Pirates Prospects

Pirates Prospect Watch: Contreras Continues to Struggle

Published

7 months ago

September 24, 2023

The Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A club lost in extra-innings Saturday night to Rochester 7-4. Roansy Contreras made another start for the Indians and continued to struggle.

In four innings pitched, Contreras allowed three hits, three runs, two walks, and struck out four. In addition, Contreras’ three runs allowed occurred off of a three-run homer in the second inning.

Diving deeper into Contreras’ start, his four-seam struggled again with eight balls put into play, averaging 96.7 mph in average exit velocity. In addition, Contreras’ four-seam velocity reached 95.4 mph but averaged 93.1 mph on 31 pitches thrown.

Canaan Smith-Njigba had a very professional game, going 1-2 with a double, RBI, and three walks. The only other batter to speak of was Aaron Shackelford, who went 2-3 with an RBI and two walks.

The game was knotted up at 4-4 heading into the 11th inning. Rochester smacked a leadoff triple from Derek Hill to take a 5-4 lead, and then Matt Adams blasted his 17th homer of the season, giving the Red Wings their eventual 7-4 win.

The Indians will play one more game before closing their 2023 season. To win their final series of the season, the Indians will need to win Sunday afternoon.

Indianapolis (69-78)

RF Canaan Smith-Njigba

Game stats: 1-2, a double, run scored, three walks, and an RBI
Season stats: .280/.366/.473, 15 homers, one triple, 28 doubles, and 74 RBIs (389 at-bats, or 105 games at Triple-A)

1B Aaron Shackelford

Game stats: 2-3, a walk, and an RBI
Season stats: .225/.347/.410, 14 homers, three triples, 17 doubles, and 52 RBIs (351 at-bats, or 112 games)

The Indians used three pitchers in their 11-inning affair; the only pitcher who performed decently was Noe Toribio. In four innings, Toribio allowed one hit, one run, three walks, and struck out three.

Smith-Njigba was the story for Indianapolis, with very professional-looking at-bats on Saturday. He showed great discipline with three walks and registered his 28th double of the season and his 24th RBI in September.

In addition, Smith-Njigba is slashing .417/.475/.625 with an OPS of 1.100 in 72 at-bats this month. You may wonder if the Pittsburgh Pirates plan on calling Smith-Njigba up any time soon.