A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time (Jose Osuna), or loses his prospect eligibility, he will be removed from this list. Everyone below him will be shifted up a spot, and a new player will be added to the bottom of the list. If a player is out for the season, he will be removed and everyone below him will move up a spot. Removing these guys doesn’t mean they have lost prospect status. It is just an attempt to get more active prospects on the list. Rankings are from the 2017 Prospect Guide, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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2. Mitch Keller, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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3. Kevin Newman, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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5. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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6. Will Craig, 3B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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7. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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9. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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10. Steven Brault, LHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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11. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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12. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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13. Max Kranick, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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14. Elias Diaz, C, Pirates – [insert_php]
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15. Edgar Santana, RHP, Pirates – [insert_php]
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16. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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17. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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18. Yeudy Garcia, RHP, Altoona -[insert_php]
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19. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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20. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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21. Stephen Alemais, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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22. Brandon Waddell, LHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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23. Travis MacGregor, RHP, Extended Spring Training – [insert_php]
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24. Barrett Barnes, LF, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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25. Max Moroff, 2B, Pirates -[insert_php]
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26. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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27. J.T. Brubaker, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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28. Chris Bostick, INF/OF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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29. Connor Joe, 3B, Altoona – [insert_php]
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30. Jin-De Jhang, C, Altoona – [insert_php]
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INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Glasnow had an auspicious start to his second Triple-A start this season.
And despite putting together a decent looking final line, the remainder of his start was enigmatic in the Indians’ 5-3 win over Toledo.
Glasnow allowed back-to-back home runs to open the game, but limited the damage from that point and struck out 11 batters in five innings. But he walked four batters and needed 96 pitches to get through five innings.
The goal of Glasnow’s outing was simple: throw plus-stuff, plenty of strikes and get in good counts. Some of the time, that was accomplished. Other times, not so much.
“At times he looked really good tonight and at times he was scattered,” Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett said. “He made pitches when he had to. His breaking ball was a weapon. Velo was real good. He kind of burned through too many pitches in five innings, but he showed plus stuff.”
Of the first seven pitches Glasnow threw, five were outside the zone and the other two were hit for a homer. Toledo lead-off hitter Matt den Dekker took Glasnow’s second pitch of the game — a fastball — deep into the right field lawn. Indianapolis right fielder Eury Perez quickly went into a stroll mode as he watched the ball land well into the outfield lawn seating area.
Just three pitches later, former Pirates prospect JaCoby Jones hit a homer to right-center field. There wasn’t much doubt about that shot either.
Both pitches were fastballs elevated, Glasnow said.
Glasnow settled down after those two homers, allowing just two hits the remainder of his outing. But just as he would find momentum, Glasnow would give some of it back.
*Glasnow struck out Argenis Diaz looking at a 99 MPH fastball on the outside corner. But he then walked Steven Moya, the No. 8 hitter with a .169 batting average, on four straight pitches.
*In his next at-bat after hitting a lead-off homer, Matt den Dekker struck out trying to check his swing on a changeup. But Glasnow immediately fell behind Jones 3-0, before working the count full, though he did induce a groundout off a 96 MPH fastball
*In the fifth inning, Glasnow struck out the lead-off batter but followed that with another four-pitch walk to den Dekker. Toledo loaded the bases with one out after a single and a walk, but Glasnow got out of that jam without giving up a run, thanks to a strikeout and a gift from the Mud Hens when den Dekker tried to steal home and was thrown out.
Glasnow’s moments of command issues might have not cost him as much on the scoreboard, but it led him to throwing 96 pitches in five innings. That amount of pitches should get him deeper into games.
“Obviously it’s frustrating from a managerial standpoint when you get two quick outs and then you get a walk,” Barkett said “I think that could have possibly frustrated the big league staff. That’s something he has to get better at. He has to stay in the zone and has to be able to put away the third hitter and not give away free passes.”
There were some bright spots though. Glasnow threw several quality changeups for swinging misses. He had a couple of strikeouts with the pitch and had a good breaking ball.
Glasnow was comfortable with the quality of his pitches, but realizes he needs to put together more efficient innings. He realizes he needs to be more aggressive in the zone and not try to be too fine.
“I just lacked stuff when I was up (with the Pirates),” Glasnow said. “I was trying to be too fine and locate pitches, and knowing I have to be aggressive, be a guy that attacks and I’ll usually hit my spots. I’m just trying to get that aggressive mentality back and get my stuff back.”
