With Pirates baseball in full swing, it’s time to reveal the first edition of the minor league update. (These are based off of performances as of May 7)
AAA Indianapolis – The Indians hold the best record in AAA with a 22 – 10 record.
Gerrit Cole is 8th in the league in ERA (2.45) and is 2 – 0 with a 1.16 ERA in his last four starts.
Closer, Vic Black is tied for third in the league with 7 saves and has only allowed 3 earned runs in 15 2/3 innings (1.72 ERA) since giving up 3 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings in his first appearance of the season.
Andy Oliver leads the league with 44 strikeouts and has not allowed a run in four of his first seven starts. (2.82 ERA)
Duke Welker leads the league in batting average against for relievers (.063 3-for-48). He has only allowed a single run in his 16 innings of work.
Ryan Reid has done the same as Welker, as he has allowed one run over his 16 2/3 innings of work. (0.54 ERA).
Ivan De Jesus Jr. has batted .407 in his last seven games (11-for-27) and is hitting .351 overall.
Tony Sanchez is batting .275 for the season but is hitting at a .364 clip during the month of May.
Darren Ford and Josh Harrison are both tied for 4th in the league in stolen bases with 10.
Duke Welker was called up to the Pirates on Wednesday but didn’t see any time on the mound and was sent back down, today, to make room for Francisco Liriano, who will get the start today.
Tony Sanchez, also, got the call-up, today, as he was placed on the “Taxi Squad” in case Russell Martin has to be placed on the DL due to neck stiffness.
Note: The Taxi Squad allows teams to bring players up for a day and allows them to work out with the team but not be with them in the dugout during games. The team has until 3 hrs before the start of the next day’s game to either send them back down or make a roster move to keep them with the team.
AA Altoona – The Curve are last in the Eastern League Western division with a 12 – 19 record even though they have a league leading 3.63 ERA as of May 7th.
Jameson Tallion has allowed two earned runs or less in four of his first six starts of the season.
Stolmy Pimentel has a 0.74 ERA which is best in the league and eighth-best in all of minor league baseball. He also holds a .188 batting average against which is fourth-fewest in the league.
Tim Alderson has a .091 batting average against (4-for-44) which ranks him second in the league.
Adalberto Santos is hitting .356 (16-for-45) in his first 16 games of the season.
High A Bradenton – The Marauders have an 11 – 20 record which is second-worst in the Florida State League South division.
Nick Kingham leads the league in strikeouts with 40. He ranks 10th in ERA (2.76) and 4th in WHIP (0.95).
Jhonathan Ramos ranks third for relievers, in the league, in batting average against (.143).
Gregory Polanco is second in the league in stolen bases (12) and is batting .421 (8-for-19) with 3 doubles and 2 homers in his last six games.
Low A West Virginia – The Power are in 3rd place In the South Atlantic League Northern division with a 13 – 16 record. They rank 3rd in the league, as of May 7th, in batting average (.268), runs (159), total bases (409), and homers (24).
Tyler Glasnow has an ERA of 1.80 in his first five starts (20 innings/ 4 earned runs).
Stetson Allie ranks 2nd in the league in homers (8), slugging percentage (.645), and total bases (71). He’s 4th in RBI (26), 5th in hits (39) and batting average (.355). He was drafted by the Pirates as a pitcher, but changed positions when his pitching didn’t go as planned.
Josh Bell leads the league in RBI with 30. That, also, ranks 4th in all of minor league baseball. He is 2nd in the league with doubles (12).
(Image Credit: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)
