Prospect Watch: Catchers on the Mend as Cervelli and Diaz Look Solid in Rehab Games

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ALTOONA, PA – Alex McRae has been anything but consistent in his time so far at Double-A. In his first two starts, he gave up 15 earned runs in 7.1 innings while opponents hit .487 against him. In his next two starts, he picked up two wins for Altoona by limiting the opponent to four earned runs in 12.2 innings. Lastly, in his last two starts before tonight, he allowed 11 earned runs in 6.1 innings with a .472 BAA.

Tonight, McRae swung the pendulum back the other direction again for his longest career professional start. McRae went eight innings deep and only allowed one run. The eight inning outing is also the longest of any Curve starter this season.

Harrisburg batters hit 15 ground balls compared to ten fly balls; however, three of those fly balls were infield pop outs. Overall, he threw 98 pitches with 61 of those for strikes, and he only walked one batter.

McRae’s fastball was very efficient early in his outing, sitting around 93-94 MPH in the first few innings. As the game progressed, his secondary pitches improved, and he was able to use them more often. He has been throwing more four-seam fastballs than two-seamers in his most recent starts for Altoona, and he worked back tonight to more of a 70-30 split using the two-seam fastball more often, hence the groundouts and weak contact.

“He attacked hitters much better than he has recently,” Pitching Coach Justin Meccage said after the game. “I think he was tired of getting his butt kicked.”

Reese McGuire stood out offensively tonight for Altoona, going 2-for-4 with a double. On one of his outs, he lined a ball to center field and was robbed by a sprawling Andrew Stevenson for the Senators. His first inning double was lined off of the top of a leaping second baseman’s glove and went into right-center field. He hustled around first as the outfield got to the ball slowly, which also allowed a runner to score from first base.

McGuire also picked off a Harrisburg runner at first base in the fourth inning, snapping the ball down the line very effectively after he saw the runner leaning.

Joining McGuire with two hits apiece were Curve outfielders Harold Ramirez and Barrett Barnes. Barnes snuck a slow grounder through the middle in the first inning, but he was assured of his second hit in the fifth, blasting a shot over the center fielders head towards the wall. Barnes is now on a modest seven game hitting streak where he is 12-for-24 (.500).

Erich Weiss tripled in the eighth inning to lead all active Double-A hitters in triples this season.

Defensively, Eric Wood looked very sharp at third base, as he tracked multiple foul popups towards the stands/dugout to record the out. Wood was 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly and three RBIs, and he currently leads the team in slugging and OPS (.802).

Interestingly, this Curve team has outscored its opponents 98-46 in the eighth inning or later this season, as they again put runs on the board late in the game. (Josh Smith did allow two runs to score in the ninth tonight, though.) -Sean McCool

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Bradenton won a battle of the bullpens on Thursday night, coming back late for a 10-7 win. Buddy Borden got knocked out of the game after 4.1 innings and the Marauders put six runs on the board against Sean Reid-Foley, who was recently rated the top pitching prospect in the Florida State League. Henry Hirsch and Sam Street combined for 4.2 shutout innings, while Bradenton put four runs up against Dunedin’s bullpen for the win.

Elias Diaz had his second big game on offense and he also caught nine innings for the first time this season. Diaz went 3-for-4 with his first home run. He drove in four runs, walked, and scored twice. In his last game, Diaz collected four hits. Wyatt Mathisen had two doubles and drove in three runs. His second double came with the bases loaded and brought in all three runs, making it a 9-7 score. Cole Tucker had a double, a walk, a stolen base, two runs scored and an RBI. Elvis Escobar had three hits and scored two runs. Jordan Luplow had a single, two walks, a run scored and an RBI.

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CHARLESTON, WV – For the first time since becoming the West Virginia Power, the team has tossed three consecutive shutouts. The scoreless streak has reached 35.1 innings, and the games have featured every Power bullpen pitcher as well as three starters: Gage Hinsz, Mitch Keller, and Dario Agrazal.

Agrazal, tonight’s starter, stayed true to his groundball pitching nature, recording nine ground outs against seven fly outs. He consistently worked low in the zone and bounced back from the four hits he gave up.

“He trusted the defense,” pitching coach Matt Ford said after the game. “The defense deserves as much recognition as the pitchers.”

They rightly do. Tonight, the Power defense turned three double plays, and Logan Ratledge preserved the scoreless streak after a sharply hit single to the left field corner by hitting the cutoff man, Alfredo Reyes, who threw the runner out at home.

The Power offense finally awoke from their two-game slumber, banging out seven runs against Augusta starter Domenic Mazza.