Glasnow had a 7.45 earned run average and 1.91 WHIP in 12 starts with the Pirates this season. So, when he was optioned back to Indianapolis, he realized it was a necessary move.
“I don’t really have a choice,” Glasnow said. “When you go up there and do that bad, things are going to happen. I definitely tried to take the positive out of it and come down and I had an idea of what I needed to fix when I was up there and this is a good place to fix it.”
Granted, every aspect of Glasnow’s starts are under a microscope, even more than compared to some of his Triple-A counterparts.
“It is what it is,” Barkett said. “It comes with the job. When you’re a major league that is up and down, and you have a live arm like his, and you’re 6-foot-8, then you’re going to be scrutinized. That’s part of the deal and what we all sign up for.”
Indianapolis scored three runs in the sixth inning to take a 4-2 lead. Jacob Stallings walked with the bases loaded and Eury Perez had an RBI single. Another run scored when Erich Weiss hit into a double play.
Perez had an RBI double in the second inning and Jason Rogers had an RBI single in the seventh inning. Perez was 3-for-3 in the game and is hitting .305 this season. Rogers was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs, while Austin Meadows was 2-for-5.
Antonio Bastardo and Josh Lindblom each pitched an inning as their major league rehab assignments are nearing an end, with roughly about five days remaining.
Bastardo struck out one batter in a clean sixth inning, while Lindblom made one mistake in his inning of work, giving up a solo home run to den Dekker, who entered the game with one home run and a .227 batting average.
Gift Ngoepe took himself out of batting practice prior to the game with some lower hamstring discomfort, suffered while running out an infield single in Monday’s game. Ngoepe had an MRI completed Monday afternoon and no severe damage was discovered. The team is being cautious with Ngoepe and he might end up on the 7-day DL, though nothing is certain yet, Barkett said. – Brian Peloza
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ALTOONA, Pa. – The Curve must have conserved all of their energy during yesterday’s off day, as they brought their best bats to the ballpark tonight in Altoona. The team combined for 19 hits – a season high – as the Altoona Curve defeated the Trenton Thunder, 14-4.
Their previous season high in hits came on May 19th against Erie (14). On that night, Kevin Kramer led the way with three hits, including a home run. Tonight, they were led by their center fielder Elvis Escobar, who totally ten bases with two triples, a double, and two singles. It was the most hits in a game by any Curve batter this season, surpassing four hits by multiple batters. Also, it was the second multi-triple game of the season for the Curve, joining Connor Joe.
“He hits the ball down well,” Manager Michael Ryan said. “We’re trying to get him to continue to zone in down, because when he chases up, the ball goes in the air too much. He has an unbelievable line drive swing. He’s getting pitches to hit, and he’s not missing.”
Over his last 19 games since May 28th, Escobar is hitting .431 (25-for-58).
“Lately, I’ve been swinging a lot better,” Escobar said. “I haven’t tried to do too much. I’m just trying to make a good swing and not think too much.”
Two other Curve hitters had three hits each. Jordan Luplow continued his hot streak with a fourth inning bomb and a couple of line drive singles. It was his 16th home run of the season, which is the most by any Curve hitter before the All-Star break since 2005, when Josh Bonifay had 17 at the break.
“He has a ton of confidence right now,” Ryan said. “He’s not missing. He has some lightning quick hands and the ball is jumping off of his bat. When he muscles up and tries to pull too much, that’s when he gets into trouble. He had a great batting practice today where he was using the whole field.”
Anderson Feliz had three hits, two of them doubles. He played second base for the fourth time since being sent back to Altoona, presumably taking over most of the duties at the position with Kevin Kramer on the disabled list.
“He can hit both sides of the plate,” Ryan said. “He has good leverage off of the bat, and he’s been a spark in the two hole for us.”
Otherwise, every Curve batter had at least one RBI. Kevin Newman, Jin-De Jhang, and Wyatt Mathisen joined the party with two hits apiece.
Alex McRae looked to build upon the momentum of his last start in Portland where he went seven strong innings while allowing just one earned run. Unfortunately, he allowed a combined four runs in the fifth and sixth innings – three of them earned – and was only able to get two outs in the sixth.
He was efficient through the beginning of the game, getting quite a few ground balls; however, you could almost see him tiring late in his outing.
“He got tired,” Ryan said. “He had to throw a lot of pitches. The umpire’s zone was good, but it was a tight, hitters’ zone. He had to throw a lot of pitches and just tired late.”
