Pittsburgh Pirates: Triple-A Indy has Three All Stars

The Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis had three players selected as International League all-stars.  Here is who was selected.

The Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate has a pretty talented group of players.  The Indianapolis Indians are currently 42-33 and are in second place in their respected division in the International League.  The team at one point had top prospect Austin Meadows, and they’ve seen prospects like Jose Osuna, Nick Kingham, and Max Moroff move up and down between Triple-A and the big leagues.  Still, the team has a pretty impressive lineup of prospects.  Players like Kevin Newman, Kevin Kramer, Jordan Luplow, Chris Bostick, and JT Brubaker are on the club.  With that, the team has three players who were elected to the all-star game.

The first prospect is a no-brainer and should get a lot of Pittsburgh Pirates fans excited.  Kevin Newman, Indy’s shortstop, was selected to the all-star game.  Newman, of course, is one the Pittsburgh Pirates top infield prospects and was a first-round pick in 2015.  He is putting together a real solid season slashing .305/.355/.383.  While he is not hitting for a lot of power, he is still hitting effectively out of the leadoff spot, where he is batting .325/.352/.439.  Also, he has only struck out 31 times while walking 19 times in his 67 games. Seems like something the Pittsburgh Pirates could use in their lineup sooner rather than later.

Former Big League Reliever

The second all-star selected is a reliever that spent time with the big league club this season.  Dovydas Neverauskas has struggled in his 11 big league innings this year, pitching to an ERA over 10.  However, he has been nearly unhittable with Indianapolis thus far.  He has thrown in 19 games and put together a total of 25.1 innings.  In those innings, he has posted a 1.78 ERA while striking out 34 batters.  One issue he has had in the minors is that he has walked 17 hitters.  This shows that he is still struggling with command, something that will plague any reliever at the big league level.  Still, his pure ERA and strikeouts numbers earned him a selection as a Triple-A all-star.

The last all-star is a player that appeared on the Pittsburgh Pirates last season in a limited role, but has not yet this season.  Utility man, and now everyday Indy centerfielder, Chris Bostick is the team’s third selection.  Bostick was acquired two off-seasons ago from the Nationals organization.  This year he has played exclusively in the outfield and took over centerfield duties once Austin Meadows was promoted to the bigs.  While he can play multiple positions including infield, Bostick has really impressed with his bat.  On the season, he is slashing .291/.343/.437 with 20 doubles, four home runs, and three triples.  In his 67 total games, he has struck out 57 times and has walked 20 times.

Next: A Look at Double-A Pitchers

All-Star Snubs?

All in all, the three players listed above are worthy of all-star selections.  However, some players may have been snubbed.  In particular, Indy second baseman Kevin Kramer.  Kramer has put together a really solid season batting .278/.339/.498 with 33 extra base hits including 11 home runs.  However, he only batted .238 in May, which might be what cost him some votes.  Also, players like Nick Kingham and Jose Osuna have the numbers of Triple-A all starts, but they probably have not appeared in enough games due to their big league stints this season.