In this weekly feature, Post-Gazette Pirates writers Bill Brink and Stephen J. Nesbitt will recap the performances of the Pirates’ top 10 prospects over the past seven days, from Wednesday’s through Tuesday’s games.
1. Tyler Glasnow (Class AAA Indianapolis)
Position: RHP • Age: 22 • Height/Weight: 6-8/225 • Bats/Throws: L/R
Glasnow (1-1, 2.57 ERA) struck out 11 hitters, allowed two hits and walked only one over six scoreless innings Tuesday, bouncing back from a rockier outing Thursday in which he gave up six hits, three walks and four runs. Glasnow has 30 strikeouts to seven walks in 21 innings this season.
2. Austin Meadows (Class AA Altoona)
Position: OF • Age: 22 • Height/Weight: 6-3/200 • Bats/Throws: L/L
Meadows (.375) hit the ground running in his first games back since having surgery for a right orbital bone fracture in March. Wearing a face-guard extension on his helmet and protective glasses, he was plugged into the Curve starting lineup Monday and Tuesday and went 3 for 8 with a stolen base and a walk.
3. Josh Bell (Indianapolis)
Position: 1B • Age: 23 • Height/Weight: 6-2/235 • Bats/Throws: S/R
What a week for Bell (.281). On Friday, he hit for a cycle that included a grand-slam homer, five RBIs and a walk. He added two more hits on both Saturday and Sunday. In 17 games this season, Bell has 18 hits — eight of the extra-base variety — and 15 RBIs, with 12 walks to 13 strikeouts.
4. Jameson Taillon (Indianapolis)
Position: RHP • Age: 24 • Height/Weight: 6-5/240 • Bats/Throws: R/R
So far, so good for Taillon (2-0, 1.65), who has allowed just three earned runs in 16 1/3 innings this season, with 16 strikeouts. Taillon turned in a scoreless effort Saturday, allowing one hit and whiffing six in six innings. He has thrown 69 percent of his 262 pitches so far for strikes.
5. Harold Ramirez (Altoona)
Position: OF • Age: 21 • Height/Weight: 5-10/210 • Bats/Throws: R/R
After a scorching spring training, Ramirez (.194) has been slow to get started at this plate this season. Through 16 games, he has nearly as many strikeouts (12) as hits (13). Ramirez hit safely in four of five games this week, however, including a three-hit, two-triple game Friday in which he drove in four runs.
6. Reese McGuire (Altoona)
Position: C • Age: 21 • Height/Weight: 6-0/181 • Bats/Throws: L/R
McGuire (.261) went 3 for 16 last week week and saw his production at the plate drop a bit from the first two weeks this season, when his average was .300 and his on-base percentage .432. After walking seven times in the first six games this season, he has walked just once in seven games since.
7. Cole Tucker (TBD)
Position: SS • Age: 19 • Height/Weight: 6-3/185 • Bats/Throws: S/R
Tucker, who had surgery to repair his labrum in August, has not returned to action.
8. Kevin Newman (Class High-A Bradenton)
Position: SS • Age: 22 • Height/Weight: 6-1/180 • Bats/Throws: R/R
Newman (.371), the Pirates’ first-round pick last season, continues to rake. He had a three-hit day Thursday and has a .429 on-base percentage in 16 games. Not known for being a power hitter, Newman has 19 singles and four doubles among his 23 hits this season.
9. Ke’Bryan Hayes (Class A West Virginia)
Position: 3B • Age: 19 • Height/Weight: 6-1/210 • Bats/Throws: R/R
One of the most exciting young hitters in the Pirates system, Hayes (.393) has been flirting with .400 all month. In his current six game hitting streak, he is 11 for 25 with nine RBIs. Hayes is the son of former big-leaguer Charlie Hayes, who played in the majors for 14 years and won the 1996 World Series with the New York Yankees.
10. Elias Diaz (Indianapolis)
Position: C • Age: 25 • Height/Weight: 6-0/210 • Bats/Throws: R/R
Diaz went on the disabled list this spring with right elbow discomfort and has not yet joined the team in Indianapolis. Trainer Todd Tomczyk said last week the team was ”not overly concerned” with there being structural damage to Diaz’s elbow, believing it to be ”more of a chronic thing.”
First Published: April 27, 2016, 5:43 p.m.
