Since I did so much work on Indianapolis last week, I skipped the minor league update last Friday. Let’s get back to it today. Also, I know I haven’t updated my best hitting prospects in nearly a year and I want to do that and another update to the pitcher’s list before this year’s draft. Hopefully I’ll make some headway on that front soon.
Indianapolis Indians (full team stats)
In Brad Lincoln’s last four starts, he’s thrown 25 innings, struck out 23, walked five, allowed no homers (his problem early in the year, 22 hits, and just five runs (all earned). It’s time to bump Jeff Karstens from the rotation and get Lincoln back in Pittsburgh, no question about it. Since I saw him last week, Justin Wilson had another Justin Wilson start (four strikeouts, four walks, but just two hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings) and it looks like Rudy Owens also had another solid but unspectacular outing (six innings, two runs, five hits, three Ks, no walks).
On offense, the story’s mostly the same with Alex Presley and Josh Harrison’s lines staying impressive. John Bowker’s back to his ways, clubbing Triple-A pitching to a .326/.380/.543 line with two homers in his first 11 games. Chase D’Arnaud’s also heating up quite a bit, which is good to see. On the season now he’s hitting .277/.349/.432 and that’s thanks to a strong May (.354/.386/.506). That’s a pretty batting-average dependent line whereas in the past, he’s always been a guy willing to take a walk or two. It’ll be interesting to see how he does over the course of the summer but it’s good to finally see him get hot after struggling for much of last year in Altoona.
Altoona Curve (full team stats)
Tweetin’ Tony Sanchez is heating up a bit in May; after recording one extra base hit in all of April he’s got three doubles and a triple this month. Still, he’s only slugging .349 on the season, though his line in May is .289/.360/.400. Starling Marte is keeping his batting-average heavy season going; he’s hitting .320 but with a .354 OBP and a .444 SLG. Jeremy Farrell is still pounding the ball and getting on base with his .305/.390/.500 line. Jordy Mercer is continuing his surprising power surge with seven homers and a .440 SLG, though he’s only getting on base at a .304 clip.
Aaron Pribanic continues his run of groundball-induced success on the mound. He’s thrown 40 innings this year and struck out just 19 hitters, but he’s also only walked three and given up just 33 hits, which is why his ERA is 2.48. Jeff Locke has struggled a bit of late, though. After his wonky five inning, six run, 10 strikeout, two walk start on April 25th, he’s made four starts and struck out just 10 in 21 2/3 innings to go along with 12 walks. Bryan Morris just made his first appearance in a month after oblique problems, pitching an inning in relief on Wednesday and getting shelled. Tim Alderson has now worked 26 2/3 innings in 13 relief apperances, striking out 22, walking six with a 1.01 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. I don’t know what the long-term plans are for him, but he’s just 22 and this is definitely encouraging.
Bradenton Marauders (full team stats)
Jarek Cunningham’s cooled off a bit (just one homer in his last ten games) and I’m interested to see where he goes from here. He’s still slugging .615 on the season, but he’s getting on at just a .325 rate. Aaron Baker’s cooled off some, too, though I’m sure someone (stares at Pirate broadcast booth) will use his 33 RBIs as proof he’s having an awesome season. Elevys Gonzalez, a 21-year old Venezuelan signing, has hit well of late with a .328/.394/.459 line. Catcher Ramon Cabrera, also a 21-year old Venezuelan, is hitting .380/.440/.481, though he hasn’t played as much due to being a catcher.
Kyle McPherson continues to try and convince me that he’s an alien. In 48 2/3 innings, he’s now struck out 42 and walked two. I’m sure Kyle Stark and Neal Huntington have a good reason that he’s not in Double-A and my puny human brain can’t understand it, but damn. Brett Lorin’s also pitching well and up over a strikeout per inning and given his age he’s another one that needs to head to Altoona as soon as they can find him innings. Quinton Miller has still been disappointing, though as usual it’s hard to know exactly what they have him working on that might be affecting his results. On the flip side of that, Phillip Irwin is still getting good results, even if he’s not striking a ton of batters out.
West Virginia Power (full team stats)
On offense here, Matt Curry continues to prove he doesn’t belong in the Sally League (1.220 OPS with four homers in his last ten games). Gift Ngoepe is hitting .351 in his last ten games to get his average over .300, but he hasn’t drawn a walk in that span (his season OBP is still a solid .359). Dan Grovatt, who I believe is a 2010 draftee from University of Virginia, has an interesting .294/.423/.422 line. Last year’s third rounder Mel Rojas Jr. has his batting average up to .277 after a brutal start, but that’s all he’s got as his OBP is .306 and his SLG is .305. Drew Maggi is also struggling quite a bit.
This team continues to be loaded with pitching, though. Jameson Taillon had what he called a rough outing on Twitter yesterday, but that was still just allowing three runs in four innings and he’s off to a great start in West Virginia with 18 strikeouts, three walks, and a 2.84 ERA in 19 innings (five starts). Zack Dodson hasn’t pitched since May 12, which I believe is because he’s being moved to State College for the time being. I’m not sure why that is because he was pitching well, but I’m also not sure I’d read it as a demotion because there just aren’t that many innings to go around with all of the arms the Pirates have.
Zack von Rosenberg is still striking hitters out and giving up a ton of runs, Colton Cain has been pretty excellent of late. Zac Fuesser has mostly done bullpen work of late but he’s been excellent, averaging more than a strikeout an inning and now allowing many runs. The same goes for Brooks Pounders, who’s been one of Bradenton’s most pleasant surprises in the bullpen. I may have to eventually just do an update post for all of the pitchers on this team, but you can hit the link above for all of the details.
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