At least to begin the week, the Pittsburgh Pirates and their four full-season affiliates all have .500 records or better.
Triple-A: Indianapolis Indians
After finally inching back to even, the Indianapolis Indians — sitting 4.5 games back of division lead — welcome to town the Omaha Storm Chasers. The Kansas City Royals affiliate is last in the division, with the second worst record in the International League. There aren’t many top prospects to talk about, with the sole top 5 prospect Nick Loftin on the injured list. It’s, a very veteran laden roster, as we’ve often become accustomed to with Pirates affiliates at times. What I find ironic is, with all the talk about how Triple-A and Double-A are equivalent, and wanting their prospects to face the top of top pitching, the Pirates decided to promote Henry Davis to Triple-A when the Indians will be facing one of the league’s worst pitching staffs. So, if Tank is going to hit the ground running and make a big first impression, it’s a great week to do it.
Opponent: OMAHA (ROYALS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .792 OPS
Rank: 9/20
Team ERA: 5.73
ERA Rank: 18/20
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- NICK LOFTIN (7-Day IL) | UTL | 4
- TYLER GENTRY | OF | 7
- SAMAD TAYLOR | 2B/OF | 20
- TUCKER BRADLEY | OF | 27
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE
The Altoona Curve are riding a five game winning streak into Richmond this week, sitting a game back of the division lead. The Richmond Flying Squirrels are the San Francisco Giants Double-A affiliate, and carry ten of the Giants’ top 30 prospects, with only one of the ten on the injured list. Back to the irony of the Davis promotion, the Flying Squirrels have the fourth best Team ERA and seven of the nine healthy prospects are pitchers. Of the two non-pitching prospects is the lone Top 100 representative of the week, Marco Luciano. The Curve have three series before the end of the first half (June 25th), and it’s a good week to keep the win streak rolling.
Opponent: RICHMOND (GIANTS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .696 OPS
Rank: 10/12
Team ERA: 4.12
ERA Rank: 4/12
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- MARCO LUCIANO | SS | 2
- MLB Pipeline Top 100: #18
- Baseball America Top 100: #31
- VAUN BROWN | OF | 5
- CARSON WHISENHUNT | LHP | 8
- MASON BLACK | RHP | 10
- LANDEN ROUPP | RHP | 13
- CARSON SEYMOUR | RHP | 17
- RANDY RODRIGUEZ | RHP | 25
- RYAN MURPHY | RHP | 26
- JOSE CRUZ | RHP | 29
- WADE MECKLER (7-Day IL) | OF | 30
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS
As is becoming a theme of this week, the Greensboro Grasshoppers are two games back of their division lead. They’ll battle Washington Nationals affiliate Wilmington Blue Rocks, who are in lockstep with the Grasshoppers, trailing them by 1.5 games. The Blue Rocks have eight of the Nationals top 30 prospects, with two of those being rehab assignments. There aren’t many names of note, other than the roster consists of a handful draft picks of recent years.
Opponent: WILMINGTON (NATIONALS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .733 OPS
Rank: 7/12
Team ERA: 4.21
ERA Rank: 5/12
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- JEREMY DE LA ROSA | OF | 8
- JAKE BENNETT | LHP | 9
- T.J. WHITE | OF | 10
- COLE HENRY (Rehab) | RHP | 12
- ANDRY LARA | RHP | 14
- TREY LIPSCOMB | 3B | 18
- ISRAEL PINEDA (Rehab) | C | 21
- JARED MCKENZIE | OF | 24
SINGLE-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
The Marauders are three games above .500, but the Clearwater Threshers should have the first half division in hand with a few weeks left. This week the Marauders will be visited by Toronto Blue Jays affiliate, the Dunedin Blue Jays. The Blue Jays roster has four healthy top 30 prospects, and probably the most interesting non-top 100 prospect in Brandon Barriera. He was Toronto’s 2022 first round pick, a LHP out of high school. He began the year with a shoulder issue, but has amassed 13.1 innings since being activated at the beginning of May. He’s walked six, while hitting four batters, but has struck out 18 so far. If there was a specific game to keep an eye out for, I think the day Barriera takes the mound would be the one to watch out for.
Opponent: DUNEDIN (BLUE JAYS)
Opponent Stats
Team OPS: .659 OPS
Rank: 9/10
Team ERA: 3.85
ERA Rank: 4/10
Top Prospects
Player | Position | Pipeline Ranking
- BRANDON BARRIERA | LHP | 2
- TUCKER TOMAN | SS | 5
- ADRIAN PINTO (7-Day IL) | SS/2B/OF | 16
- MANUEL BELTRE | SS | 20
- IRV CARTER | RHP | 27
Pirates Prospects Daily
By Tim Williams
**P2Live: Pirates Keep Winning, Rookie Ball Begins with Strong Debuts
**JP Massey is Named as Florida State League Pitcher of the Month for May
**Plenty Of Wheels In Motion After Henry Davis Promotion
Song of the Day
Jeff Reed with the pick today.
