Buccos Cove

After Max Kranick's "perfect" debut yesterday, another Minor League pitcher has come up and attacked the zone for the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is another step forward for the Pirate's new development team as they are having players ready when they make their Big League debuts. Yesterday's series win over the St. Louis Cardinals was special for a couple of reasons. Not only were the Pirates able to take a series from the Cardinals in St. Louis, but it was also a "perfect" Major League debut for 23-year-old starting pitcher Max Kranick. Kranick retired all 15 batters that he faced in the game and would have gone even deeper into the start had it not been for a one-hour and four-minute rain delay following the fifth inning. Pitching through the raindrops in the beginning of the game, Kranick showed great composure on the mound and was not intimidated by a very good Cardinals lineup that included Paul Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina, and Nolan Arnenado....

For a team with very little power, the Minor League system is showing a surge in home runs as of late. One of the top power hitters in the system, Mason Martin, is showing his power swing can translate to the upper levels of the Minor Leagues. All year long, one of the big things we have been talking about with the Pittsburgh Pirates is their lack of power. As we enter play on June 22nd, the only Pirate in double digits in terms of home runs is Bryan Reynolds (12) and the only other person with more than five home runs is Gregory Polanco (7). Now, long balls aren't the only way to win ball games, but it always helps when you have a guy in the lineup who is always a threat to put a ball out of the park. It makes opposing pitchers approach your lineup differently, and gives guys towards the top and bottom of your batting order better pitches to hit. However, while the Major Leagues has struggled to find power, there has been plenty to go around in the Minor Leagues. Curre...

One of the hottest prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization right now is shortstop Oneil Cruz. Cruz is currently on fire at Double-A Altoona, but how soon should the Pirates be thinking of calling him up. In the middle of a rebuild, the 2021 Pittsburgh Pirates are right about where we thought they would be, in the basement of the NL Central. With more trades coming in July, Ben Cherington is looking to continue to add talent to the Pirates farm system to help build the team from the ground up. Because of this, fans have once again turned to the Minor Leagues to see what the future holds for the Pirates and if the rebuild is truly working. If you look in the Minor Leagues now, one name you are almost certain to see pop up is shortstop Oneil Cruz. The 22-year-old prospect is ranked #4 overall in the Pirates system and is hitting the ball all over the ballpark in Double-A. After a slow start, Cruz has turned things around and in 122 at-bats is hitting .303 with a team-...

  Last season, General Manager Ben Cherington took a chance drafting Carmen Mlodzinski out of South Carolina with the 31st overall pick. However, that pick is paying off as Mlodzinski is turning heads with Class High-A Greensboro to start his professional career. When talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates 2020 draft class, the big name that stands out is first round, #7 overall pick, Nick Gonzales. Since the time he was drafted, the focus has almost solely been on him and where he stands in the Pirates system. However, one guy who has surprisingly not gotten a lot of attention from the media is the Pirates pick just 24 slots later. It was in the CBA round of the 2020 draft, and the Pirates ended up taking right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski from South Carolina with the 31st overall pick. Mlodzinski posted strong numbers during his final two years with the Gamecocks and went 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA over 25.1 innings of work in his pandemic shortened junior year. However, s...

After struggling during the early parts of his career, Braxton Ashcraft is having a breakout year on the mound so far in High-A Greensboro. He has simplified his preparation and is pitching his way into the Pirate's future plans. When you look at the Greensboro Grasshoppers starting rotation, you will see a lot of names that are getting ready to factor into the Pittsburgh Pirates' future plans. Guys like Quinn Priester, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Tahnaj Thomas are all out to good starts and are featured when you hear about the next wave of Pirates prospects. However, one guy you don't hear much about is a 21-year-old right-hander named Braxton Ashcraft. Ashcraft was taken in the second round, 51st pick overall, by the Pirates in the 2018 MLB draft, and struggled during his first two years of pro ball. He posted ERA's of 4.58 and 5.77 respectively in 2018 and 2019 and was looking for a way to improve. He found it during the pandemic, when he was training at home ...

Late last week, the Pittsburgh Pirates made a move to promote right-handed pitcher Max Kranick to Triple-A Indianapolis. The 23-year-old rewarded the Pirate's confidence with a strong Triple-A debut as a member of the Indianapolis Indians rotation. Heading into the 2020-2021 Rule 5 Draft, there were two guys the Pirates decided to protect on their 40-man roster. Infielder Rodolfo Castro was the first and right-handed pitcher Max Kranick was the other. Prior to the 2020 season, Kranick's highest experience was in High-A Ball at Bradenton, where he went 6-7 with a career-low 3.79 ERA in 20 starts. There is really nothing in the overall numbers that completely stand out, he walked 30 and struck out 78 over 109.1 innings while having a .246 opponent batting average, but he was effective on the mound. He spent the 2020 season at the Pirates alternate training site in Altoona and must have proved something to upper management to warrant being protected. This year, he bega...

