A look at how the current top 30 prospects did today. If a player is in the majors for an extended time, 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 Mid-Season Update, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player pages.
1. Mitch Keller, RHP, Altoona – [insert_php]
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2. Austin Meadows, CF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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3. Shane Baz, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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4. Cole Tucker, SS, Altoona – [insert_php]
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5. Kevin Newman, SS, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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6. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Bradenton -[insert_php]
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7. Will Craig, 1B, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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8. Elias Diaz, C, Pirates – [insert_php]
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9. Taylor Hearn, LHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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10. Gage Hinsz, RHP, Bradenton – [insert_php]
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11. Calvin Mitchell, OF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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12. Braeden Ogle, LHP, Bristol – [insert_php]
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13. Edgar Santana, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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14. Kevin Kramer, 2B, Altoona -[insert_php]
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15. Steven Brault, LHP, Pirates– [insert_php]
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16. Clay Holmes, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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17. Jordan Luplow, LF, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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18. Luis Escobar, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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19. Max Kranick, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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20. Steven Jennings, RHP, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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21. Adrian Valerio, SS, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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22. Nick Kingham, RHP, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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23. Conner Uselton, OF, GCL Pirates – Disabled List
24. Max Moroff, INF, Pirates – [insert_php]
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25. Dovydas Neverauskas, RHP, Pirates – [insert_php]
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26. Eric Wood, 3B, Indianapolis – [insert_php]
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27. Eduardo Vera, RHP, West Virginia – [insert_php]
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28. Logan Hill, LF, Altoona – [insert_php]
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29. Tyler Eppler, RHP, Indianapolis -[insert_php]
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30. Lolo Sanchez, CF, GCL Pirates – [insert_php]
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Indianapolis lost 11-5 to Syracuse on Friday night. Tyler Eppler was a late replacement for Steven Brault, as Brault was called up to the Pirates not long before game time. The spot start didn’t go well for Eppler, who gave up five runs in the first inning, then two more in the second and fourth innings. Eight of the nine runs he allowed were earned and he surrendered ten hits over his four innings of work. Indianapolis put up some decent offense, but the large deficit early was too much to overcome.
Danny Ortiz connected on a two-run homer in the fifth inning, his 13th of the season. Christopher Bostick hit his 31st double of the season and drove in a run. Kevin Newman had two singles, a walk, a stolen base and two runs scored. Gift Ngoepe had two hits and an RBI. Jacob Stallings has hit well since Elias Diaz was called up. He had an RBI single in this game. Austin Meadows had the day off after playing three games in a row for the first time during his return from a hamstring injury.
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Altoona had their game postponed. They will play a doubleheader tomorrow.
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Bradenton wasted a terrific pitching performance by James Marvel, dropping a 2-1 decision to Palm Beach. Marvel threw seven shutout innings on five hits and two walks. He struck out seven batters and posted a 9:4 GO/AO ratio, while throwing 105 pitches on the night. Daniel Zamora, who is having a terrific season, didn’t have it on this night. He allowed two runs on four hits in his only inning of work.
The Marauders got six hits on the night, with Ke’Bryan Hayes and Casey Hughston each hitting a pair of singles. Hughston scored the only run on an Alfredo Reyes single in the eighth inning, which briefly gave Bradenton the lead. Ty Moore had a single and a walk.
Bradenton loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with two outs on singles by Hughston and Moore, which sandwiched a walk by Kevin Krause. Stephen Alemais, who has been on fire since his promotion, couldn’t come up with the big hit, grounding out to third base for the final out.
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West Virginia starter Mike Wallace allowed five runs while recording just one out in the game. By the third inning, the Power had a 9-7 lead, on their way to a 10-8 victory. After Matt Eckelman allowed three runs over three innings, the Power went to Ronny Agustin and Julio Eusebio, who looked like they were facing a different team that the one that put up eight runs in the first four innings. Agustin and Eusebio combined for 5.2 shutout innings on three hits, two walks and ten strikeouts.
