10 Observations: Matoma returns, Zander Mueth, Carlos Castillo working on things

A look at the Pirates' minor league system over the past week

Murphy 6/24: It was just a week ago that I wrote about some of the struggles that Hunter Barco was going through in Triple-A. He shut me up pretty quickly, tossing six shutout innings on Tuesday. I mentioned in our top 30 update that he has the track record of throwing strikes, so it’s not surprising if he makes the proper adjustments. It’s all about getting the fastball to play better. The slider has looked fine, but he’s not going to have much success with one pitch.

Murphy 6/24: Billy Cook is starting to get things going and almost made a really nice diving catch on Tuesday. It’s a reminder that the offense doesn’t have to take a huge step forward; he’s still going to get a lot of value from the glove.

Murphy. 6/24: Tuesday was a career day for Connor Wietgrefe, punching out seven batters over six innings pitched—a personal best for him on both. To almost no one’s surprise, he’s been blown up quite a bit at home (although ironically, this game was at home), but he’s got that awkwardness on the mound from the left side that could still get hitters out in the upper levels.

Murphy 6/24: Dariel Francia was a player that I threw a dart at a board with last year, that board being FanGraphs, in trying to find some interesting players to watch in the DSL. I didn’t get a chance to see him pitch while I was in Florida, but I did catch him on the YouTube stream, and now he has made his Bradenton debut at 18.

His slider, curveball, and change-up all graded above-average on TJStats, and while the fastball velocity wasn’t the best (92.7 mph), he has the type of frame that could add some as he gets older. The fastball got about 18” of induced vertical break, but had a bit of a steeper approach angle. There’s some stuff to work with, but my dart throw is looking a lot better.

Murphy 6/25: Zander Mueth made his return to the Bradenton Marauders after a couple of rehab outings in the complex. After theorizing that he may be throwing from a higher arm slot, we were able to confirm it through TJStats. He threw from about a 4.7 release point last year, and it was measured out at the 5.7/5.8 range in his first Bradenton game. That’s led to the sinker/two-seam not grading out as high due to a steeper approach angle, so maybe there is a chance he goes more four-seam heavy at some point?

Murphy 6/26: I love to watch Wyatt Sanford play. He works counts. Puts the bat on the ball and gets on base. Once he’s on first, it won’t be long before he’s off trying to take second. He was thrown out in a game, but it didn’t deter him as he swiped the next attempt. The smoothness in the field can’t be understated, either. It’s a fun, old-school feel to his game.

Murphy 6/26: It’s been an up-and-down season for Carlos Castillo. He’s had some bad outings that were erased by one blow-up inning and then some downright bad starts overall.

Thursday was neither for Castillo, as he allowed one run over six innings. The slider continues to look like it can be, at the very least, an above-average offering. The issue continues to be his sinker not missing enough bats. He did, however, induce a lot of weak contact with it in the start.

He’s learning how to pitch and pitch deeper into games. At the very least, he’s still showing some middle reliever upside with the slider.

Murphy 6/28: It looks like Dioris Martinez did a slight overhaul with his pitches. He had an explosive fastball that could reach the upper 90s, but struggled with throwing it for strikes.

In his most recent starts, it looks like he’s switched to more of a cutter/cut-fastball heavy approach, settling in the 91-93 range and never going above 94 mph. He did mix in an actual four-seam at the top of the zone, but it was mostly cutters all game.

Can’t argue the results on Saturday: four strikeouts, one hit, and one walk over four innings pitched.

Murphy 6/28: David Matoma returned from the injured list on Saturday and faced five batters, only getting one out. The result isn’t ideal, but it was good to see him back on the mound after the way he left. Getting pulled immediately after throwing a pitch is never a good sign, but it turned out it wasn’t too serious.

I will say, he did seem more committed to throwing his slider more, which is a good sign, and something that I mentioned in our Top 30 midseason update.

Murphy 6/29: Richard Ramirez just played his first week at Single-A, and I feel like there is a lot to be encouraged about. He hit his first home run on Sunday, in a game that won’t officially count until later since it was suspended due to rain.

He walked (3) more than he struck out (2), the latter of which was one of his biggest concerns. If Ramirez starts to make more contact, while hitting the ball hard (he has multiple 100+ mph EV), he becomes that much more of an interesting prospect with his arm behind the plate.

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