Pirates
Pirates Prospect Watch: Pair of Top Pitching Prospects Shine
A pair of top arms amongst Pittsburgh Pirates’ prospects stole the show with excellent outings on Friday night.
For Triple-A Indianapolis, Quinn Priester continued to lower his ERA with six shutout frames. At Double-A Altoona, Jared Jones was also superb over his six innings of work.
Priester and Jones are both considered to be two of the Pirates’ top pitching prospects according to MLB Pipeline, and it was easy to see why on Friday.
There was a lot more to cover from Friday’s minor league action. Here are the standouts.
Indianapolis (26-28)
RHP Quinn Priester
- Game stats:Â 6.0 innings, four hits, no runs, three walks, six strikeouts
- Season stats:Â 6-3, 4.38 ERA, 25er/51.1ip, 50 hits, 23 walks, 53 strikeouts, 11 appearances/11 starts
DH Canaan Smith-Njigba
- Game stats:Â 2 for 5, one home run, one double, four RBIs, three runs
- Season stats:Â .250/.333/.576, seven doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 19 RBIs, three steals, 24 games
Priester’s six shutout frames and Smith-Njigba’s grand slam paved the way to a crushing 11-0 victory for the Indians over the Toledo Mudhens.
Pirates prospect Endy Rodriguez had three hits while Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo each had two.
Altoona (25-22)
RHP Jared Jones
- Game stats:Â 6.0 innings, two hits, one run, two walks, three strikeouts
- Season stats:Â 1-2, 2.36 ERA, 9er/34.1ip, 26 hits, 12 walks, 36 strikeouts, eight appearances/eight starts
RF Matt Fraizer
- Game stats:Â 1 for 3, one home run, three RBIs, one run, one walk
- Season stats:Â .250/.313/.388, nine doubles, four home runs, 17 RBIs, four steals, 42 games
Jones finally was credited with his first win of the season while Fraizer’s three-run blast gave him eight RBIs over his last two games as Altoona defeated the Binghamton Rumble Ponies 6-2.
Pirates prospect Liover Peguero slugged his fifth home run of the season while Connor Scott collected two more hits.
Greensboro (25-22)
2B Maikol Escotto
- Game stats:Â 2 for 4, one double, one RBI
- Season stats:Â .212/.259/.315, six doubles, three home runs, 16 RBIs, five steals, 40 games
C Abrahan Gutierrez
- Game stats:Â 1 for 5, one home run, one RBI, one run
- Season stats:Â .267/.360/.413, five doubles, two home runs, 14 RBIs, 19 games
Gutierrez went deep again and Escotto recorded a two-hit performance but Greensboro fell 4-3 in 10 innings to the Winston-Salem Dash.
Pirates prospect Thomas Harrington made his Greensboro debut and allowed three runs in 2.1 innings pitched. He struck out four batters.
Bradenton (25-24)
RF Enmanuel Terrero
- Game stats:Â 4 for 5, one double, one run
- Season stats:Â .308/.413/.421, six doubles, three triples, two home runs, 21 RBIs, 11 steals, 43 games
LF Shalin Polanco
- Game stats:Â 2 for 3, one home run, two RBIs, one run, one walk
- Season stats:Â .225/.327/.423, seven doubles, seven home runs, 24 RBIs, six steals, 38 games
Terrero and Polanco both had big games at the plate, but Bradenton blew a late lead as they fell 7-6 to the Tampa Tarpons.
Pirates prospect Termarr Johnson hit his second homer of the season for the Marauders.