Pirates Prospect Update: Altoona Curve's pitching, Braxton Ashcraft, Termarr Johnson

Last week in the Pirates' minor-league system, we witnessed some incredible performances from the top prospects in the organization. Pitching continues to be the strength in the Pirates' farm system throughout all levels, but now we are seeing hitters like Termarr Johnson go on complete tears.

Pirates' affiliate the Altoona Curve has an incredible pitching staff, including top prospects and unranked names.

Last week, Pirates top prospects Bubba Chanlder and Thomas Harrington delivered two incredible starts. Chandler allowed just two hits in 7.2 scoreless innings to drop his earned run average on the season to 3.65 and his WHIP to 1.04. Harrington threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and two walks. This lowered his earned run average to 2.56 and his WHIP to 1.03. These two are ranked very highly in the Pirates' top 30, but there are a few other unranked prospects performing very well on the mound by their side.

Po-Yu Chen delivered seven innings of one-run ball to continue his hot streak of good starts. In the month of June, Chen posted an earned run average of 2.95 and a WHIP of 1.12. After this start and June's work, his earned run average on the season sits at 4.12 with a WHIP of 1.30.

Eddy Yean has also been a pleasant surprise in Altoona's bullpen. After struggling for years, Yean got promoted to Double-A and has impressed. In 45 innings, Yean has a 3.20 earned run average with a WHIP of 1.24 and has struck out 38 batters. The Josh Bell trade looked terrible for a while, but Yean is showing some life to it.

Braxton Ashcraft returns from injury and has another dominant outing

Fifth-ranked Pirates prospect Braxton Ashcraft returned from the Injured List and relieved a rehabbing Marco Gonzales. In that outing, Ashcraft threw three scoreless innings with three strikeouts and allowed three hits. Since joining the Indianapolis Indians, he has a thrown 18.1 innings with a 0.49 earned run average and a WHIP of 0.95 while striking out 13 batters.

Termarr Johnson stays hot with 10-game hitting streak

Termarr Johnson continues his comeback on the season with a 10-game hitting streak. During the hit streak, Johnson has a batting average of .404 with two home runs and eight runs batted in. He has also hit two doubles and has walked eight times.

On the season, Johnson has brought his batting average up to .244 with nine home runs and 36 runs batted in. He also has an OPS of .793, which includes an on-base percentage of .397 and a slugging percentage of .396. His wRC+ is at 130 and his strikeout percentage sits at 22.4%.

A big week approaches for the Altoona Curve pitching staff, as Chandler and Harrington both look to lead this impressive group. Ashcraft is looking good after returning from injury, and Johnson is continuing to impress.