Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League news and notes

July 19th, 2021

Indianapolis - Beau Sulser is 2-1 with a 2.43 ERA (40.2ip/11er) in his last eight apperances (seven starts) dating back to June 4 (he ranks third in the league with a 3.41 ERA this season)...Sulser ranks ninth among all Triple-A East League pitchers in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (8.75)...Braeden Ogle has recorded a 0.90 ERA (10.0ip/1er) and .152 batting average against in his last seven appearances...Shea Spitzbarth has a 0.42 ERA (21.1ip/2r/1er) in his last 18 appearances...Fabricio Macias is hitting .281 (9-for-32) in nine games with Indianapolis since being promoted from Greensboro on July 6...Macias ranked fourth in the High-A East League in batting average (.316) and RBI (38) and sixth in hits (54) at the time of his promotion to Triple-A...Bligh Madris is hitting .300 (15-for-50) this month and connected for his second career grand slam yesterday...Anthony Alford is hitting .405 (30-for-74) with a .537 OBP and 1.213 OPS in his last 23 games dating back to June 4...Five of Indianapolis’ last six games have been decided by one run.

Altoona - Mason Martin leads all of minor league baseball with 52 home runs since the beginning of the 2019 season (Patrick Kivlehan and Sam Hilliard are tied for the second-most in that time with 49 apiece)...Martin has the 10th-highest slugging percentage (.600) among all players in MILB with at least 200 plate appearances...Jonah Davis’ .405 BABIP ranks third among all players in the Northeast League...Canaan Smith-Njigba’s walk percentage (15.6) is the fourth-highest among all Northeast League players...Rodolfo Castro had three hits in his return to the Curve yesterday and ranks third in the Northeast League in batting (.315)...Josh Bissonette is 11-for-22 with a double, four RBI and five walks in his last six games...Omar Cruz earned his first Double-A win in his last outing and has a 1.77 ERA (20.1ip/4er) in four starts since being promoted to the Curve...Cam Vieaux is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA (15.0ip/3er) and 18 strikeouts in his last three starts...Trey McGough is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA (17.0ip/3er) in three starts this month...Hunter Stratton has made six straight scoreless appearances (7.1ip/10so) and has been scored upon just three times in 19 appearances this season (42 of his 73 outs have come via strikeouts)...The Curve went 4-2 on their homestand and will begin a six-game road trip tomorrow at Somerset (Altoona’s 3.69 road ERA is the second-lowest among all Northeast League teams).

Greensboro - Nick Gonzales recorded his first career four-hit game Sunday and is 7-for-12 in his last three games..Aaron Shackelford and Matt Fraizer are both tied for third among all High-A East League hitters with 15 home runs...Matt Fraizer’s 158 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) are the fourth-highest among all High-A East players...Matt Fraizer ranks fourth in all of MILB in total bases (142); Fraizer also ranks third in the High-A East League in batting average (.312) and OPS (.961), sixth in OBP (.393) and slugging (.568), tied for first in extra base hits (31) and first in runs scored (46) and total bases (142)...Jared Triolo has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, going 18-for-54 (.333) with four doubles, a home run and eight RBI; Triolo also ranks tied for eighth in the league with 39 RBI...The Grasshoppers rank third in the league in home runs (91) and fourth in runs scored (351)...Bear Bellomy leads the league in wins (seven) and has recorded a 2.52 ERA (25.0ip/7er) in 15 appearances since the beginning of June...Quinn Priester has a 2.57 ERA (28.0ip/8er) in his last six starts...Greensboro is 7-3 in its last 10 games and has the third-best record (40-26) in the 12-team High-A East League.

