With the full-season minor league teams having every Monday off this year, we get to do weekly recaps based on the action from Tuesday to Sunday each week. The FCL teams played just four games last week, so no batters played enough to qualify for this article, but we do have two pitchers below. We will start including the hitters next 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
- Mason Martin, Altoona – He just made the minimum plate appearances here, otherwise I may have included him anyway because of his big day on Saturday when he hit three homers during a doubleheader. Martin hit .333/.400/1.111 for the week, with four homers, giving him 13 home runs on the season.
- Calvin Mitchell, Altoona – The Martin description was a set-up for here because Mitchell basically did just as well as Martin, only with 19 plate appearances, so I put him on the list. Mitchell hit .444/.474/1.000 with a double and three homers. He has a .914 OPS in 50 games this year. He was eighth on last week’s list.
- Matt Fraizer, Greensboro – Fraizer was becoming a regular here, making it three weeks in a row before missing last week. Now he registers with the third best week, hitting .407/.429/.704 in 28 plate appearances, with three doubles, a triple and a homer. He has a .935 OPS in 51 games this year.
- Christian Bethancourt, Indianapolis – He hit .444/.450/.611 in 20 plate appearances, with one homer and seven RBIs. The 29-year-old veteran catcher has an .816 OPS this season.
- Bligh Madris, Indianapolis – He hit .400/.478/.450 in 24 plate appearances. He has a .725 OPS in 38 games since being promoted to Triple-A.
- Rodolfo Castro, Altoona – He didn’t do that great this past week, he just hit for some power. Castro hit .222/.300/.611 in 20 plate appearances, with a double and two homers.
- Lolo Sanchez, Greensboro – He got here because of Sunday when he scored five runs in one game. Those were the only runs he scored last week. Sanchez hit .286/.474/.429 in 20 plate appearances. He stole three bases, giving him 14 steals on the year.
- Will Craig, Indianapolis – You know it’s a slow week when your eighth best hitter batted .190 for the week. Craig had a double, homer and five walks to post a .751 OPS in 27 plate appearances. He was here in the third spot last week for a huge week at the plate, and overall he’s been strong since being sent down.
- Endy Rodriguez, Bradenton – He hit .296/.296/.444 last week in 27 plate appearances, with a double and his seventh homer. He has a .794 OPS this year in 47 games.
- Maikol Escotto, Bradenton – It was a very mediocre week and not many people reached the minimum plate appearances, which allowed Escotto to make it here in a down week for him with a .651 OPS. He was ninth last week with an .875 OPS.
Top Pitchers
- Santiago Florez, Bradenton – He has been outstanding this year and continued last week with six shutout innings on one hit, two walks and seven strikeouts. He has a 1.32 ERA in 47.2 innings, with an 0.84 WHIP and 63 strikeouts.
- Adrian Florencio, Bradenton – He was really 1a here with Florez, also throwing six shutout innings. Florencio did it with four hits, one walk and five strikeouts. He has a 2.14 ERA, an 0.95 WHIP and 52 strikeouts in 42 innings.
- Beau Sulser, Indianapolis – Sulser was supposed to start on Sunday, but he got pushed back to relief due to a rehab assignment by Luis Oviedo. Sulser responded with 5.1 no-hit/scoreless innings in relief, walking three and striking out seven batters.
- Cameron Junker, Bradenton – Junker was just as impressive as Sulser, except he did it over two relief outings. Junker also tossed 5.1 innings with no hits or runs. He walked two and struck out five batters.
- Domingo Gonzalez, Bradenton – He has pitched much better since switching to relief. This past week he went five innings on one hit and two walks, while allowing one unearned run. He had nine strikeouts. Gonzalez was the sixth best pitcher last week when he allowed just one hit over five relief outings.
- Steven Jennings, Greensboro – Jennings tossed four no-hit innings last week in relief, with one walk and one strikeout. He has a 2.55 ERA since being promoted to Greensboro on June 1st.
- Christian Charle, FCL Pirates – After sitting out a year due to a suspension, then not pitching last year due to no minor league season, Charle got off to a great start in 2021 with four shutout innings on one hit, with no walks and four strikeouts.
- Po-Yu Chen, FCL Pirates – The Pirates top international signing for the 2019-20 signing period was strong in his pro debut, going four shutout innings on two hits, no walks and five strikeouts.
- Austin Roberts, Greensboro – In two relief appearances, Roberts tossed four shutout innings on five hits, one walk and five strikeouts. He has a mediocre 4.28 ERA in 27.1 innings this year, but it comes with 46 strikeouts.
- JC Flowers, Greensboro – The only pitcher here who allowed an earned run, Flowers still had an impressive performance. He went six innings, giving up one run on three hits, two walks and seven strikeouts. He maintained his 1.50 ERA since being promoted to Greensboro. He has made this article three weeks in a row now.