An error in the fifth inning by Anderson Felix could have easily been a double play that ended the inning with no runs, so things could have very well been different for McRae. From my vantage point, he definitely pitched well early, but sitting for extended periods of time between innings could have easily made things difficult for the pitcher.
The match-up tonight saw two first place divisional teams against each other, with Altoona taking the first of the three game series. Trenton has had a terrific season so far, as they are 46-23 and six games up in the E.L. Eastern Division.
Tonight, the Curve put up a season high in runs thanks to every batter in the lineup.
“We knew we had to play an almost perfect game tonight to be on the same field as Trenton,” Ryan said. “They are really good. The guys stepped up in all three phases tonight. We continue to play like that, we will win a lot of games.” -Sean McCool
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Bradenton won 5-2 on Tuesday night, as Gage Hinsz gave them six solid innings and Logan Hill connected on his 16th home run.
Hinsz has struggled off and on this season, with the worst of it coming after he missed a start due to shoulder soreness last month. This game didn’t start off great for him. In the first inning, Clearwater scored a run on three singles and a walk. For the next five innings, he allowed no runs on four hits and a walk. Hinsz finished out strong with two strikeouts and a ground out in the sixth inning, as his pitch total got up to 93, with 64 going for strikes. Hinsz had four strikeouts and an 8:2 GO/AO ratio.
Logan Hill started the scoring for the Marauders with a solo shot in the second inning. Kevin Krause added a solo shot in the fourth inning, his sixth of the year. In the fifth, Mitchell Tolman walked, then Ke’Bryan Hayes singled. After Will Craig lined out to shortstop, Logan Hill brought home both runners with a double. Bradenton added an insurance run in the ninth. Alfredo Reyes singled, then stole second and third, before scoring on a single by Hayes.
Hill finished the game with three hits. Both Hayes and Craig had two hits. Craig continues to watch his average (.291) and on base percentage (.395) rise. He has added 24 points to his average and 27 points to his OBP since June 2nd and that includes three days off for the All-Star break during that time.
Brandon Cumpton worked around trouble in the seventh inning, giving up three hits, but no runs. He had one strikeouts. Seth McGarry gave up a run in the ninth, watching his ERA skyrocket to 1.32 on the season.
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West Virginia is off until Thursday due to the South Atlantic League All-Star break.
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Morgantown lost 3-1 on Tuesday night in their second game of the season. As we mentioned in their season preview, this isn’t the team to follow this year, so you’re probably going to get some short recaps unless a player starts breaking out. One of the few exceptions to that rule is tonight’s starter Ike Schlabach, who is the youngest player on the team at 20 years old (21 in December). He pitched for Bristol last year and looked good at times, but lacked true consistency and wasn’t getting many strikeouts. The deceptive lefty was piling up ground balls last year, so his 3:4 GO/AO ratio in this contest looks a bit off.
Schlabach went four innings in this game before reaching his 75 pitch limit,with 47 of those pitches going for strikes. He allowed two runs on three hits, with two of those hits being doubles in the second inning, both bringing home runs. He had no walks and five strikeouts, which ties his (brief) career high set last year.
Michael Suchy played his second rehab game in his return from hamate surgery. He went 0-for-3 in this game with a walk and two strikeouts. He was caught stealing after the walk.
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The DSL Pirates came into Tuesday’s game as the worst hitting team in the Dominican and that can no longer be said after an 18-9 victory against the Cubs1. The Pirates had 16 hits, eight walks and two hit batters, giving them 26 base runners in the game. They have been having trouble this season with runner in scoring position (or just hitting in general), but they went 9-for-19 with men in scoring position in this game.
Ronaldo Paulino had the big game, driving in five runs on a two-run homer in the third inning and a three-run homer in the sixth. He also added a single, a walk and scored a third run.
John Lantigua batted lead-off and scored four runs. He had two hits, a walk, two stolen bases and he drove in two runs. Catching prospect Samuel Inoa had two walks, a double and two runs scored. Emison Soto had a single, a walk, his sixth stolen base and two runs scored. Carlos Garcia hit his first triple, scored twice, drove in two runs and walked twice. Ruben Gonzalez raised his average to .333 by going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Williams Calderon and Kyle Simmons each had two hits.
The pitchers didn’t need to do well in this game with all of the support. Santiago Florez picked up the win with five runs over five innings, though just three runs were earned. Kleiner Machado allowed two runs in his only inning, while Julio Gonzalez allowed two runs in 1.2 innings. Francis Del Orbe was the only pitcher not to allow any runs for either team, throwing 1.1 shutout innings.
