Do We Really Need Changes?

News just came out that the Pirates will not be making any managerial or front office changes this offseason. After possibly the biggest collapse in Major League Baseball history, a lot of people are questioning that decision.

As for me, I don't think it's really a bad thing. I've never been one to believe that manager's really do much to a team's win-loss percentage. They certainly have some bearing on how a team performs, but I don't think hiring a different manager is the answer here. That doesn't mean that I think Clint Hurdle is the best man for the job, I just don't think that bringing someone else in will make any significant difference.

In terms of the front office, I'm less confident talking about it. I really do like the job Neal Huntington has done. You would hard pressed to find a General Manager that's done a better job in the draft since he's been with the Pirates, although the jury is still out on almost all of his picks. He's gotten a lot of talent for the Pirates money and things are certainly looking up right now. I also appreciate his understanding of how and when to spend money. Despite the collapse, I still think he did a very good job at this year's trade deadline. Who knows what would have happened if he had gone a different route, but regardless of that we still have a player in Travis Snider locked up for a few years that could really impact this offense.

I'm not too clear on what Kyle Stark and company do and how it affects the Major League team, but it's hard for me to believe that this collapse is in anyway his fault. We don't have a lot of organizational depth, there's no doubt about that. A lot of that you can chalk up to bad luck, but it certainly doesn't seem like the Pirates are the best organization at developing minor league players. Is that Stark's fault? Could be. Could someone else do a better job? Possibly. Does that mean you HAVE to fire him right now? I don't think so. You can't blame this collapse on Stark; I mean you can do whatever you want, but I think it would be foolish to say he's the main culprit.

To me, this collapse happened because we had a team that wasn't as good as we thought in the first place, and that team certainly wasn't capable of playing anything close to a full 162 games of baseball at a Major League level.

Personally I think it's time we stop looking for someone to blame and start looking forward to next year, while taking what positives we can out of 2012. That's probably easier said than done, so maybe just try saying it over and over again.

The Predictability of Playoff Baseball

One great thing about the game of baseball is how close it makes its competitors. It's very hard to predict who will win a single game of baseball, because of all the different random things that can happen during a game. We are nearing playoff time now, which is exciting for many reasons. One thing I can say about the playoffs is that they are easier to predict than regular season games. Teams have nothing to lose and you know that the best players and pitchers will be used at all times. We can gather a pretty decent idea of which teams have the best chance to be the last teams standing, click here for odds.

Baseball added another Wild Card team this year, which gives us a one-game Wild Card round to open up the postseason. That means a team that has won substantially more games in the regular season could be knocked out by a team with substantially less wins just because of the randomness of one game of baseball. It doesn't seem fair, but it's a reality. The series favorite will be a one game favorite, which will be mainly determined by which starting pitchers toe the rubber. If the second Wild Card team clinches its playoff berth in one of the final games of the year, they very well could go into that game with their ace pitcher unable to pitch. That would create a pretty decent betting situation, if you're into sports betting.

Right now the Texas Rangers come in as the World Series favorite at 4/1. The Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds are right behind them at 5/1. Obviously those odds will change as the playoff teams are sorted out and seeded, but there are advantages to getting into the action early. Right now there are a number of teams with a mathematical chance to win the World Series, that won't be true when the regular season ends, which means the odds will get worse as more teams are eliminated.

Right now, I like the Giants out of the National League and the Yankees out of the American League. Those teams seem to have a solid three man rotation, which is what really matters, and they have the bats and experience to compliment it. I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again, so go figure out your own predictions, what do you have to lose?

Pirates Optimism (Guest Post)

One of my housemates surprised me with a post that he wrote for the blog. It's got a good message, so I figured I'd post it for you guys to read. The author's name is Anthony Cooper and you can follow him on Twitter here.

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If there are three things in life you can count on its death, taxes, and the Pirates losing. Wait, scratch that. Not this year. For some reason unbeknownst to me the baseball gods gambled last April with the success of different teams at stake. The result? Something that has not been seen in years. Don’t look now the Pirates and Orioles are both above .500 with the gods sending a fat middle finger to the Red Sox and Phillies. Ironic, yes, but the hardest part as a fan is knowing how to approach these next few weeks.

It is easy to have high expectations yes, but this is not the way to go. I’m an Orioles fan, and to be honest, I typically avoid them like the plague until after the all-star break which is typically when they go from close to .500 to close to .300. This may make me seem like a crappy fan, but hey, who says you have to invest emotion in terrible team?

