Updates from all over the Pirates’ farm system.
Indianapolis
Neil Walker homered last night. After his hot start, his line is headed right towards where it was last year. He’s currently at .243/.282/.486 with two homers. Brian Bixler was hitless last night, but is still zipping along at .333/.421/.545 in the two-slot, while Andrew McCutchen is only hitting .278, but he’s got two doubles and three triples already to give him a .278/.350/.500 line. Shelby Ford and Steve Pearce are struggggling.
Altoona
Brad Lincoln tossed five scoreless innings last night, striking out six and walking one. He’s got 12 strikeouts in 9 AA innings so far. Brian Friday is hitting .500/.604/.864 in six games. Most of the rest of the club is struggling, though Jared Hughes threw six no-hit innings in his debut and Jeff Sues (who recently promoted to the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5) has had three good outings so far. Jose Tabata is off to a bit of a slow start at .222/.259/.323.
Lynchburg
Pedro Alvarez hit a walk-off three-run homer and had 6 RBIs last night, but he’s still hitting just .214/.286/.484. 2008 fifth rounder Justin Wilson has a decent strikeout rate and WHIP, but he’s walking a ton of batters, while other 2008 draftees Jordy Mercer and Matt Hague are off to decent starts at the plate, though Hague’s is entirely driven by his early .364 batting average.
West Virginia
They inherited much of the State College mess from last year (they’re already 1-6), but Robbie Grossman is hitting .280/.333/.400 and Chase D’Arnaud (who’s probably playing a level low, likely because the club likes Jordy Mercer more and wants them both at short right now) is tearing it up, hitting .368/.391/.526. Last year’s 12th round pick Calvin Anderson is also killing the ball.
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