Pirates Prospect Watch: Skenes Makes Debut, Johnson Homers

The biggest story of the night for the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fans was probably the Low-A debut of 2023 first overall pick, Paul Skenes.

Although that was exciting, there were plenty of other stories.

Bradenton scored two touchdowns and only one by one run, Termarr Johnson homered again in High-A, and Charles McAdoo put up another five RBIs.

How could I forget Roansy Contreras made another start in Triple-A. Let’s take a look at how these Pirates’ prospects did.

Indianapolis (53-60)

OF Canaan Smith-Njigba

• Game stats: 3-5 and two RBIs
• Season stats: .256/.351/.455, 11 homers, one triple, 18 doubles, and 44 RBIs (266 at-bats, or 73 games)

2B Nick Gonzales

• Game stats: 3-5, a double, two runs scored, and two RBIs
• Season stats: .260/.379/.439, six homers, five triples, 16 doubles, and 29 RBIs

Contreras made his second start for Triple-A Tuesday night. Contreras went 4.0 IP while giving up 1 hit, one earned run, two walks, and struck out five.

In addition, Contreras’ velocity continues to struggle. His max velo on the night was 93.9 mph and averaged 92.6, which is 1.7 mph less than his average.

Contreras also used his new sinker five times and sat in the 86-88 mph range. In addition, Contreras’ sinker averaged 25 inches of vertical break and 16 inches of horizontal break.

The Indians ended up crushing St. Paul by a score of 8-5.

Altoona (51-55)

RF Joe Perez

• Game stats: 4-5, one homer, one double, two runs score, and two RBIs
• Season stats: .255/.327/.397, ten homers, two triples, 12 doubles, and 47 RBIs (325 at-bats, or 89 games between Triple-A and Double-A

SS Tsung-Che Cheng

• Game stats: 2-3, two runs scored, and two RBIs
• Season stats: .299/.372/.496, 11 homers, ten triples, 18 doubles, 22 stolen bases, and 44 RBIs (361 at-bats, or 96 games between High-A and Double-A)

The Curve struck early against Bowie and cruised to an 8-4 win.

Sean Sullivan threw 5.1 solid innings while giving up two earned runs. Newly acquired Perez blasted his first homer in the Pirates system, and Tsung-Che Cheng continues to impress.

Greensboro (57-49)

SS Jack Brannigan

• Game stats: 2-4, one homer, and one RBI
• Season stats: .279/.392/.546, 16 homers, three triples, ten doubles, 21 stolen bases, and 40 RBIs (240 at-bats, or 69 games between Low-A and High-A)

2B Termarr Johnson

• Game stats: 2-4, one homer, and one RBI
• Season stats: .237/.407/.443, 16 homers, one triple, ten doubles, and 48 RBIs (291 at-bats, or 86 games between Low-A and High-A)

The Grasshoppers got back in the win column Tuesday night. Brannigan and Johnson homered in back-to-back at-bats in the eighth inning, giving Greensboro a 5-1 victory.

Po-Yu-Chen (3.0 IP), Jake Stevenson (2.0 IP), and Valentin Linzarez (3.0 IP) all pitched relatively clean innings. Lefty Cy Nielson gave up the lone run for the Grasshoppers in the ninth inning.

Bradenton (62-46)

LF Charles McAdoo

• Game stats: 2-5, one homer, three runs scored, and five RBIs
• Season stats: .548/.641/.871, three homers, one double, and 16 RBIs (31 at-bats, or eight games)

2B Mitch Jebb

• Game Stats: 2-5, one double, one triple, two runs scored, and one RBI
• Season Stats: .305/.373/.390, three doubles, one triple, and six RBIs (59 at-bats, or 14 games)

The Marauders’ offense exploded Tuesday night and managed to score 14 runs.

The biggest story of the day was 2023 first overall pick Paul Skenes making his Low-A debut, but Charles McAdoo stole the show with five RBIs.

Delvis Nadal blasted a grand slam, Jebb continued to hit, and Skenes struck out two in one inning of work. The Marauders won 14-13 when the dust settled, as Lakeland missed the extra point.