Morning Rundown: Pirates prospects fuel Salt River offense
Pirates hitters combine for six of team's 10 hits
The Pittsburgh Pirates have three hitting prospects participating in the Arizona Fall League for the Salt River Rafters. The trio, Jase Bowen, Jack Brannigan, and Carter Bins, combined for six of the team’s 10 total hits in their 9-3 victory over the Mesa Solar Sox.
Ivan Melendez opened up the scoring, driving in both Bowen and Sterlin Thompson on a double.
Bins would later hit a home run in the fifth inning, not only his first of the fall, but the first by any Salt River hitter.
An inning later Bowen would add a three-run home run of his own, yet another extra-base hit for the outfielder.
The pitching staff struck out 10 total hitters, led by Dylan Smith’s five.
— Jase Bowen batted leadoff and played center field. He started the home half off by getting hit by a pitch. He’d pick up three hits throughout the rest of the game, including his first home run of the fall.
Five of his 13 hits for Salt River has gone for extra-bases, and he’s now driven in nine runs.
— Jack Brannigan picked up the first hit of the night for the Rafters, a single in the second inning, but didn’t reach base again afterwards, striking out twice. He has reached base safely three games in a row, but the strike outs continue to be an issue.
— Carter Bins played in just his third game of the fall, and made it a good one, picking up a pair of hits, including a two-run home run. He drove in another run later in the game, and scored twice on his own.
— The control isn’t his strong suit, but what Alessandro Ercolani has been doing in the AFL has certainly seemed a bit extreme. He walked four more batters in his lone inning of work, with a run scoring on one of them.
He reached 96.4 mph on his fastball, and was more willing to incorporate his secondary stuff, but the control struggles continued.
Despite just pitching an inning, and walking in the tying run, with Salt River scoring the next frame, he actually picked up the win on the night as well.
Good to see Bowen having a bit of a breakout in the AFL. Hope he is really starting to figure it out and stays hot through the rest of the fall. I'm sure he'll get some time in center and 1st in the spring to warm him up for Altoona.
Binns with a homerun and single is encouraging as well (his single was the hardest exit velocity in the fall this year 110+ mph).
Brannigan needs to put the ball in play, the strikeouts are getting worrisome that a wall is coming.
Jase Bowen just continues to impress. His three hits including a HR and 3 RBI from the leadoff spot in the order led the team last night and his 1.065 OPS places him 10th overall in the AFL. Yesterday he also hit well out of the 8th or 9th slot in the order, and played RF. I think that is 2 games each at CF, RF, and 1B, one at DH, and possibly one in LF. Turned 23 just 9 days ago.
Pirates Catcher Carter Bins, 24, also pitched in with 3 RBI from the #9 slot in the order. And 19 year old pitcher Alessandro Ercolani pitched an inning but continues to have control issues (4 Walks). Glad to see Benes in there as the pitching coach for SRR.