Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Players Pushing for Recalls Shine & More

Players pushing for a return to the major leagues have a big day for Triple-A Indianapolis, a strong starting pitching performance for Low-A Bradenton and more in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

Sunday afternoon, as is often the case, was a busy one for the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. This included a 4-1 victory for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians over the Toledo Mud Heads, improving the Indians to 46-50 on the season.

Leading the way for the Indians were a group of players pushing to be recalled to the majors leagues and earning starting reps with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tucupita Marcano bat leadoff for the Indians and went 3-for-5. Left fielder Travis Swaggerty was 2-for-4 with a walk, while fellow outfielder Jack Suwinski was 2-for-3 with a double, a RBI and two walks.

All three of these players should rejoin the active roster of the Pirates and making space for them on the roster would not be difficult. Furthermore, Swaggerty should be starting in left field every day for the Pirates with Suwinski also starting every day between right field and designated hitter.

Speaking of players who the Pittsburgh Pirates should recall, Roansy Contreras, their top pitching prospect, allowed a run on four hits, he struck out five and did not walk a batter in 3 innings pitched. Understandably so he is on a strict innings limit this season, having him waste those innings in the minor leagues is nothing short of stupid.

But wait… there’s more!

Right-handed reliever Colin Holderman, who was acquired in the Daniel Vogelbach trade, pitched a scoreless inning out of the Indian bullpen. While trading Vogelbach was a very debatable move, what is not debatable is that Holderman should be in the majors. The Pirate bullpen is one of the worst in the National League and Holderman was a key piece in the Met bullpen. Yet, somehow, Ben Cherington believes Holderman should not be in the Pirate bullpen. Please, someone, make it make sense.

Greensboro falls in an early hole and never recover

Sunday afternoon the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers found themselves trailing 4-0 entering the bottom of the 4th inning. Despite scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, the Grasshoppers were never able to dig themselves out of the hole leading to an 8-4 loss. With the loss the Grasshoppers fell to 42-52 on the season.

Nick Garcia, who had been pitching better of late, turned in a poor start for the Grasshoppers. The righty allowed 4 runs on three hits, three walks, two home runs, and four strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched. Garcia now owns a 4.01 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched this season.

Santiago Florez followed Garcia, allowing a run on four hits and two strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched. After Denny Roman struck out a pair in a scoreless innings pitched, Sean Sullivan followed allowing 3 runs on three hits, a walk and a home run in 2 innings pitched.

All 4 runs the Grasshoppers scored on Sunday came via the long ball. Abrahan Gutierrez started at designated hitter and hit a solo home run, his 10th of the season. Shortstop Francisco Acuna also hit a solo home run, giving him 3 home runs with Greensboro this season.

The other two Grasshopper long balls came off the bat of third baseman Dariel Lopez, giving him 18 home runs this season. This was part of a 3-for-4 performance for Lopez who now owns an .824 OPS on the season and is pushing for a promotion to Altoona.

Starting pitching gem leads Low-A Bradenton to victory

Led by a gem from starting pitcher Po-Yu Chen, the Low-A Bradenton Marauders defeated the Lakeland Flying Tigers 5-1 on Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Marauders are once again over .500 on the season at 48-47.

Chen, one of the more intriguing and overlooked pitching prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system, pitched 7 marvelous innings for the Marauders. Chen limited the Flying Tigers to just one hit, he walked one, and struck out five in his 7 scoreless innings pitched.

7 innings pitched is a new professional career-high for Chen. The 20-year-old Taiwan native finished the month of July with 2.39 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 26.1 innings pitched in five starts. After a slow start to the season, Chen appears to be on his way to finishing the season strong Wilkin Ramos followed Chen, allowing a run on a hit and two walks in 2 innings pitched.

Jase Bowen started in center field for the Marauders and went 2-for-4. Both of Bowen’s hits were solo home runs, giving him 13 on the season and raising his OPS on the season to .808. First baseman Juan Jerez was also 2-for-4, which included hitting his 8th double of the season.

Leadoff man Tsung-Che Cheng was 1-for-4 with his 14th double of the season. Sergio Campana went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and a RBI. Catcher Darwin Baez and outfielder Josiah Dixon each drove in a run for the Marauders as well.