Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Calvin Mitchell Has Another Solid Game

The Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates are having solid seasons thus far.  There were a couple of breakout prospects who had solid days yesterday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates currently only have their top four minor league affiliates in action thus far.  In a few weeks, the Short Season Leagues and Gulf Coast Leagues will start up.  Right now, the organization has seen pretty steady results from their minor league teams.  The Indianapolis Indians have a record of 22-18, the Altoona Curve are 22-20, the Bradenton Marauders are 23-19, and the Greensboro Grasshoppers have the best record at 29-14.  The Single-A teams have had two performers who have had really good seasons so far.

The first prospect who is breaking out is Osvaldo Bido.  Bido made the start for the Grasshoppers yesterday and defeated the Lakewood BlueClaws ofthe Philadelphia Phillies organization.  The Pittsburgh Pirates Low-A affiliate won by a score of 2-1.  Bido starred in the game throwing six innings and allowed the only run and struck out five.  The starter held the BlueClaws to just three hits and one walk.

This is just another strong start by the 6’3” Dominican Republic native.  The 23-year-old is now 6-2 on the season.  He has a 2.58 earned run average in nine starts, and has only given up more than two runs in a start twice on the year.  The most impressive thing about Bido has been the command of his pitches, he is only walking 2.18 per nine innings pitched.  Also, he is striking a solid, but unspectacular 7.32 per nine innings, a career high.  Keep in mind that although Bido is 23 years old, he did not start pitching professionally until the Bucs signed him in 2017.

Meanwhile, at High-A, the Pittsburgh Pirates 2017 second-round pick is continuing to show why he is on a Top 100 Prospect track.  Calvin Mitchell has quietly and quickly become one of the Bucs top overall hitting prospects.  The lefty started his breakout last season and got mentioned as a prospect to watch entering this season.

Well, Mitchell has not missed a beat this season.  Last night he batted second against the Fort Myers Miracle.  The game only last four innings and was postponed due to weather.  Mitchell did get two at-bats in and picked up hits in both.  That raised his season average up to an impressive .296 on the year.  He also has an on-base percentage over .330 and a wRC+ of 130.  The lefty already has five home runs, eight doubles, and three triples.  The one downside is that he is striking out 25 percent of the time, which was a concern with Mitchell coming out of the draft.

The Pittsburgh Pirates need prospects like Osvaldo Bido to breakout.  They are a smaller market team and have to find productive players through other avenues to supplement their drafts and trades.  Bido looks like he could turn into something for the Bucs one day.  Meanwhile, Mitchell continues to hit well in the lower minors and should become a Top 100 prospect if he keeps it up this season.