Can’t you just hope for the best, and take enjoyment from going to the ole ball park? Isn’t that what baseball is about? Hope? If the Orioles tank and miss out on the playoffs, I’ll be mildly disappointed yes, but it’s what I’ve come to expect. Why expect the playoffs when a sampler platter of the past 20 years contains nothing but disappointment? It’s unreasonable.

So, assuming the Pirates tank, the main thing to take away from this season would be continued progress, and a bevy of young talent that will be back next year. Marte, McCutchen, Alvarez, Walker, they’ll all be back next year, not to mention the possible debuts of Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon. The team should be able to build on this success.

But hey, the season isn’t over, and I’m not saying give up. I’m just saying temper your expectations, accept progress as a positive result, and hope for a possible post season. Peace out. Bottoms Up.

The Implications of the Second Wild Card

Before this season began, Major League Baseball announced that there would be another Wild Card playoff team in each league. The decision was made primarily for money's sake. With another wild card team, more teams will be in the race longer, which means more ticket sales and higher TV ratings, amongst other things. While it may have been a good financial decision for the game, it has certainly changed a lot of things this year.

Over the last several weeks, the Pirates have been playing poorly. They were in the race for the National League Central division crown through July, but that possibility has since been erased as the team is 13.5 games back from the Reds. So where would be if there was no second wild card spot?

The Atlanta Braves have the first Wild Card spot pretty well secured. They are 7.5 games up on the second team, the Cardinals. They've been playing very well in the second half and look like a very strong playoff team. So if it weren't for the second Wild Card spot, the Pirates would not have much hope right now. In fact, they wouldn't have had much hope for quite some time. You can say the same for the Cardinals, Dodgers, Brewers, Phillies, and Diamondbacks.

Would that make the Pirates collapse hurt less? Yes, almost certainly. Now you can't take that fact and say that the additional playoff spot was bad for the Pirates, because it really wasn't. That allowed us to stay in the race longer, and it's still not impossible that this team could finish strong and have a chance at the playoffs. It's just interesting to think about how much differently this season would feel if they wouldn't have changed the rules.

Personally I think that second Wild Card spot was a really bad idea for the game. We could seriously see a team with 20 less regular season wins knock out the Braves in the one game series. Does that seem fair at all? It sure doesn't. However, you can't change anything, and for right now the decision was good for Pirate fans. They never had a chance at outplaying the Braves for a full year, but thanks to the new rule we have more hope than just looking for a winning season.

Whatever happens, this season is going to be interesting down to the final game, which I suppose is a good thing.

It's Time to Start Fooling Ourselves

You know what I hate? Opening paragraphs.

The Pirates have really stunk in the last month. I'm not going to sit here and type out all of their recent records to prove that fact to you. What I am going to do is play the role of psychiatrist here and I am going to tell you how you should handle this mentally.

Happiness is one of the most valuable things to attain in this life. If you ever have the chance to get happiness, you have no excuse not to take that chance. The fact is that American's put far too much of their happiness stake in sports; we let a meaningless thing impact an extremely meaningful thing. It doesn't make sense, but that's how it is. If you struggle with such thing, there's probably nothing I can say to help you with such a problem, so let's just skip over it.

The Pirates have to finish the year at least 10-13 to have their first winning season since 1992. Let's assume they do so.

Let's go back to April when all our expectations were tempered a .500 season looked like a huge win. Find those feelings and try to remember them. Let's forget the huge slide the Pirates would have gone in August and September to finish with a record just above .500. Throw perspective out the window and think of this in the large scale. The Pirates would have won 82 of their last 162 games. That's more wins than losses. And you, as a Pirate fan, think that it's okay for you to not be okay with a winning season? No matter where we are, where we came from, or where we started, you're a Pirate fan - so a record that has a bigger number in that W column than the L column is a success.

1992 was a long, long time ago. I was turning two when the Pirates were knocked out of the playoffs that year, so this year is going to be the best season I've seen by my favorite baseball team regardless of what happens in these next few weeks. Join me in being okay with that.

The human mind is persuadable, so let's start persuading ourselves that this has been a positive season for the Pirates. If you think differently and expect a team to play good baseball for six whole months, you just may be rooting for the wrong team.

Sports aren't important. They are for entertainment only, so don't let them have any kind of serious affect the rest of your life - unless the Pirates start surging and make the playoffs, then feel free to go absolutely nuts with no regard for anything else.

