Pittsburgh Pirates: Arizona Fall League Final Update
Final Update: The Pittsburgh Pirates had seven players competing in the Arizona Fall League. These seven players were part of the Surprise Saguaros roster. All are currently minor league prospects in the Bucs organization.
The players who represented the Pittsburgh Pirates on the Surprise Saguaros roster were four pitchers, a catcher, and one infielder and “outfielder each”. The pitchers were Tanner Anderson, Montana DuRapau, Edgar Santana, and Alex McRae. Anderson is the only pitcher who was being used as a starting pitcher. The other three were pitching strictly as relief pitchers.
For Santana and DuRapau this is normal, as they were used as relievers throughout the season. However, for Alex McRae it is not typical. He made 27 starts this year between Bradenton and Altoona. Now this does not suggest that he is transitioning into a reliever. In the Arizona Fall League the teams have a lot of players that they need to get into action. Only one pitcher can start a game, but likely will only go a few innings.
Here are the Pitcher’s Stats so far:
Tanner Anderson: 7 Games, 7 Starts, 26.1 Innings Pitched, 11 Earned Runs (3.76 ERA), 19K/6BB
Montana DuRapau: 10 Games: 10 Innings Pitched, 6 Earned Runs (5.40 ERA), 10K/5BB
Edgar Santana: 9 Games, 13.2 Innings Pitched, 0 Earned Runs (0.00 ERA), 18K/2BB
Alex McRae: 10 Games, 16 Innings, 6 Earned Runs (3.38 ERA), 9K/4BB
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On the infield side of things the Pittsburgh Pirates are represented by two prospects. One is catcher Jin-De Jhang and the other is third baseman Connor Joe. Jhang played most of his games for the Double-A Altoona Curve. He appeared in 54 games and batted .298 in those games. The other infielder Connor Joe is most notable for being a Competitive Balance first round pick in the 2014 draft, at #39 overall. He did not appear in any games in 2014 and struggled in 80 games in 2015. However, this year at High-A he put together a solid season batting .277 with a solid on-base percentage of .351. Neither at his point is considered a top 30 prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Here are their stats so far:
Jin-De Jhang: 14 Games Played, 15 Hits in 37 AB’s (.319), 3 BB, and a .772 OPS
Connor Joe: 15 games Played, 10 Hits in 49 AB’s (.204 BA), 2 Home-runs, and a .718 OPS
The last player on the Surprise team is outfielder Eric Wood. Wood also plays infield, but is listed as an outfielder on the Surprise roster. Eric Wood is a Canadian born player who played at Altoona this year. He mostly played third base, but he is getting time in the outfield now. At Altoona he hit .249 with a .782 OPS. However, the right-handed hitter did provide the Curve with 16 home-runs in 118 games.
Here is how Wood fared this fall:
Eric Wood: 23 Games Played, 29 Hits in 88 AB’s (.330), 3 home-runs 20 RBI, and a .876 OPS
Since the last update there has been many positives. Connor Joe has raised his average 30 points while Jhang continues to hit over .300 bumping his average from .308 to .314. Eric Wood continues to be one of the best players in the league holding his OPS over a one. The pitchers all lowered their earned run average since the first update. Montana DuRapau saw this biggest decrease going from an ERA of over 20 down to seven. Edgar Santana continues to climb as a prospect as he has yet to give up a run and has struck out almost two per inning.
The Arizona Fall League rapped up yesterday. Surprise was in the championship against Mesa. The Mesa Solar Soxs took home the crown beating the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects and the Surprise team 6-1. All in all the Bucs prospects had a pretty good showing in the league. None of the seven players were considered anything more than organizational prospects. Eric Wood and Edgar Santana impressed the most and likely will find themselves being ranked the highest entering next season. Tanner Anderson showed impressive stuff, and will be an intriguing pitching prospect going forward. This wraps up baseball here in the states until March!
Finally, stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and MILB.com
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