Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Cal Mitchell Hits Two Home Runs & More

Two Cal Mitchell home runs, strikeouts galore for the Altoona pitching staff, and more in Friday night’s Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

Few hitters in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system have been more impressive this season than outfielder Cal Mitchell. Friday night Mitchell started in left field for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, going 2-for-5 with 4 RBI in a 7-5 extra innings victory. Both of Mitchell’s hits were home run, giving him 5 on the season.

On the season Mitchell is now hitting .312 with a .935 OPS. He’s collected 12 extra base hits and struck out just 14 times in 103 plate appearances. The left-handed hitting Mitchell has also stolen 6 bases. Mitchell is continuing to make it hard for the Pirates to keep him in the minors, and sooner rather than later he should make his MLB debut.

Second baseman Ji-Hwan Bae hit leadoff for the Indians, going 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. Mason Martin was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored, and Canaan Smith-Njigba was 0-for-2 but drew 3 walks. Catcher Jason Delay hit a double and drove in a run.

On the mound, top pitching prospect Roansy Contreras started and turned in a rare poor start. Contreras allowed 3 runs on 2 hits, 3 walks, a home run, and 4 strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched. Cam Vieux allowed an unearned run while striking a batter out in 1.2 innings pitched and Hunter Stratton struck out a pair in a scoreless inning pitched.

Yerry De Los Santos pitched 2 innings, striking out a batter and allowing just 1 hit. That hit, however, was a solo home run. After Mitchell homered in the top of the 10th to make the score 7-5 Indians, Austin Brice pitched a 1-2-3 bottom half of the inning to seal the deal.