Pittsburgh Pirates AFL: Craig, Reynolds, Tucker Start

The Pittsburgh Pirates Arizona Fall League affiliate played again yesterday.  Here is how the prospects performed.

Yesterday, the Surprise Saguaros and the Salt River Rafters faced off against one another.  The Pittsburgh Pirates saw three of their top prospects get starts in the game.  First base prospect and former first-round pick Will Craig got the start at first base.  Meanwhile, 2017-2018 offseason trade acquisition Bryan Reynolds was placed into the designated hitter spot. Lastly, Cole Tucker got the start at shortstop.

The Pittsburgh Pirates former first-round pick Will Craig was batting fifth in the lineup.  He often is placed in the middle of lineups due to his home run power and ability to drive in runs, which he proved this past season with the Altoona Curve.

Yesterday, Craig drove in more runs.  Craig only went 1-3 on the day, however, his one hit was a big fly.  He hit it in the fourth inning off of Washington Nationals’ prospect Luis Reyes.  So, obviously, Craig was credited with a run scored and a RBI.  Also, he was hit by a pitched in the sixth inning.  He now has two home runs, three runs batted in, and five runs scored.  Craig also is batting .241/.313/.448 with nine strikeouts and one walk in eight games.

The other prospect in the Surprise starting line up for the Pittsburgh Pirates was Bryan Reynolds.  Reynolds, of course, came over in the Andrew McCutchen trade and is a former second-round pick out of Vanderbilt.  He spent all of 2018 with the Altoona Curve and had a productive season.  Reynolds took the successful season and is now getting an opportunity to show his talents at the Arizona Fall League.

Reynolds was placed fourth in the Surprise Saguaros batting lineup.  This is a little different for Reynolds, as he projects more of a top of the lineup type hitter.  Still, he was able to get four at-bats yesterday.  Reynolds picked up one hit in four at-bats and a run scored.  He singled on a ground ball to left field off of Nationals’ prospect Ben Braymer.

The last Pittsburgh Pirates prospect to start in the game was Cole Tucker who batted second and raised his batting average.  His batting average went up to .310 after going 1-3 with a walk.  Tucker also drove in a run when he hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first.  His single came in the bottom of the third with a line drive up the middle.

All in all, the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects all at least were on base and made some things happen in terms of driving players in and scoring runs. Surprise ended up losing the game by a score of 8 to 5.