Stetson Allie Finishes First Season as a Hitter

Huge news broke near the beginning of the season this year that told us that the Pirates were changing pitching prospect Stetson Allie to a third base prospect. Allie was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft and the Pirates lured him to their system with an over the top $2.25 MM signing bonus. They had high hopes for the 18 year old kid that could reach triple-digits on the radar gun.

However, Allie quickly showed that he had very little hope of ever turning into a legitimate pitcher. He couldn't find the strike zone and didn't show enough signs that he would figure it out, so the Pirates made a bit of a desperate move. They made him a hitting prospect. He was one of the better power hitting prospects in that draft, believe it or not, so management thought that maybe he could get some return on their investment with the bat.

You shouldn't have expected much from Allie in his first year as a hitter, but in fairness he didn't give us much either. In 42 games and 150 at-bats, Allie hit .213/.314/.340 with six doubles, two triples, and three home runs. He drove in 19 runs and stole two bases while walking 21 times and striking out 50 times. That K/BB ratio isn't good, but again, there was no real reason for him to show maturity at the plate in his first year being solely a hitter. He's a guy that profiles as a power hitter that isn't going to do much in terms of average or contact, so the strikeouts certainly should have been expected.

We definitely cannot take one bad year here and label this a bad decision on management's part. It would have been pretty astounding for Allie to have even a decent year at the plate, just because of how quickly his career path changed. At the beginning of the year he was focused solely on pitching, and now it's the opposite.

The good news is that Allie is just 21 years old and has a few more years to prove himself in the minors before we can label it a complete bust. Obviously, it's a longshot. You just don't see these types of stories ending well very often, but it should be an interesting story to follow for the next few years.

Wrapping Up a Strong Season for the Pitching Prospect Trio

Coming into 2012, the Pirates had extremely high hopes for the future of their rotation. They nabbed Gerrit Cole in the 2011 draft and added him to the pairing of Jameson Taillon and Luis Heredia, hoping to have a deadly 1-2-3 punch in coming years. There were a lot of eyes on those three arms this summer, and they didn't disappoint.

While the minor league seasons aren't all completely over yet, it's safe to say that the numbers we see right now will be about what these pitchers will finish up with this for the year. So let's take a look at what the big three did in 2012.

Gerrit Cole
Season: 26 GS, 132.0 IP, 2.80 ERA, 1.197 WHIP, 7.7 H/9, 0.5 HR/9, 3.1 BB/9, 9.3 K/9
A+: 13 GS, 67.0 IP, 2.55 ERA, 1.104 WHIP, 7.1 H/9, 0.7 HR/9, 2.8 BB/9, 9.3 K/9
AA: 12 GS, 59. IP, 2.90 ERA, 1.305 WHIP, 8.2 H/9, 0.3 HR/9, 3.5 BB/9, 9.2 K/9
AAA: 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 4.50 ERA, 1.167 WHIP, 9.0 H/9, 0.0 HR/9, 1.5 BB/9, 10.5 K/9

Jameson Taillon
Season: 26 GS, 142.0 IP, 3.55 ERA, 1.113 WHIP, 7.6 H/9, 0.6 HR/9, 2.4 BB/9, 7.4 K/9
A+: 23 GS, 125.0 IP, 3.82 ERA, 1.168 WHIP, 7.8 H/9, 0.7 HR/9, 2.7 BB/9, 7.1 K/9
AA: 3 GS, 17.0 IP, 1.59 ERA, 0.706 WHIP, 5.8 H/9, 0.0 HR/9 0.5 BB/9, 9.5 K/9

Luis Heredia
Season (A-): 14 GS, 2.71 ERA, 1.101 WHIP, 7.2 H/9, 0.3 HR/9, 2.7 BB/9, 5.4 K/9

Keep in mind with Heredia that he really wasn't pitching to strike people out. They do a lot of developmental work in State College and statistical results really aren't the goal there. That makes his good numbers even more encouraging; you'll rarely see a pitcher have a good statistical season in State College like Heredia did.

Looking at all of those numbers, you have to be pretty confident about the future of this Pirates pitching rotation. If these three can continue to progress and eventually meet their potential, the Pirates could have the best pitching rotation in the majors, and have it pretty easily.

As for next year, Cole will start the year in AAA, Taillon probably in AA, and Heredia will more than likely go to Bradenton. I would be surprised if Cole didn't debut around June next year, and Taillon could possibly make a start or two later in the year, but they'll probably be patient with him. We're looking at 2015 as the earliest that all three of these pitchers could be in Pittsburgh together, and that could really be something to see.