The Power had 12 hits in the game, including five extra-base hits. Adrian Valerio had a big day in the lead-off spot. He hit his 15th double and his ninth home run. He also walked and scored three runs. Clark Eagan, Albert Baur and Kevin Mahala each had two hits. Eagan had a double and two runs scored. Baur drove in three runs and connected on his 22nd double. Yoel Gonzalez and Victor Fernandez each drove in a pair of runs. Fernandez hit his third triple.
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Morgantown suffered a tough loss, going down 5-2 in 15 innings. Starter Beau Sulser threw five shutout innings in his best outing as a pro. There were still ten innings left in the game at that point and the Black Bears went the final nine innings without scoring a run. The final three runs came on a three-run homer against Adam Oller, who pitched in the All-Star game on Tuesday and had not gone more than four innings in a game this season. In his fifth inning of work, he allowed the home run with two outs.
The Black Bears put together 16 hits, while also striking out 19 times. Tristan Gray was the only one not to strike out, while Bligh Madris (0-for-7) was the only one who didn’t collect at least one hit. Robbie Glendinning had a tough day, going 1-for-7 with a single and five strikeouts. Jared Oliva had three hits and struck out four times. Deon Stafford had three hits and three strikeouts. Gray, Sandy Santos, Raul Siri and Julio de la Cruz each had two hits. Santos drove in both runs with a sixth inning triple.
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Bristol keeps pushing the limits of how bad their season can get. They did get some good news earlier in the day though. Max Kranick has joined the team for the final two weeks and should make three starts. He got a front row seat today for how bad it can get. The Pirates lost 9-1 and struck out 16 times, dropping them to 11-42 on the season.
Here are the good things that happened and you can check the boxscore if you want to see the horrors:
Alex Manasa gave up one run over 3.1 innings. This year’s 11th round pick has not allowed more than two runs in any appearance since his third outing. His ERA has gone from 11.25 that day back in early July, down to 4.80 after today.
Edison Lantigua collected two doubles and drove in the lone run. He is now batting .324 with 12 doubles on the season.
That’s it.
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The GCL Pirates lost 7-3 to the Tigers West, as Steven Jennings had his worst outing as a pro. In his eighth game, Jennings lasted just two innings, partially due to poor defense behind him in the first inning, which led to four unearned runs. He served up two homers in the game and all three runs in the second inning were earned. He gave up six hits, a walk and hit a batter, while picking up two strikeouts and posting a 5:1 GO/AO ratio.
After Jose Delgado pitched a scoreless third inning, Austin Shields had his best outing of the season and his career. He has been very wild in his last few outings, but on this day, he threw five shutout innings, giving up just one hit and one walk, while striking out three batters. It’s just the second time Shields has gone five innings during his brief career, although the first time included four walks. He is holding batters to a .156 average this season and left-handed batters have hit .125 against him since last year.
The Pirates got some help from the opposing defense, leading to two of their three runs being unearned. In the fifth inning, Manny Bejerano doubled, then Nick King singled. With two outs, Mason Martin grounded to second base, but the ball was thrown away, allowing Bejerano to score. King would come home on a balk. In the seventh inning, Martin walked, moved to third on a Calvin Mitchell single and scored on an Eddy Vizcaino single. Martin had a single and a walk in this game. Lolo Sanchez hit his ninth double and drew a walk.
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The DSL Pirates lost 5-1 on Friday, all but ending their shot at the playoffs with just seven games left in their season. The Pirates got on the board in the first, as lead-off hitter Jean Eusebio singled, then scored on a Ronaldo Paulino single. They would end up collecting just two more hits the rest of the game. The Pirates did have their chances, thanks in part to seven walks, but they went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Kyle Simmons drew three of those walks.
Santiago Florez started and allowed one run on one hit and two walks in four innings. Kleiner Machado pitched the fifth and allowed three unearned runs, partially due to his own error, although Ronaldo Paulino also committed an error in the inning. Francis Del Orbe allowed one run over the final three frames.
