Pittsburgh Pirates: Cal Mitchell Stays Hot, Maikol Escotto Homers & More

It’s time for our nightly roundup of action in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league farm system

As we covered on the site earlier this week few players in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system is off to a better start this season than outfielder Cal Mitchell. Wednesday night the strong start to season for Mitchell continued. The left-handed hitting Mitchell was 3-for-4 at the plate in a 5-3 victory for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, a victory that improved the Indians to 7-6 on the season.

First baseman Mason Martin also continued his strong start to the season going 1-for-2 with a walk and his 6th double of the season. Starting at third base Rodolfo Castro was 1-for-3 with a walk and his 3rd double of the season. In the early going this season Mitchell has a 1.065 OPS, Martin’s is 1.108 and Castro’s is .958.

Anthony Alford started at designated hitter as his rehab stint continues. Alford was 1-for-4 with a home run in the Indians victory. Left fielder Canaan Smith-Njigba was 1-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBI.

Osvaldo Bido started for Indy, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, on 3 hits, 3 walks, a home run allowed and zero strikeouts in 4 innings pitched. Eric Hanhold and Trey McGough each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, while Cam Alldred pitched 2 scoreless. Hunter Stratton allowed a run in the 9th but slammed the door shut in an Indian victory.

After being snowed out on Tuesday night the Double-A Altoona Curve returned to action on Wednesday. Falling to 3-7 on the season in a 4-3 extra innings loss against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Travis MacGregor started for the Curve. The righty allowed 2 runs on 2 hits, 3 walks, a home run, and 6 strikeouts in 3 innings pitched. Omar Cruz followed with 3 scoreless innings in which he struck out 3. Luis Oviedo walked a pair and allowed a run in the 7th inning. Austin Roberts pitched 2 scoreless innings before Colin Selby got tagged with the loss by allowing the runner that started the inning on second base to score in the 10th inning.

Designated hitter Connor Scott led off for the Curve and went just 1-for-5 at the plate. However, he still has a healthy 1.258 OPS thus far this season. Second baseman Nick Gonzales was 1-for-4 with a walk and a double, outfielder Jack Suwinski was 1-for-5 with a RBI, shortstop Liover Peguero and third baseman Jared Triolo were both 2-for-5 at the plate, both of Peguero’s hits were doubles. Tucupita Marcano started in left field, going 1-for-2 with a pair of walks.

At the High-A level the Greensboro Grasshoppers fell to 4-7 on the season after suffering a 5-4 loss against the Aberdeen IronBirds. Leadoff man Sammy Siani was 0-for-3 at the plate with a walk while Endy Rodriguez started at second base going 0-for-4. Center fielder Matt Gorski was 1-for-3 with a walk, while catcher Henry Davis went 1-for-3 with a RBI.

Shortstop Maikol Escotto went 1-for-4 at the plate with a home run. This was already his 4th home run of the season, which is good to see with power always being the biggest question for Escotto. Right fielder Jack Herman also hit a home run while going 2-for-3 with a walk.

Adrian Florencio started for the Grasshoppers, allowing 4 runs, 2 earned, on 5 hits, a walk, 2 home runs, and 5 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched. Ricky DeVito allowed a hit, walked a batter, and struck out 3 while allowing an unearned run in 3 innings pitched. Tyler Samaniego then pitched a scoreless 9th inning for the Grasshoppers.

The Low-A Bradenton Marauders also came up short in a 8-3 loss against the Daytona Tortugas to fall to 7-4 on the season. Luis Peralta started for the Marauders allowing 7 runs on 5 hits, 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts in 2.1 innings pitched. In 2.2 innings of relief Denny Roman allowed a run on 3 hits and a strikeout. Dante Mendoza and Yunior Thibo struck out 7 in 3 scoreless innings of relief.

At the plate Jacob Gonzalez continued his strong start to the season going 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk. Jase Bowen was 1-for-2 with a walk and his 3rd home run of the season. Juan Jerez and Mike Jarvis each had a hit for the Marauders as well.