Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Notes on West Virginia Power

As the Pittsburgh Pirates march toward September, their minor league affiliates are coming up on the end of their seasons. Here are some notes for the West Virginia Power.

The West Virginia Power is the Pittsburgh Pirates Low-A affiliate. They have been led by a few key members this year from recent draft classes. This includes Cal Mitchell, Travis MacGregor, Max Kranick, and Deon Stafford. Their best player this year has been breakout prospect Oneil Cruz, who is one of the youngest players on the team. Because of this, the team is making a push to make the playoffs.

However, there have been recent additions to help bolster the 61 and 56 Power team. Recently, the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted two players from Short-Season A ball. Both of the players were 2018 draft picks. The first player was #10 overall pick, Travis Swaggerty. The other player that was recently promoted is shortstop and 3rd round pick, Connor Kaiser.

Well, Swaggerty has played in two games so far. He has put together 8 at-bats and has registered 2 hits including a triple. Kaiser did not have a hit in his first game. However, he followed it up with a 2 for 4 game. The reason Kaiser has started the last two games at shortstop is because Oneil Cruz was put on the disabled list after his game on August 13th.

The other note from the West Virginia Power is regarding a player by the name of Elvis Escobar. He has been a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization since 2012 after receiving a 6 figure bonus in 2011. Escobar was an outfield prospect who had plus speed and plus defense, however, his offensive game never really developed. He hit just .151 in 40 games for the Altoona Curve this year. So part way through this year the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to try the left on the mound.

Obviously, there was not a high expectation for him, especially being the transition as in the middle of the season. Well, so far it has looked good for the 23-year-old from Venezuela. The Pittsburgh Pirates assigned him to the West Virginia Power for his debut on the mound.

So far on the year he has pitched in 11 games and has accumulated 20 innings. In those innings, he has rung up 21 batters while walking 9. This gives him a 9.45K/9IP ratio, however, a 4.05BB/9IP ratio. Still, a pretty decent starting point for a relatively inexperienced pitcher. Escobar dropped his ERA down to 2.57 last night after recording 1 scoreless inning and striking out 1.