvin in the rotation. The new pitcher won 18 games and put in 240 innings the rest of the season.
The players born on this date include pitcher Bennie Daniels, who was a member of the 1960 World Series champs. He started his time with the Pirates in 1957 and played four seasons with the club. Also we have Joe Bowman, who put in five seasons in Pittsburgh from 1937-41 and Zeb Terry, who played shortstop for the team in 1919. Finally, we have Pete Browning, an outfielder for the team in 1891 and the man who is known as the original Louisville Slugger. Browning hit .341 during his career, collecting 1,646 hits in only 1,183 games. He won three batting titles during his career, including the only one in the Player’s League, which was a league loaded with talent, that only existed during the 1890 season.
