Morning Rundown: MiLB Preview - Week Ending 5/05/24

New week, new faces

Photo Credit: WTM

Indianapolis Indians: 12-12

Last week: 1-2

Opponent: Buffalo (Blue Jays)

• Team OPS: .845

• OPS Rank: 1st of 20

• Team ERA: 5.46

• ERA Rank: 17th of 20

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Quick Overview:

The Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates were only able to get in half their scheduled games due to rain, and dropped to .500 after a 1-2 week. This week the Indianapolis Indians welcome to town the Buffalo Bisons — Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays — who are a game out of first place in the International League East.

Ricky Tiedemann is the top-ranking Blue Jays prospect, but he recently was sidelined with ulnar nerve inflammation (no structural damage) and is unlikely to see the mound in the upcoming series. Luckily for prospect lovers, that doesn’t leave the opposition short of a top 100 prospect with Toronto’s second-ranked prospect and near consensus top 100 prospect, Orelvis Martinez.

Martinez is a 22-year-old with a lot of pop in his bat, and it’s showing early on with seven home runs in 23 games. As a team, the Bisons lead the International League with an .845 team OPS, which will be a great test for the Indians and Pirates’ top prospect, Paul Skenes.

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• Ricky Tiedemann (7-Day IL) | LHP | 1

  • MLB Top 100: #26

  • Baseball America Top 100: #21

  • ESPN Top 100: #22

  • Fangraphs Top 100: #25

• Orelvis Martinez | INF | 2

  • MLB Top 100: #81

  • Baseball America Top 100: #81

  • Fangraphs Top 100: #59

• Leo Jimenez | SS/2B | 5

• Damiano Palmegiani | 3B/1B | 14

• Chad Dallas | RHP | 15

• Spencer Horwitz | 1B/OF | 16

• Connor Cooke | RHP | 19

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Altoona Curve: 5-15

Last week: 0-6

Opponent: Harrisburg (Nationals)

• Team OPS: .624

• OPS Rank: 11th of 12

• Team ERA: 3.24

• ERA Rank: 4th of 12

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Quick Overview:

It has been a rough two weeks for the Altoona Curve, who have won only one of the last twelve games. This week doesn’t get much easier, as they’ll be matching up against a top prospect-loaded Harrisburg Senators squad for seven games after playing only five out of six scheduled games three weeks ago.

The Washington Nationals’ affiliate hasn’t had a big start to the season themselves, but in the previous five-game series they scored 35 runs across five games against the Curve. The Senators have played 19 games, and 45% of their total runs scored (35 of 77) came in that one series. Dylan Crews (.720 OPS), Brady House (.699 OPS), and Robert Hassell III (.749 OPS) are all above the league average OPS (.693 OPS), while recent Pipeline top 100 addition Yohandy Morales (.526 OPS) is well below.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Curve’s high-end pitchers can get themselves back on track against the 11th-ranked team OPS offense or if the Senators’ hitters will once again feast on the 12th-ranked team ERA.

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• Dylan Crews | OF | 1

  • MLB Top 100: #5

  • Baseball America Top 100: #5

  • ESPN Top 100: #5

  • Fangraphs Top 100: #9

• Brady House | 3B | 3

  • MLB Top 100: #44

  • Baseball America Top 100: #52

  • ESPN Top 100: #48

  • Fangraphs Top 100: #81

• Yohandy Morales | 3B | 4

  • MLB Top 100: #98

• Robert Hassell III | OF | 8

• Andrew Pinckney | OF | 17

• Cole Henry | RHP | 24

• Israel Pineda | C | 25

• Dustin Saenz (7-Day IL) | LHP | 28

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Greensboro Grasshoppers: 12-8

Last Week: 3-3

Opponent: Winston-Salem (White Sox)

• Team OPS: .631

• OPS Rank: 9th of 12

• Team ERA: 5.44

• ERA Rank: 12th of 12

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Quick Overview:

The current golden child of the Pirates organization, the Greensboro Grasshoppers, welcomes to town the Winston-Salem Dash, whom they took four of six from three weeks ago. The Grasshoppers have the third-ranked offense in team OPS (.697) in the South Atlantic League, facing off against the last-ranked pitching staff in team ERA at their offense-happy home park.

Noah Schultz is the highest-ranking Chicago White Sox prospect on the Dash roster. In his start against the Grasshoppers three weeks ago, he allowed four earned runs across four innings with seven strikeouts against four hits and two walks. In his following two starts, he went eight innings with four earned runs and four hits, three walks, and ten strikeouts.

Samuel Zavala and 2023 first-rounder Jacob Gonzalez are two of the bigger-name bats on the Dash, who are both off to rather sluggish starts to the season.

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• Noah Schultz | LHP | 2

  • MLB Top 100: 46

  • Baseball America Top 100: #33

  • ESPN Top 100: #50

  • Fangraphs Top 100: #31

• Samuel Zavala | OF | 6

• Jacob Gonzalez | SS | 7

• Peyton Pallette | RHP | 12

• Tanner McDougal | RHP | 19

• Juan Carela | RHP | 27

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Bradenton Marauders: 4-17

Last Week: 1-5

Opponent: Fort Myers (Twins)

• Team OPS: .679

• OPS Rank: 4th of 10th

• Team ERA: 3.39

• ERA Rank: 3rd of 10

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Quick Overview:

The Marauders opponent looks intriguing due to the 2023 draft names listed, but unfortunately, the biggest name of the bunch is on the injured list. 2023 Fifth overall selection Walker Jenkins is currently in the IL with a hamstring injury that he suffered on opening day, and it doesn’t look like he’ll return this week.

Not to be looked over, though, are two other Minnesota Twins’ 2023 draft picks out of the prep ranks; Competitive Balance Round A pick (34th overall), RHP Charlee Soto, and third-rounder (82 overall), Brandon Winokur. Soto has struck out 18 over his first 13.0 professional innings, giving up only three earned runs and five walks. Winokur is a very large teenager — 6’6” and 210 lbs — with a lot of raw power but has so far struck out in over 30% of his plate appearances.

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• Walker Jenkins (7-Day IL) | OF | 1

  • MLB Top 100: #9

  • Baseball America Top 100: #13

  • ESPN Top 100: #13

  • Fangraphs Top 100: #24

• Charlee Soto | RHP | 7

• Brandon Winokur | OF | 11

• Jose Rodriguez | OF | 26

• Rayne Doncon | INF | 30

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Check out our latest Podcast episode, where Nola and I talk about the previous week in the Pirates system, and look ahead to an exciting slate of games.

Subscribe to the podcast, which is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube Podcast, and Pocket Casts. You can also listen to it on the Substack app!

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