After being delegated to the alternate training site for the 2020 season, Pirates fans we're excited to see top prospect Quinn Priester back on the mound. After a slow start to the year, the Pirates top pitching prospect has turned it on over his last couple of starts. If you have been following some of the Pirates top prospects down in the Minor Leagues as of late, you know that most of the news hasn't been good. Pirates #1 prospect Nick Gonzales just hit the Injured List with a broken finger, and #7 prospect Travis Swaggerty is now out for the year with a dislocated shoulder. After missing out on the 2020 season due to the pandemic, this is not a promising sign for either player. However, there is some good news on the prospect front as well down in Low-A Greensboro. Quinn Priester, who started the year with a bad opener, is turning things around. In his first start, he allowed six runs, three earned, over three innings and had a 9.00 ERA. His ERA sat at 7.71 afte...

In all of Minor League Baseball, there have been few pitchers who have been more dominant than Roansy Contreras. Through his first three starts, he has a 0.00 ERA and is Named the Double-A Northern League Pitcher of the Week. During the off-season, General Manager Ben Cherington pulled off a trade that sent Jameson Taillon to the Need York Yankees for a package of four prospects. The prospects have had varying degrees of impact in the organization, including Miguel Yajure making two starts with the Big League club so far. However, the highlight of this trade has been down in Double-A Altoona, where he has been absolutely dominating the Northern League. Pirates fans got a glimpse of Roansy Contreras this spring when he appeared in two games and struck out five batters, while walking two, over two innings of work. However, he has done that and a lot more over in Altoona, as he leads the Double-A starting rotation. Over his first three starts of the season, Contreras has yet t...

When the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted JC Flowers in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB Draft, he didn't have much experience pitching. However, now that it is his main focus, he was honored this last week for a hot start, being named the Southern League Low-A Ball Pitcher of the Week. Every year, the Major League Baseball draft produces some interesting stories about guys making their trip to Major League Baseball. In 2019, the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted one of these types of players when they took right-handed pitcher JC Flowers in the fourth round. He spent most of his time as a centerfielder at Florida State and was a career .245 hitter with 15 home runs and 99 RBI for the Seminoles. He didn't have much experience on the mound, besides being a closer and working 26.2 innings his junior year, pitching to a 1.69 ERA. The Pirates saw these numbers, and jumped on them, drafting him as a right-handed pitcher as the 124th overall pick. The team saw a fastball that can reac...

With the Pittsburgh Pirates in a rebuild mode, they are going to rely a lot on the depth of their farm system to succeed in the future. There is currently a nice 1-2 punch developing in the Triple-A rotation that could bolster the Pirates rotation sometime this season. We have all heard the old adage that pitching a defense wins championships in baseball. These two areas are where General Manager Ben Cherington has focused most of his resources during this Pirates rebuild. He has brought in a lot of high-upside pitchers, and players who have handled the glove well throughout their careers. Because of his efforts, the Pirates farm system went from one of the worst in Major League Baseball to ranking #7 in the MLB this past off-season. Many of the guys who will impact the next contending Pirates teams are still in the low level of the Minor Leagues. However, there are a pair of pitchers in Triple-A Indianapolis that are putting up good numbers and could impact the team this s...

With the Pittsburgh Pirates in rebuild mode, the future of this organization still resides in the Minor Leagues with many players in Low-A and High-A Ball. However, the future is starting out bright for these players who look to become future faces of the franchise. The Pittsburgh Pirates are at a rebuilding phase in their organization's history. After the mistakes of the previous regime, the Pirates are now set on acquiring new talent and bringing them up through their Minor League system. Because of this, there are tough moves that the team is going to have to make this season and probably next season as well. Guys like Tyler Anderson, Adam Frazier, and Richard Rodriguez will be flipped at the trade deadline for prospects who will help rebuild the pipeline and set the Pirates up for future success. Because of this, many of these prospects are still in the lower levels of the Minor Leagues, playing for High-A Greensboro and Low-A Bradenton. While these players are stil...

In one of the bolder moves made by Ben Cherington and his staff, Travis Swaggerty went from Advanced-A ball in 2019 to Triple-A in 2021. He has been rewarding that confidence, tearing the cover off of the ball in his first two games at the Triple-A level. In the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft, the Pirates selected outfielder Travis Swaggerty out of South Alabama University. In his first two seasons in the Pirates organization, he rose through the ranks of A Ball, and after struggling initially he put together a good season in High-A Ball. He ended up hitting .269 with nine home runs and 40 RBI in 121 games with Bradenton in 2019 and was all set to make the jump to Double-A Altoona in 2020. However, the pandemic shut down the season and Swaggerty was forced to spend the year at the Pirates alternate training site in Altoona. He earned his first trip to Big League Spring Training this season as a non-roster invitee in 2021 and got a lot of experience against upper-echelon ...

The Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League teams kicked off their regular seasons yesterday, taking the field for the first time since 2019. Roansy Contreras and Chase De Jong dominated the day turning in career-high starts in Double and Triple-A. After sitting idly for a year due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, Minor League Baseball returned to action last night and all four Pirates Minor League teams were in action. The Triple-A Indianapolis Indians and High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers each got wins while the Altoona Curve and Bradenton Marauders each took losses on Opening Night. There were some great performances throughout the Pirates Minor League system and some anticipated appearances. Travis Swaggerty got his Triple-A career started with a three-hit night and Nick Gonzales got two hits in his pro ball debut. However, it was a pair of starting pitchers that stole the spotlight on Minor League Baseball's Opening Night. Chase De Jong and Roansy Contreras each made their debuts...