Nick Gonzales, Ji-Hwan Bae hitting leaders in month of April in Pirates system

A look at some of the best hitting performances through the month of April in the Pirates' system

Photo Credit: Ryan Palencer

While the start for many of the Pirates' hitters hasn’t been impressive, the ones who are doing well are doing really well.

Among them are a former first-round pick trying to work his way back into the majors, his teammate who has also had limited success at the highest level, and a few players in the lower levels.

Ji-Hwan Bae

No one has posted a better wRC+ among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances than Bae (180). He’s walked at a 20% clip, allowing his on-base percentage to reach .500 while batting .372.

Although Bae is not really the biggest power hitter, he still came away in the month of April with two doubles and two home runs. He’s not even swinging and missing as much as his strikeout rate (32%) would indicate, as he has a 6.9% swinging strike rate (SwStr%).

Nick Gonzales

His scorching start has made him the talk of the Pirates’ system when it comes to hitters, as Gonzales remains among the leaders in several offensive categories in the International League.

Gonzales easily led the Pirates’ minor leaguers in doubles (11) and slashed .379/.433/.611.

On the last day of the month, he notched his third home run and drove in 14 runs.

Defensively, he bounces around and plays second and third base and shortstop.

Charles McAdoo

A day-three pick for the Pirates last year, McAdoo has done nothing but hit since signing and starting his pro career.

He got off to a slow start, but by the end, McAdoo had slashed .303/.397/.545 with a 170 wRC+, finishing in a tie for the system lead in home runs (four).

He also stole three bases with a single-digit SwStr% (9.1%).

Omar Alfonzo

One of the lone consistent hitters for Bradenton in April, Alfonzo saw an improvement in most of his underlying metrics from a year ago, including exit velocity (90th percentile, average, max), zone contact, whiff, and hard-hit rate.

He also finished in the top 10 among qualified hitters in the Florida State League for wRC+, BB%, BB/K, and SwStr% while finishing just outside the top 10 in OPS.

A four-strikeout game ended the month on a sour note, but he was solid all month.

wRC+

1. Ji-Hwan Bae - IND - 183

2. Jake Lamb - IND - 170

3. Charles McAdoo - GBO - 170

4. Nick Gonzales - IND - 169

5. Sammy Siani - GBO - 160

6. Garret Forrester - BRD - 146

7. Jack Brannigan - GBO - 139

8. Omar Alfonzo - BRD - 137

9. Hudson Head - GBO - 134

10. Seth Beer - ALT - 130

Home Runs

1. Lonnie White Jr. - GBO - 4

2. Jack Brannigan - GBO - 4

3. Charles McAdoo - GBO - 4

4. Jake Lamb - IND - 3

5. Nick Gonzales - IND - 3

6. Aaron Shackelford - ALT - 3

7. Malcom Nunez - IND - 3

8. Sammy Siani - GBO - 3

9. Hudson Head - GBO - 3

10. Shawn Ross - GBO - 3

RBI

1. Liover Peguero - IND - 19

2. Malcom Nunez - IND - 16

3. Nick Gonzales - IND - 14

4. Shalin Polanco - BRD - 14

5. Charles McAdoo - GBO - 14

6. Jake Lamb - IND -12

7. Aaron Shackelford - ALT - 12

8. Matt Gorski - IND - 10

9. Hudson Head - GBO - 10

10. Gilberto Celestino (IND), Sammy Siani (GBO), Lonnie White Jr. (GBO) - 9

BB/K

1. Jake Lamb - IND - 1.17

2. Jeral Toledo - BRD - 1.00

3. Jesus Castillo - BRD - 0.95

4. Canaan Smith-Njigba - IND - 0.85

5. Sammy Siani - GBO - 0.78

6. Tsung-Che Cheng - ALT - 0.73

7. Termarr Johnson - GBO - 0.68

8. Omar Alfonzo - BRD - 0.67

9. Jack Brannigan - GBO - 0.67

10. Shawn Ross - GBO - 0.65

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