Morning Rundown: Carmen Mlodzinski optioned to Indianapolis, Pirates start seven-game road trip
Carmen Mlodzinski ends his rehab assignment and heads to Indianapolis.
After pitching twice, once in Bradenton and another at Indianapolis, Carmen Mlodzinski's rehab assignment ended, and he was optioned to Triple-A on Wednesday.
It was surprising news, as heading into the season, it seemed like he had an inside track to a bullpen spot.
There was some concern about the bullpen after David Bednar got limited playing time in the spring, along with Mlodzinski and Colin Holderman, who were both starting the season on the IL, but they answered the bell early on.
Bednar has struggled, but the bullpen has allowed a modest 3.65 ERA early on, holding opponents to a .206 average. It's a solid start without their two-time All-Star at his best.
We already saw Ryder Ryan get optioned to Triple-A the other day. While the ERA isn’t ideal, he showed the ability to get outs in the majors, even picking up his first career win.
Now Mlodzinski, another young reliever who has shown the ability to get outs in the majors, joins him in the minors.
This is an excellent problem to have, especially in the long term.
Good teams have depth and are prepared for when the inevitable injury happens.
The same concept applies to the Pirates’ middle-infield picture. Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero are off to fantastic starts, with Ji-Hwan Bae joining the fray with a home run Wednesday night.
Success at Triple-A doesn’t guarantee success in the majors, but having players pushing from Indianapolis creates the competitive atmosphere that winning teams have.
We’ve seen Gonzales do well in the minors and then struggle in the majors, but you can’t argue he’s not handling his business with Triple-A, pushing for another opportunity in Pittsburgh.
We will have to wait and see what he does with that opportunity. There has still been some swing-and-miss with non-fastballs this year, but there is no doubt he’s putting up the numbers that warrant another look at some point.
It’s not generally the team with the best 26-man roster at the beginning of the season, but who can go that 30-40 players deep.
As a corresponding move to Mlodzinski being optioned, right-handed pitcher Chris Gau was assigned to Altoona.
The Pirates begin a seven-game road trip on Thursday against the Philadelphia Phillies. Jared Jones is expected to get the start in game one.
They follow up the four-game set in Philly with three more in New York against the Mets.
Things are lining up well within the system to flex the pitching prowess on Thursday.
Along with Jones, Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler, and Hunter Barco are all scheduled to pitch for their respective affiliates.
Overall, Lonnie White Jr. had quite the day, making a fantastic diving catch in center field to score the out.
Then, after striking out in his first at-bat, Lonnie picked up three hits the rest of the night - including a double and his third home run of the season, which is only five games old.
He’s had some strikeout issues early this season, but he’s making the contact makes count. Five of his six hits have gone for extra bases, which has led to an early .900 slugging percentage.
Alessandro Ercolani and Wilber Dotel, two players the site has been highly rated on, have made their High-A debuts over the last couple of days.
You can’t really ask for too much more from either. They both pitched four shutout innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out five.
Ercolani won’t turn 20 until the 20th of this month, and Dotel has a birthday in September.
They are still on the raw side of things, and I thought this assignment was a bit rough for both of them. While it’s obviously one start, they both handled it well.
Top Exit Velocity
Matt Gorski - IND - 106.9 MPH - Groundout
Malcom Nunez - IND - 105.3 MPH - Forceout
Lonnie White Jr. - GBO - 105 MPH - Home Run (according to broadcast)
Jake Lamb - IND - 104.2 MPH - Single
Billy McKinney - IND - 104.1 MPH - Single
Top Pitch Velocity
Kyle Nicolas - IND - 97 MPH
Kyle Nicolas - IND - 97 MPH
Kyle Nicolas - IND - 96.8 MPH
Kyle Nicolas - IND - 96.8 MPH
Kyle Nicolas - IND - 96.6 MPH
Most Whiffs (Whiff%)
Eric Lauer - IND - 7 (23%)
Hung-Leng Chang - BRD - 6 (21%)
JC Flowers - IND - 5 (42%)
Kyle Nicolas - IND - 4 (40%)
Wily Peralta - IND - 3 (23%)
Indianapolis Indians - 4 vs Toledo Mud Hens - 3
Top Hitter - Nick Gonzales: 2-5, 2 R, 2 2B
Top Pitcher - Eric Lauer: 3.2 IP, 4 BB, 5 K
Altoona Curve - 9 vs Harrisburg Senators - 8
Top Hitter - Aaron Shackelford: 2-3, R, 3 RBI, 2 2B
Top Pitcher - Eddy Yean: 2.2 IP, 2 H, ER, K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 7 vs Winston Salem Dash - 1
Top Hitter - Lonnie White Jr.: 3-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, HR
Top Pitcher - Alessandro Ercolani: 4 IP, 2 H, BB, 5 K
Bradenton Marauders - 1 vs Lakeland Flying Tigers - 2
Top Hitter - Omar Alfonzo: 2-4 2B, R
Top Pitcher - Hung-Leng Chang: 3.2 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Probable Pitchers 4/11
Pittsburgh Pirates - Jared Jones
Indianapolis Indians - Paul Skenes
Altoona Curve - Bubba Chandler
Greensboro Grasshoppers - Hunter Barco
Bradenton Marauders - Antwone Kelly
Looks like Ben Heller is surfacing. I thought he had a decent chance to make the team going into ST, based on his history, but he was hurt. Probably needs a lot of time on rehab and in AAA, but he could add useful depth at some point.
TOONS News!
Did not attend last night but some things look to be trends early in the making.
1. Curve came back to win (vs a good hitting Senators side) after their starter (Po Yu Chen) got whacked.
2. Tsung-Tse Cheng is enjoying himself. 3 bases on balls for the second day in a row. Cheng went 1 for 2 with a run and a stolen base. The guy had two errors at short, but I gotta think it's because he gets to just about everything humanly possible. While he had two errors, he was involved in two of the four Toon-Town double plays. He's a keeper in my mind.
3. Shack continues to rake. He had a two homer night Tuesday and went 2 for 3 with two doubles last night, scored a run and drove in 3. Also added a base on balls and a strikeout.
4. The chant from the crowd for Seth Beer continues to be comical. "We Want Beer! We Want Beer!" I don't even know how the guy can hit with that going on. That said, he was one of four Toons with a multi hit game last night.
Nick Senzel of the Senators, a .300 hitter at the major league level, continues his rehab where he is hitting .800 in AA with an OPS of 1.833. Despite putting up 15 runs in two games, the Senators have still lost both games. It appears that Nick can't hit enough for everybody.
It's a rainy morning here in the Mountains of Toon. I don't think I'll get down there tonight, but man, Bubba is pitching. Saw him at The Hoppers and Altoona last year and he's something to see.
Interesting to see what he'll do with the Senator's very good batting line-up.