Pirates
Pirates Prospect Watch: Cheng, Gonzalez Continue to Impress
There are only three Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league affiliates to discuss. Double-A Altoona had their game with the Bowie Baysox rained out and rescheduled for June.
Among the standouts for the other three minor league teams, infielder Tsung-Che Cheng continued to impress with another strong performance. One other Pirates’ prospect who has played well so far is 2022 draft pick Tres Gonzalez.
In addition to those two, here are the Pirates’ prospects who had good games from Saturday.
Indianapolis (7-13)
3B Ryan Vilade
- Game stats:Â 2 for 4, one run
- Season stats:Â .375/.400/.500, one home run, two RBIs, six games
RHP Hunter Stratton
- Game stats:Â 2.0 innings, one hit, no runs, no walks, three strikeouts
- Season stats:Â 0-0, 2.61 ERA, 3er/10.1ip, 10 hits, eight walks, 19 strikeouts, seven appearances/one start
Vilade had a nice game at the plate for Indianapolis but the Indians lost again to the Memphis Redbirds 7-2 on Saturday.
Stratton (16.6 K/9) continued to rack up strikeouts at a high clip by punching out three batters in two innings 0f work.
Altoona (6-7)
GAME RAINED OUT; MAKEUP ON JUNE 21Â
Greensboro (10-4)
SS Tsung-Che Cheng
- Game stats:Â 2 for 4, two runs, one walk, one steal
- Season stats:Â .298/.377/.553, three triples, two home runs, seven RBIs, six steals, 12 games
3B Ernny Ordonez
- Game stats:Â 1 for 5, one home run, one RBI, one run
- Season stats:Â .243/.317/.324, one home run four RBIs, one steal, nine games
Greensboro was spanked by the Greenville Drive 14-5, but Ordonez hit his first home run of the year. Cheng continues to impress as he is emerging as a very intriguing prospect.
Outfielder Hudson Head was on base three times and stroked a double.
Bradenton (9-5)
LHP Luis Peralta
- Game stats:Â 2.0 innings, no hits, no runs, one walk, five strikeouts
- Season stats:Â 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0er/2.0ip, no hits, no runs, one walk, five strikeouts, one appearance/one start
SS Javier Rivas
- Game stats:Â 2 for 5, one home run, four RBIs, one run
- Season stats:Â .245/.273/.302, one home run, 11 RBIs, 12 games
Like Ordonez in Greensboro, Rivas hit his first home run of the season for Bradenton. While Peralta tossed two impressive innings, the Marauders were defeated 6-4 by the Daytona Tortugas.
Outfield prospect Tres Gonzales had two hits, walked twice, scored a run and stole his fifth base of the young season.