Morning Rundown: Braxton Ashcraft placed on injured list, Hunter Barco pitches five no hit innings
Morning Rundown: Braxton Ashcraft placed on injured list, Hunter Barco pitches five no hit innings
Multiple pitchers placed on injured list
Braxton Ashcraft was placed on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to June 27. He’s made three starts in Triple-A since being promoted and has allowed just one run in 15.1 innings pitched.
Perhaps the most major league-ready pitching prospect in the system, Ashcraft, was the subject of much debate on how best to use him should he be called up to the majors.
He’s already thrown 69 innings this season, which is 16 more than what he threw in 2019—his original career-high. In his first year back from Tommy John surgery, Ashcraft threw 52.2 innings while on a very strict pitch count.
Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentions that Ashcraft’s injury doesn’t appear serious.
Hunter Barco had a brilliant outing on Friday, pitching five no-hit innings against Jersey Shore. He struck out a career-high nine batters in the five frames while needing just 58 pitches to get through the outing.
Barco allowed eight earned runs in 4.2 innings pitched in his first two outings in May. Since then, he hasn’t allowed a run in his last 10 innings (three games).
C July Vittini assigned to DSL Pirates Gold from DSL Pirates Black
DSL Pirates Black placed RHP Luis Joseph on the 7-day injured list
DSL Pirates Gold placed C Angel Perez on the 7-day injured list
FCL Pirates placed RHP David Matoma on the 7-day injured list
Greensboro Grasshoppers placed RHP Alessandro Ercolani on the 7-day injured list
Indianapolis Indians placed RHP Braxton Ashcraft on the 7-day injured list
RHP Chris Gau assigned to Altoona Curve from Indianapolis Indians
3B Jake Lamb assigned to Indianapolis Indians
Greensboro Grasshoppers activated RHP Darvin Garcia from the 7-day injured list
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Top Exit Velocity
Nick Gonzales - PIT - 110.4 mph - Double
Yasmani Grandal - PIT - 107.7 mph - Groundout
Gilberto Celestino - IND - 105.9 mph - Groundout
Omar Alfonzo - BRD - 105.4 mph - Single
Seth Beer - IND - 105.3 mph - Single
Top Pitch Velocity
Colin Holderman - PIT - 98.2 mph
Colin Holderman - PIT - 97.6 mph
Brady Feigl - IND - 94.8 mph
Brady Feigl - IND - 94.7 mph
Brady Feigl - IND - 94.7 mph
Most Whiffs
Hunter Barco - GBO - 17
Thomas Harrington - ALT - 15
Martin Perez - PIT - 12
Emmanuel Chapman - ALT - 9
Connor Oliver - BRD - 8
Nick Dombkowski - IND - 8
Indianapolis Indians - 7 vs Rochester Red Wings - 14
Top Hitter - Joshua Palacios: 4-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B
Top Pitcher - Brady Feigl: IP, 2 H, 3 K
Altoona Curve - 2 vs Akron RubberDucks - 4
Top Hitter - Joe Perez: 1-3, R, 2 RBI, HR
Top Pitcher - Thomas Harrington: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, BB, 6 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 14 vs Jersey Shore BlueClaws - 1
Top Hitter - Lonnie White Jr.: 2-4, 3 R, 3 RBI, 3B, HR
Top Pitcher - Hunter Barco: 5 IP, BB, 9 K
Bradenton Marauders - 2 vs Clearwater Threshers - 5
Top Hitter - Solomon Maguire: 1-2, R, 2 RBI, HR
Top Pitcher - Connor Oliver: 3 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 K
FCL Pirates - 1 vs FCL Orioles - 0
Top Hitter - Jhonny Severino: 1-3, HR, R, RBI
Top Pitcher - Greiber Mendez: 3.1 IP, H, 2 BB, 5 K
DSL Pirates Black - 4 vs DSL Cubs Red
Top Hitter - Andres Villafane: 1-3, HR, R, RBI
Top Pitcher - Marlon Quintana: 4 IP, H, 2 K
DSL Pirates Gold - 6 vs DSL Astros Orange
Top Hitter - Miguel Rodriguez: 2-4, R, 3B, RBI
Top Pitcher - Dariel Francia: 3.2 IP, 5 K
I personally wouldn’t mind seeing them use Ashcraft as a reliever to keep his innings down. The stuff playing up might be equivalent to trading for a high end reliever. Kudos to Barco, his K rate and GB rate look quite impressive. Along with Harrington and Burrows they have some good options to fill in behind the big dogs over the next couple of years.
Hoy hoy!
Went down to watch the Curve get beat by the Akron Rubber Ducks last night on a perfect night for baseball. You can see the gameday boxscore that our hosts have lovingly posted above. Here is my in-depth take on a good game.
Great thing about AA minor league baseball, is you can find things in a group of players that are fun to watch.
On the pitching side, got to see our #6 prospect Thomas Herrington, who took the loss to go to 0-2. My impression of Herrington was underwhelming. (This from a guy who watched Ashcraft be underwhelming early this season.) His velocity was not impressive, but he got a lot of swing and miss as you can see in the game recap above, cut and pasted below.
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Top Pitcher - Thomas Harrington: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, BB, 6 K
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Elsewise, the pitcher that stood out to me was Emmanuel Chapman, 25, out of Boguanos, Cuba. He was signed as a minor league free agent. Here is the rap sheet on him from the game-day program:
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"Chapman was signed by the Pirates this offseason out of Cuba for his first professional experience. The right-hander opened the season with Greensboro and went 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 12 outings, striking out 23 batters with just six walks. Chapman joined Altoona in the end of May."
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Chapman pitched 2.2 innings last night, allowing no base runners and striking out five. He threw 31 pitches, 24 for strikes. He's big; listed at 6'6" and 255. And I believe I heard on the Curve broadcast that he was a Cuban defector. He entered in the 6th pitching out of a Grant Ford (bases loaded?) jam. I don't know if bucsondeck has anything on him, but he passed the eye test for me last night in Toon-Town. Would love to see more on the player.
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The pitcher who wowed me last night was not in our system. Guy name of Austin Peterson who'd just been promoted from A ball. The lanky right hander bedeviled the Curve, humiliating our 2-3-4 hitters (namely Henry Davis, Charles Macadoo and Sammy Siani in that respective order) to the tune of 0 for 12 with 11 strikeouts. Cheng and Glenn got him for doubles and Joe Perez got him for a two run homer, but that was it. Not sure he gave up a hit until the 5th. It was a good start and he deserved the win.
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Below is a quote from Robby Hammock, who, interestingly, got tossed after the 7th inning for dragging the Curve's batting circle and dropping it, covering home plate, while Chapman was warming up. He was peeved over balls and strikes that affected hitters like Davis.
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On Peterson, here is what coach said, lifted from Matt Michelone's game day story in The Mirror:
https://www.altoonamirror.com/sports/altoona-curve/2024/06/peterson-akron-hold-curve-in-check/
"“He has a good fastball, we had trouble getting to it,” Curve manager Robby Hammock said. “He has nice extensions, really gets up on you. When you get a fastball that gets on you like that, off-speed in the zone, it makes for a tough day. He just was attacking with all of his pitches in the zone.”
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Po-Yu Chen is going tonight for the Curve and I might just head down there again.
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"If you do, I'll give you SUCH a pinch."
-Wabbit