Pirates Prospect Watch: Davis, Rodriguez Gives Glimpse of Future

Without question, Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis are two of the top Pittsburgh Pirates’ prospects in the organization.

After Davis’ recent promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis, both players are teammates with the Indians, and the duo was impactful on Wednesday afternoon.

With both players being primarily catchers, the Pirates are going to have to get creative to get both players in the same lineup. With Rodriguez behind the plate and Davis in right field on Wednesday, they proved both players can coexist.

Both Rodriguez and Davis are on the cusp of reaching Pittsburgh as they sit only one more promotion away.

In addition to those two, here are the other Pirates’ prospects who stood out.

Indianapolis (28-30)

C Endy Rodriguez

• Game stats: 2 for 5, one double, one RBI, one run
• Season stats: .252/.344/.399, six doubles, three triples, four home runs, 17 RBIs, four steals, 40 games

RF Henry Davis

• Game stats: 1 for 3, one triple, one RBI, one walk
• Season stats: .200/.429/.600, one triple, one RBI, two games

Rodriguez and Davis’ efforts weren’t enough for Indianapolis as they were defeated 9-7 by the Omaha Storm Chasers.

Pirates prospect Quinn Priester allowed four runs and struck out four in give innings in the start for the Indians.

Altoona (28-23)

RF Chavez Young

• Game stats: 2 for 3, one double
• Season stats: .667/.667/1.000, one double, one game

RHP Brad Case

• Game stats: 3.0 innings, two hits, no runs, two walks, two strikeouts
• Season stats: 1-0, 1.98 ERA, 3er/13.2ip, 11 hits, 11 walks, 11 strikeouts, eight appearances/one start

Young led the Curve with two hits and Case threw three scoreless in his first start of the season at Double-A but Altoona fell 6-1 to the Richmond Squirrels.

Pirates prospect Abrahan Gutierrez recorded his first Double-A hit with a double.

Greensboro (28-23)

C Eli Wilson

• Game stats: 1 for 2, one home run, three RBIs, one run, two walks
• Season stats: .228/.380/.404, one double, three home runs, 11 RBIs, one steal, 20 games

DH Luke Brown

• Game stats: 1 for 3, one home run, one run, one RBI, one walk
• Season stats: .150/.342/.283, three doubles, one triple, one home run, five RBIs, three steals, 23 games

Wilson and Brown each homered for Greensboro in the Grasshoppers 5-4 win over the Winston-Salem Dash.

Pirates prospect Tsung-Che Cheng hit an RBI-double for a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth.

Bradenton (28-25)

RHP J.P. Massey

• Game stats: 6.0 innings, five hits, three runs, two walks, four strikeouts
• Season stats: 2-3, 2.84 ERA, 14er/44.1ip, 37 hits, 20 walks, 52 strikeouts, 10 appearances/eight starts

CF Shalin Polanco

• Game stats: 1 for 4, one double, one RBI
• Season stats: .231/.324/.436, eight doubles, eight home runs, 27 RBIs, six steals, 41 games

Massey turned in another quality start while Polanco extended his hitting streak to six games in Bradenton’s 3-1 loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Pirates prospects Julian Bosnic and Elijah Birdsong combined for three innings of scoreless relief and four strikeouts.