Bradenton - The Marauders have recorded the third-most strikeouts (739) in all of MILB, trailing only San Jose (822) and Modesto (762)...Bradenton has the second-best record (41-24) in the Southeast League...Bradenton’s pitching staff ranks second in the league with a 3.06 ERA this month...Bradenton’s bullpen had its 15.1 consecutive scoreless innings streak end yesterday...The Marauders have the second-best run differential (+72) in the Southeast League...Sergio Campana’s 9.3 Speed Score (7.0 is considered excellent) according to FanGraphs is tops among all Southeast League players and eighth among all players in MILB with at least 150 plate appearances..Maikol Escotto’s .394 BABIP is the fifth-highest among all Southeast League hitters...Sammy Siani’s walk percentage (19.0) is the 12th-highest in all of MILB among players with at least 200 plate appearances...Hudson Head’s six home runs since June 1 are tied for the fifth-most among all Southeast League players (he is tied for third in the league this season with nine home runs)...Endy Rodriguez has reached base safely in 16 straight games, going 19-for-62 (.306) with five doubles, a home run, eight RBI and .362 OBP...Eli Wilson has reached base safely in 15 of his last 16 games, going 15-for-45 with a .475 OBP and .919 OPS...Wilson ranks third in the Southeast League in OBP (.500), sixth in OPS (.989) and sixth in batting (.340) this season...Yoyner Fajardo is hitting at a .360 clip (9-for-25) with two doubles and a home run in 10 games this month...Eddy Yean is 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA (18.1ip/4er), 24 strikeouts and 0.76 WHIP in his last five relief appearances...Oliver Mateo has struck out 14 batters in 6.1 scoreless innings in his last three relief appearances....Logan Hofmann is averaging 12.1 strikeouts per 9.0 innings (57 strikeouts in 42.1 innings) in his 13 appearances (five starts)...Domingo Gonzalez is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA (19.0ip/3er) and 28 strikeouts in his last four appearances (one start)...Enmanuel Mejia has allowed one unearned run while posting a .111 batting average against (7-for-63) in 16 relief appearances (19.0ip) this season...Jared Jones is averaging 15.0 strikeouts per 9.0 innings (50 strikeouts in 30.0 innings) in nine games (six starts)...Santiago Florez ranked third in all of MILB in ERA (1.37) and fourth in batting average against (.165) at the time of his promotion to Greensboro on Tuesday; he also ranked first in the Southeast League in ERA, batting average against, WHIP (0.85), winning percentage (.714) and third in strikeouts (71) at the time of his promotion to High-A.

FCL (Florida Complex League) Black & Gold - Valentin Linarez was named the Florida Complex League Pitcher-of-the-Week today for the week of July 12-18...Linarez struck out 10 batters in 5.0 innings in his last outing and ranks second in the league in strikeouts (21)...The FCL Pirates Gold team has the best record (11-3) and best run differential (+47) in the league...The FCL Pirates Gold team also leads the league in batting average (.280) and ranks third in ERA (3.31)...Joelvis Del Rosario struck out seven batters in 5.0 innings in his last start on July 5 against the FCL Red Sox...Po-Yu Chen ranks fourth in the league in ERA (0.64) and WHIP (0.64) and ninth in batting average against (.176)...Drake Fellows has tossed 8.0 scoreless innings in his first three appearances (two starts)...Christian Charle is 3-0 with a 0.69 ERA (13.0ip/1er) and 13 punchouts in three relief appearances...Daniel Rivero has knocked in a run in three straight and five of his last six games (eight RBI total during the stretch)...Juan Jerez is tied for sixth in the league with 13 hits this month...Rayber Romero is hitting .344 (11-for-32) in 11 games this month.

DSL (Dominican Summer League) Black & Gold - Eddy Rodriguez is 5-for-11 (.455) after his first four games and is tied for the league lead with seven RBI..Jesus Castillo has reached base safely in 10 of his first 19 plate appearances and has a .526 on-base percentage...Eliecer Romero struck out five batters in 3.0 scoreless innings in his first start of the season.

Seven of Pittsburgh’s eight minor league affiliates have produced a .500 or better record coming into today; the lone exception is the DSL Pirates Black team with a 2-3 record...Pittsburgh’s minor league system has produced a 172-124 record (.581); the third-best winning percentage among all organizations behind Tampa Bay (.661) and New York Yankees (.658).