Prospect Breakdown: Luis Heredia 9/5 start vs Mahoning Valley Scrappers

When you always talk about the "future" of the Pirates as a whole, it seems to ALWAYS start and end with the triple barrel of big power right-handers; Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, and Luis Heredia. But the hype around the young Mexican phenom Heredia is through the roof because he is still extremely raw and young, but absolutely oozes with talent. He has shown that he is definitely advanced beyond his years in terms of his feel for pitching. I mean honestly, he should be in his senior year of high school, right? But most Pirates fans associate Heredia as the most highly regarded and priciest International signing in the history of the Pirates. The big six foot six 18 year old Heredia hails from the popular tourist destination Mazatlan, Mexico and signed with the Pirates as a non-drafted free agent in 2010 for $2.6 million. He somewhat softened the blow of losing out to the Minnesota Twins on stud SS/3B Miguel Sano (which is a completely different story in itself because there's a movie about it now!).

Luckily I got to catch Heredia's final start tonight, which happened to be the last Spikes home game of the 2012 season. Coming into tonight's outing, he had just come off a shaky month of August that was by far his worst month as a professional. During his five starts in August, Heredia threw 23 innings while allowing 20 hits, 12 earned runs, and posting a lackluster 13:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

One thing I did pay attention to from the get-go was his "supposed" amped up velocity on his fastball. Reports at the beginning of the season said Heredia grew a few inches and increased his fastball velocity in the off-season and was sitting in the mid 90's consistently and could hit the high 90's. But the highest I had him on record for tonight was 91 MPH twice and consistently sitting at 87-89. I am not sure about the reputation of how cold the radar guns are at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park (the home of the Spikes and Penn State Baseball). Maybe it was because it was his final start of the season and his arm might be burned out. We do have to consider the fact Heredia is still a spring chicken at the ripe age of 18 years old and he doubled his innings pitched. In 2011 for the GCL Pirates, Heredia only 30.1 innings in 12 games in contrast to his 66.1 in 14 games for State College this season.

Enough of that. Lets get to good stuff, eh? With the expectations of his new-found gas all in my mind, I was surprised to see the radar gun flash on the right field PNC Park-esuqe wall to start the game. First pitch: a high and in 89 MPH ball against scrappy Mahoning Valley first baseman Erik Gonzalez. Throughout the rest of the at-bat, Heredia moved throughout the zone to adjust to Gonzalez's battle at the plate as he fouled off three straight. Then Heredia finally got Gonzalez to chase on a picture perfect "pitchers pitch" (SAY THAT FIVE TIMES STRAIGHT!), an 81 MPH ball off the outer black with slider type movement, to notch his first strikeout of the night. Against his next better, Heredia got center field Hunter Jones to line out to Spikes right fielder Jesus Vazquez on a ball in the middle of the zone on the outer third. The Scrappers three hole hitter, shortstop Dorssys Paulino, witnessed Heredia flash a nice 80 MPH change up against him that just missed the outer half of the zone. Later in the at-bat, Heredia rared back with a 90 MPH fastball to get Paulino swinging for his second strikeout on the night. At the end of the first, Heredia threw 13 pitches with eight of them being strikes.

In the second, Heredia had to grind it out right from the start. He walked the lead off hitter Logan Vick on four straight balls, all fastballs at 87, 86, 88 and 87 MPH, respectively. Then he continued to miss high with his fastball and not find the zone as he threw his fifth straight ball to Mahoning Valley right fielder Andrew Campbell. You could definitely tell Heredia was a little off mechanically as he was not bending his back and finishing low. But he gutted it out and got Campbell to fly out to shortstop Chris Diaz. Then, in probably his best overall at-bat of the game, Heredia attacked Jeremy Lucas with pinpoint fastball location on the low and outside corner for a 88 MPH first-pitch strike. To counter with the fastball, he went back to the outer half and got Lucas to chase two 78 MPH sliders in the dirt and notch his third strikeout in three pitches. To end the third, Heredia got behind 2-0 against Jorge Martinez but got him to chase an 88 MPH fastball in on the hands for the good old BROKEN BAT GROUNDOUT to second. It was clear that his off speed stuff, specifically the slider in the high 70's, was looking great tonight with batters looking completely out of balance. At the end of two, Heredia threw 27 pitches (12 balls, 15 strikes).

