Below are the top Runs Created* totals in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system from the last week. The rankings include every hitter who had an at-bat for a Pirates’ minor league affiliate, not including DSL teams, and with no limitations on whether the hitter has prospect eligibility. Players who spent time at different levels are counted multiple times, once for each level, rather than combining their stats. Notes on the top ten players from the last week can be found below the chart.
*Runs Created is a stat created by Bill James used to estimate how many runs an individual contributes to his team. There are many formulas for runs created. For these purposes the basic formula is used. That formula is ((H + BB) * (1B + (2*2B) + (3*3B) + (4*HR))) / (AB + BB).
Josh Bell left the West Virginia Power game on Friday after hurting his knee earlier in the game. Before that he had done enough at the plate to be the top hitter in the system for the week. Bell went 9-for-21 with four doubles and two walks last week. There’s no update on the status of his injury, although he won’t be playing in the SAL All-Star game.
Stetson Allie will be promoted to Bradenton this week, after the SAL All-Star game. Allie finished strong in West Virginia last week, going 6-for-17 with two doubles, his 17th homer of the year, and seven walks. He will participate in the SAL Home Run Derby tonight, the All-Star game tomorrow, and move up to Bradenton on Thursday.
Josh Harrison has been hitting well with Indianapolis, and went 8-for-22 with a double, triple, and a homer last week. In his time in Triple-A he has a .302/.367/.449 line in 205 at-bats.
Jarek Cunningham’s biggest tool in his minor league career has been his power from the middle infield spot. He added two more homers this week, giving him 13 on the year, which is third in the system behind Andrew Lambo and Stetson Allie. Cunningham also went 5-for-15 in the last week. On the season he is hitting for a .234/.318/.477 line in 218 at-bats. The power and the walks are there, but he’s not hitting for average which is going to be needed for upper level success.
Brett Carroll is 30-years-old this year, so he’s not a prospect like Allie, Lambo, or Cunningham. He is fourth in the minor league system in homers, behind those three. Carroll added two more this past week, giving him 12 on the season.
With the problems that Michael McKenry has been having in the majors throwing out runners, some have called for Tony Sanchez to be called up to the majors. Sanchez continues hitting, going 6-for-19 with two doubles and a homer, and finishing sixth on this list in the last week. The downside is that Sanchez has had some throwing problems, which makes him similar to McKenry at the moment with the caught stealing issues.
Adalberto Santos went 6-for-14 last week, finishing seventh on the list. Santos got off to a great start with Altoona, but has since seen his average drop due to a rough month of May where he hit for a .200/.316/.274 line in 95 at-bats. Santos is doing better in June, with a .306/.419/.417 line in 36 at-bats.
Among all of the productive hitters in West Virginia, Eric Wood has been one of the bigger surprises. The third baseman went 5-for-18 with two doubles and his sixth homer of the year.
Alex Dickerson got off to a slow start this year after making the jump to Altoona. He’s been doing great in the month of June, hitting for a .286/.326/.548 line in 42 at-bats. Dickerson went 6-for-17 with three doubles in the last week, finishing in the top ten.
Dilson Herrera rounded out the top ten this week, going 7-for-25 with two doubles and a homer. On the season Herrera has a .282/.343/.436 line in 220 at-bats.
