10 Observations: Power hitting prospects performing, pitchers returning from injuries
10 Observations: Power hitting prospects performing, pitchers returning from injuries
Observations from the previous week in the Pirates' minor leagues
Murphy 7/1—I try not to be too hyperbolic in what I say, but I do toss it out there sometimes without realizing it. I mentioned in the NS9 discord about Charles McAdoo looking ‘overmatched’ at times over the previous weekend and the first few at-bats this week.
He had eight strikeouts in a four-game stretch, and there were some ugly swings involved.
This kind of thing will happen; I’ve always been of the mind that I actually like seeing players go through this kind of stuff in the minors—it gives them an opportunity to work things out, adapt, and adjust.
They might as well get used to doing it in the minors because it’s going to happen to them in the majors.
He didn’t have the best of weeks but still managed to squeeze a few flashes to remind you that the ability to make adjustments is there.
Murphy 7/1—I’ve been impressed with Axiel Plaz during his time in Bradenton. His time in the FCL was never really anything to write home about, yet he’s been able to force his way into keeping his roster spot in Single-A at 18. There’s chase and some swing and miss, but the power has been legit. The nine home runs in 40 games is an insane pace, especially for his age and league.
(Edit: He hit another later in the week, and now has 10. He had four hits during the week; all went for extra bases, and three cleared the fence).
Murphy 7/1—Between watching all of his plate appearances for my breakdown and then seeing him again on Monday, it’s starting to feel a little bit like the Mitch Jebb we saw in Bradenton that gave me a glimmer of excitement over his contact ability.
It’s hard to get too excited at this point; you just don’t see too much-sustained success from guys that have the lack of power he does—but man, he’s actually an exciting player to watch when he puts the ball into play. He’s showing a far better approach, drawing walks, slapping the ball the other way, and even fluked into a home run in Aberdeen—that right field wall looks really shallow.
Monday’s game was just a fun performance to watch.
WTM 7/2—Hopefully I’m not jumping the gun here, but Edward Florentino is off to quite a start in the DSL. He got a moderately large bonus — $395,000 — from the Pirates last January, possibly impacted some by the fact that he’s a little bit older than the typical position player signee; he’ll turn 18 in November. Still, the pattern with the Pirates has been for their top international hitters, going by bonus amount, to struggle badly in their introduction to pro ball.
It’s not a good idea to place much stock in DSL stats, but I guess I’d rather see a guy hitting than not. Florentino is hitting, currently 271/442/492, with a lot of help from a 5-for-6 game last Monday that included two doubles and a triple. The scouting reports on him were hopeful about the power but concerned about swing-and-miss potential. So far, that’s not happening. In 77 PAs, he has 14 walks and ten strikeouts.
Murphy 7/2—Every time I watch Dominic Perachi's pitch, the more I see Barry Zito.
No, I don’t think he’s going to be the next Barry Zito, but going down to the windup, fastball/curveball combination, it all just looks very familiar.
Oh, and he’s just dominating the High-A level right now and should probably be back in Altoona right now.
Murphy 7/2—I try not to get too excited about lower-level relievers, but Ryan Harbin has that kind of stuff you really want to buy into.
He has a mid-to-upper-90s sinker, which is a bowling ball of a pitch that should allow him to get a lot of ground balls. It’s a nice sinker/slider combination that would work well in the middle innings out of the bullpen.
As is the case with many lower-level relievers, it’s his control that really sets him back right now. He has 15 walks in 21.2 total innings pitched (between the Complex, Bradenton, and Greensboro).
WTM 7/3—Fun factoid: Despite having played in fewer than half of Bradenton’s games, Axiel Plaz is battling for the league lead in home runs. Through July 3, he was tied for third with ten. Plaz has just 128 PAs, while the four players tied with or ahead of him have between 236 and 316.
Murphy 7/4—I don’t know what the plan is for Aaron Shortridge and Mike Burrows' rehab, but I can’t help but think that the Marauders’ rotation being decimated by injuries is a reason they are hanging out in Bradenton. It would have been hard to see a path for them to get through the week without either of them to eat at least the innings that they did.
Burrows has struggled a bit with his command, which is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to coming back from Tommy John. Shortridge looked sharp his last time around, so it will be interesting to see how the Pirates handle them this coming week.
Nola Jeffy 7/6 — Axiel Plaz isn’t the only one who’s mashing in his respective league. Nick Cimillo, the Pirates’ 16th-round pick in 2022, looks like he should probably be given a chance to prove his case in Double-A. As of now, he has 17 homers in 46 games. He actually began the year on the Development List, activated on April 17th, played sparingly at first, and has since teed off in his 162 plate appearances. He actually has one more homerun than Bryan Gonzalez of the Greenville Drive, who has hit 16 home runs in 200 at-bats. Shawn Ross is tied for second with 16 long balls in 168 at-bats.
Nola Jeffy 7/6 — In some cases, the Pirates are seeing the return of players at the right time. With Jared Jones, and now Bailey Falter, being added the the 15-Day IL, the returns of Martin Perez, Quinn Priester, and Marco Gonzales couldn’t have come at a better time. Braxton Ashcraft was added to the IL but returned on Saturday.
Initially, this was going to be a somber observation, but it appears that the Pirates are actually utilizing the IL for rest (in some cases). Alessandro Ercolani was added to the IL on June 25th but returned on Friday, July 6th. Aaron Shortridge and Mike Burrows are working their way back, with Shortridge tossing four shutout innings and striking out seven for the Marauders on the Fourth of July. Burrows got his fastball up to 95.4 MPH in his start on Friday.
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There is a place for guys like Jebb if they can hit and get on base. Arraez and Kwan illustrate that. It is way too early to think Jebb is one of those guys but I like an offense that has a variety of hitters. I want high OBP guys that are on for the more powerful hitters. Those are the guys that drive comebacks and strong offenses.
Another guy I wanted to note, Po-Yu Chen is on a bit of a run. 7.98 ERA in April, 4.38 in May, 2.95 ERA in June, and 1.29 in his one July start.
2.64 ERA from his May 26th start through his July 5th start. Benn going up against some of the better offenses too.