At first, the offense came from the least expected places. Ratledge started things off with a home run to left, and newcomer Jordan George, who arrived from the Black Bears today, scored after doubling in the second inning.

The fifth inning featured a two-out rally that put the game out of reach. Alfredo Reyes singled and scored on Casey Hughston’s two-run inside-the-park home run. Ratledge followed with a single of his own and moved to third on a Mitchell Tolman double, and Daniel Arribas banged out a triple to score them both. Arribas was the last to score on a line drive single by Logan Hill. Hill and George, who also hit a single, were stranded when Tyler Filliben struck out for the second time that inning.

Yunior Montero closed out the series sweep, stranding a runner on third. Montero, whom the Power recently called up, had mixed success. He walked the first batter and then allowed him to move to second on a wild pitch. Montero battled back for a strikeout and two groundouts to end the game.

The Power take their scoreless streak on the road tomorrow against Hickory.- Abigail Miskowiec

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Morgantown put up five runs in the fifth inning and that’s all they would need in a 5-3 victory. James Marvel started and looked great through five innings, running into trouble in the sixth. He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk, while posting an impressive 14:2 GO/AO ratio. He now has a 3.95 ERA in 27.1 innings. Neil Kozikowski followed him with two innings and allowed the third run for Auburn. Brandon Bingel closed it out for the save.

The Morgantown scoring started with an infield single by Ty Moore in the fifth. After an out, two more singles loaded the bases for Sandy Santos, who walked for the first run. Clark Eagan then singled to center field and it cleared the bases, with Santos scoring from first base. Eagan would score the final run on a Kevin Krause single.

Five players for the Black Bears collected two hits in the game, as the team had a total of 11 hits. Eagan, Krause, Moore, Erik Forgione and Albert Baur all had multi-hit games. Baur had a double, while Forgione hit a triple. Will Craig had the night off.

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Bristol won 11-5 over Kingsport on Thursday behind a big day from Alexis Bastardo. He had two hits, two walks, scored three runs, drove in three runs and stole three bases. Victor Fernandez had two hits, two runs, stole his fifth base and picked up an outfield assist. Michael de la Cruz joined in on the action with two singles, two stolen bases, a walk, a run scored and an RBI. The team went 6-for-6 in stolen bases, with these three players accounting for all of those steals. Julio de la Cruz hit his second home run of the season, a two-run shot in the ninth inning to put the game out of reach.

On the pitching side, Matt Eckelman made his second start, coming off five shutout innings in that first start. He looked great for four innings, allowing just a single. Things fell apart in the fifth and he ended up surrendering four runs without getting out of the inning. Adam Oller was the fifth starter before Eckelman took his spot. He came on in the sixth and threw four shutout innings, striking out seven batters.

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The GCL Pirates won 4-1 on Thursday over the Yankees East team, getting five shutout innings from starter Miguel Hernandez. In his first four starts, Hernandez has a 1.76 ERA in 15.1 innings, which includes three games in which he has thrown five shutout innings, and one game in which he allowed three runs without making it out of the first inning. At the end of Extended Spring Training, Hernandez  had more bad outings than good ones, so while we rated him in our GCL top ten prospects because he had the potential to be this good, there is still the chance we could see some very poor outings from him in the near future.

The big hit of the game was a two-run homer from catcher Raul Hernandez in the sixth inning, his first of the season and first of his career, which began last year in the DSL. The Pirates got on the board first in this game with a single from Henrry Rosario in the fourth inning. He moved to second base on a sac bunt, then stole third and scored on a wild pitch. They added a run in a similar way in the ninth. Andrew Walker walked, then stole second, moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a Victor Ngoepe single. Ngoepe had two hits and his third stolen base.

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The DSL Pirates held on for a 5-4 win on Thursday over the Cubs1. The Pirates scored two runs in the second inning on three straight hits and then a sacrifice fly. Larry Alcime started in with a single, which was followed by an RBI double from Eddy Vizcaino and a single by Francisco Mepris. Williams Calderon brought home the second run with the sacrifice fly.

In the seventh inning down 3-2, Jeremias Portorreal hit a lead-off double. Mepris walked, then both players scored on a Calderon triple. Calderon would score on a Kevin Sanchez ground out. Samuel Inoa had a double and a triple in this game, equaling the amount of extra-base hits he had in his first 21 games as a pro.

Starter Sergio Cubilete allowed three runs (one earned) over four innings. He gave up two hits and walked four batters. Wilmer Contreras picked up the win with two shutout innings. Former catcher/third baseman Julio Gonzalez got the save and stranded the tying run by striking out the final batter of the game. He has thrown 3.1 scoreless innings over four appearances since becoming a pitcher.