With the minor league season having Mondays off every week this year, we get to do weekly recaps based on the action from Tuesday to Sunday each week. Below you’ll find a list of the top hitters and pitchers for the Pittsburgh Pirates over the last week. The batters are sorted by OPS and they each had at least 20 plate appearances last week. The pitchers are sorted by ERA and they pitched at least four innings.
Top Hitters
- Anthony Alford, Indianapolis – He topped off a strong week by reaching base six times on Sunday. Alford finished with a .467/.667/.733 slash line in 25 plate appearances.
- Mason Martin, Altoona – Martin homered three times and drove in nine runs last week when he hit .385/.407/.846 in 27 plate appearances. He has ten doubles and eight homers.
- Canaan Smith-Njigba, Altoona – He hit .478/.561/.609 in 28 plate appearances, reaching base 16 times in six games. He topped off his week with a 4-for-4 day on Sunday.
- Rodolfo Castro, Altoona – The Altoona hitters had a field day with Erie pitching this week, earning three of the top four spots. Castro hit .423/.407/.769 in 27 plate appearances, with three homers and nine RBIs. A sacrifice fly and no walks led to a higher average than OBP.
- Fabricio Macias, Greensboro – Macias hit .360/.385/.720 with a double, triple and two homers. He has made the top ten here three weeks in a row.
- TJ Rivera, Indianapolis – Rivera batted .368/.381/.579 in 21 PAs. It’s a strong week from him, but a large gap here between fifth and sixth place on this list (140 points in OPS).
- Liover Peguero, Greensboro – He hit .304/.333/.609 in 26 PAs, with two doubles, a triple and a homer. He now has a .764 OPS in 25 games this season.
- Calvin Mitchell, Altoona – He batted .360/.360/.560 in 25 plate appearances with two doubles and a homer. He’s up to ten doubles and four homers this season.
- Aaron Shackelford, Greensboro – He batted .261/.308/.609 in 26 PAs, with a triple and two homers, which gives him 12 home runs on the season.
- Matt Fraizer, Greensboro – He hit just .231 last week, but three homers helped him to an .863 OPS. He was the top hitter two weeks ago and the sixth best last week.
PITCHERS
- Beau Sulser, Indianapolis – The only pitcher who threw more than five shutout innings this past week in the system, Susler allowed four hits and two walks, while picking up five strikeouts in six scoreless frames. He had the ninth best performance for pitchers last week.
- JC Flowers, Greensboro – He had a strong Sunday performance, tossing five shutout innings on two hits, no walks and four strikeouts. He has a 1.80 ERA and an 0.77 WHIP in 30 innings this season.
- Sergio Umana, Bradenton – You may have noticed that no hitters from Bradenton made the top ten. Umana is the first and only Marauder here and he did it with 4.2 innings over three relief appearances. Not bad from someone who didn’t pitch in the U.S. prior to this month.
- Alex Manasa, Greensboro – He hasn’t been having a great season, but he might be getting on track after going four shutout innings this past week, with no hits or walks.
- Will Kobos, Greensboro – He matched Manasa with four shutout/hitless innings, but he did it with four walks and five strikeouts.
- Kyle Keller, Indianapolis – The other Keller at Indianapolis had four shutout innings on one hit, no walks and six strikeouts.
- Cody Ponce, Indianapolis – Ponce had an outstanding start, allowing one run over seven innings on six hits, no walks and nine strikeouts.
- Roansy Contreras, Altoona – He allowed one earned run (two runs total) over seven innings this past week, giving up two hits and one walk, while striking out ten batters. He’s been a regular in this feature, though he missed the top ten last week. He has a 2.03 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 40 innings this year.
- Omar Cruz, Greensboro – Cruz went six innings, allowing one run on two hits, two walks and five strikeouts. He has a 3.45 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP and 38 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.
- Travis MacGregor, Altoona – He went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits, one walk and three strikeouts. He has 32 strikeouts in 25.2 innings this year.
