Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Arizona Fall League and Bae

Here is an update on how the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects did in a recent game out in Arizona. Also, an update on one of their top international prospects.

The Arizona Fall League and some of the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects are finishing up their first week of play.  So far, the Pittsburgh Pirates bats have shown well, but the pitching prospects have been rather shaky.  Here is what their numbers look like after one week of playing in the super prospect league.

Dario Agrazal has pitched just five innings in the first week of play.  He pitched all of them in just one start where he gave up five runs on eight hits, giving himself an ERA of 9.00.  Geoff Hartlieb, a relief prospect, has thrown in two games so far totaling 2.1 innings pitched.  In his first 1.1 innings of work, he gave up two earned runs on three hits.  His second outing went much better throwing a scoreless inning and notching a save. His earned run average sits at 7.71.

The best Pittsburgh Pirates pitches thus far, at least statistically speaking, has been lefty Blake Weiman.  Weiman has only thrown in one game so far pitching 1.2 innings.  He gave up one earned run giving himself a 5.41 ERA.  The same goes for Matt Eckelman, who has only thrown in one game and one inning.  He gave up one run in that inning.

Now on the offensive side of things, the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects have been a little more involved.  Bryan Reynolds has gotten the least amount of playing time out of the hitting prospects thus far. The former San Francisco Giant draft pick has posted 7 at-bats, picking up two hits and two walks giving him a .286/.500/.286 slash line.  So far, Reynolds has played in right field.

Next up is first base prospect Will Craig.  Craig has seen time as a first baseman, a designated hitter, and a pinch hitter.  So far the Pittsburgh Pirates 2016 first round pick has played in five games with 17 at-bats, producing five hits including a home run and two RBIs.  His slash line is .294/.333/.471.

Cole Tucker has been the best performing prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates so far.  He has played in three games and has accumulated 14 at-bats. The shortstop has put up a slash line of .357/.412/.357.  That includes five hits, three runs batted in, and four runs scored.  Meanwhile, he has also walked twice and stolen four bags.

Meanwhile, there is an update regarding one of the Pittsburgh Pirates top international signings from last year.  Infield prospect Ji-hwan Bae was accused of assault on his girlfriend.  The incident occurred in 2017. Earlier this year, Bae had to leave the United States to appear for a hearing back in the spring.  He returned and played the rest of the season.  Well, Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic, has reported that Bae has been found guilty on the incident.  Bae will not spend time in prison but does have to pay a fine.  Also, there is a strong possibility that the MLB will hand out some sort of punishment.