Morning Rundown: Pirates begin weekend series against Padres
Pirates head to San Diego for three
After taking two of three against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Pirates will wrap up their road trip with three against the San Diego Padres.
The offense finally got things going, exploding for 19 runs over the past two games. Henry Davis played a big part in that, hitting a two-run home run after coming into the game for Joey Bart, who is now on the injured list.
Paul Skenes pitched 6.2 shutout innings on Wednesday to get the win.
The Padres took two of three against the Miami Marlins to begin the week. They are in second place in the NL West.
Mitch Keller, Bailey Falter, and Andrew Heaney are the scheduled starters this weekend. Game one begins at 9:40 pm ET.
We are planning a midseason update on our top 25 prospects in the Pirates system, scheduled for the end of June. There should be plenty of movement, with a few names likely to join the list.
I don’t generally like doing these, but this one should be fun. We’ll do one final update at the end of the year when we get a look at some of the draft picks. If you want to check out our current top 25 list, you can check it out here:
Bucs on Deck: Pirates Top 25 Prospects for 2025
These are our Top 25 prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system, as ranked by WTM, NolaJeffy, and I.
Top Exit Velocity
Jack Suwinski - IND - 109.6 mph - Home Run
Axiel Plaz - BRD - 103.6 mph - Single
DJ Stewart - IND - 103.2 mph - Single
Brett Sullivan - IND - 103.1 mph - Groundout
Yordany De los Santos - BRD - 103 mph - Single
Top Pitch Velocity
Carmen Mldozinski - IND - 96.7 mph
Carmen Mldozinski - IND - 96.5 mph
Carmen Mldozinski - IND - 96.2 mph
Carmen Mldozinski - IND - 96 mph
Carmen Mldozinski - IND - 95.7 mph
Most Whiffs
Garrett McMillan - ALT - 14
Carmen Mldozinski - IND - 9
Alessandro Ercolani - ALT - 6
Jaden Woods - ALT - 4
Wilkin Ramos - ALT - 4
Victor Cabreja - BRD - 4
Jose Garces - BRD - 4
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Indianapolis Indians - 7 vs Nashville Sounds - 1
Top Hitter - Jack Suwinski: 2-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Top Pitcher - Carmen Mlodzinski: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 5 K
Altoona Curve - 3 vs Portland Sea Dogs - 0
Top Hitter - Mitch Jebb, Kervin Pichardo, Brenden Dixon: 1-3
Top Pitcher - Alessandro Ercolani: 4 IP, H, ER, K
Altoona Curve - 6 vs Portland Sea Dogs - 9
Top Hitter - Nick Cimillo: 2-4, R, HR, 2 RBI
Top Pitcher - Jaden Woods: 1.1 IP, H, ER, 2 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - SSPD
Bradenton Marauders - 6 vs Fort Myers Mighty Mussels - 4
Top Hitter - Will Taylor: 2-4, 2 R, BB, SB
Top Pitcher - Jose Garces: 2 IP, 2 H, BB, 2 K
FCL Pirates - 16 vs FCL Braves - 8
Top Hitter - Richard Ramirez: 2-5, 2 R, HR, 5 RBI
Top Pitcher - Gavin Adams: 1.2 IP, H, 3 BB, K
-After 3 straight games in Indy, here is my report. The comradery with the pitchers seems to be real. I know it sounds corny, but they are upbeat and engaged before the game and during the game. It is like a good high school or college team. Carson Fulmer seems to accepted his role nicely.
-I can't say the same for the hitters. Not that it is bad, but I think several know they are not the fun young upcoming prospects like they were 2 years ago. Some are on their final straw and know it.
-Maybe the most exciting thing to watch in person is watching Jack Suwinski and Billy Cook cover ground in the outfield. They are fast and give 100%. So fun to watch. I'm hoping for these guys to hit a little better because if they do, they 100% belong in the majors. They aren't far off.
-Peguero, Cheng and Alika Williams (who looked almost spectacular at third) are very solid defensively, but have a long way to go offensively.
-Nick Yorke is either hurt or just very unenthused. Terrible body language, the slowest walk back to his dug-out after strike-outs and walks almost all of the way out to left field instead of jogging. Plus he does not cover much ground out there, but that might just look that way compared to Billy and Jack. I'm almost hoping he is hurt and that would explain it.
-Can't wait for tonight's match-up of Bubba Chandler vs Tobias Myers.
Here's any interesting explainer for us stat nerds:
Ryan: How reliable are the contact rates Fangraphs reports on player pages in Rookie ball? There are guys with high whiff percentages and loud numbers, which I’m not used to seeing at higher levels. Is calibration inconsistent at such a low level, or is it an example of guys feasting on subpar stuff often enough to inflate their stats?
Eric A Longenhagen: They’re not correct because, depending on the setting, what gets marked as a swinging strike or looking strike might be automated. For instance, if you strike out swinging, the MLB auto stringer gives he player three swinging strikes in the at-bat. I’ve asked Sean about scrubbing that from the leaderboards but isolating that stat and leaving the other stuff is not feasible from a web developing standpoint.
Eric A Longenhagen: So just ignore those. I’m sorry, it’s not ideal, and hopefully at some point MLB will have more accurate, pitch by pitch data for those levels soon and it won’t be an issue anymore.