The third inning was by far his most efficient of night and it just so happened to be the Samuel Gonzalez show as he recorded all three outs himself. Heredia started off Mitch Nilsson with an 86 MPH fastball right down the middle (Fun fact: Heredia started off ten of his 18 hitters with first pitch strikes). Then he got the switch-hitting Nilsson to roll over to the first baseman Gonzalez on an 83 MPH changeup that was left a little up in the zone. But no harm, eh? Robel Garcia then got Heredia to fall behind 2-0 on two high 90 MPH fastballs but eventually joined teammate Mitch Nilsson on the bench and grounded out to first. Leadoff hitter Erik Gonzalez wasted no time in his second crack against the Mexican phenom and lined out to first base on a first pitch 87 MPH fastball on the low outside corner. At the end of his third inning of work: 34 pitches (14 balls, 20 strikes) with a NO-HITTER ALERT!

Now holding a 2-0 lead, Heredia had his most difficult inning of the night in the fourth, which was not saying too much. Hunter Jones led off the four with his mind clearly fixated on bunting for a base hit to actually get a runner on. He bunted two 87 MPH fastballs foul on the low outer half and was not successful. Luckily, the dominance of Heredia's slider and changeup location tonight got Jones to roll over to third on a nice 2-2 slider way out of the zone. After 10 batters and 43 pitches, Heredia finally gave up his first hit of the night, a line drive base hit off the bat of Dorssys Paulino. But he managed to quickly gain his composure back to get Logan Vick to roll over to first base on a first pitch changeup and then get Andrew Campbell to go down looking on a perfect 90 MPH fastball on the outside black. Since he worked from the stretch most of the fourth, I did notice Heredia looked a lot better when it came to keeping the ball down in the zone consistently. At the end of his fourth inning of work: 49 pitches (18 balls, 28 strikes).

In his final inning, Heredia definitely was losing velocity on his fastball and looked tired as he hung a 1-1 78 MPH slider to Jeremy Lucas for a double to the right center gap. He looked as if he was running on "E" out as he sat between 82-84 with his fastball and was leaving pitches in the middle of the zone. Against the second hitter in the fifth, Heredia fell behind Jorge Martinez 2-0 until getting him to ground out on a middle-middle 84 MPH fastball. Then he used that giant frame of his to rare back with 91 MPH gas up and in on a 2-2 pitch to get Mitch Nilsson swinging. To end the fairytale season of one young Mexican phenom, Robel Garcia hacked at the first pitch he saw and flied out to right field.

In summation, Heredia finished his night going five scoreless innings only allowing two hits and walking one while striking out five to notch his 4th win of the season. He threw 61 total pitches (22 balls, 33 strikes). When he seemed to show any chinks in his armor, his battled back and got out of any problems. If he pitches in State College again in the 2013 season or in West Virginia with the Power, GO OUT AND SEE HIM PITCH if you get the chance. Just his sheer size out on the mound is entertainment in itself. But getting the opportunity to see one of the top young pitching prospects in all of baseball is such a treat. Add Heredia's great season with Cole and Taillon's, the Pirates continues to shine ever so brightly! THE SUN IS SHINING EVERYDAY!!! To quote my favorite band the Foo Fighters, "one of these days their bombs will drop and silence everything".



For those that are curious, he played most of the season at only 17 years old. His final statistics for the 2012 season with the State College Spikes were: 66.1 innings pitched, 4-2 record, 2.71 ERA, 53 hits, 20 earned runs, 2 home runs allowed, 20 walks, 40 strikeouts.

Now from a non-baseball standpoint, Heredia might be the nicest person I have ever met. He took the time to sign EVERY SINGLE ITEM given to him by fans. Post game during the fireworks he was tossed everything from programs, bats, gloves, baseballs, among many others. He smiles all of the time and puts out his hand to shake yours even if you do not acknowledge his kind gesture towards you. He is a very soft spoken and down to earth kid. The one thing that did surprise me was his clarity speaking English. I personally expected his English to still be a little spotty since he has only been in the United States for two years now. If I had to rate his English from one to ten (one being lowest and ten the highest) it would be roughly a seven. The highlight of my night...during the post game fireworks show (yes, a PNC Park favorite!) I had the privilege to get my picture taken with Heredia (shown above) and he was so nice that he gave me an official New York-Penn League ball and autographed it for me. What a nice guy, right? To top it off, he gave me one of his only bats while I was waiting in the parking lot for some post game quotes from him.

9/5 Kevin Correia Pitch f/X

6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Pitch Type	Veloc	H-Break	V-Break	Count	Strike%
4-Seam	90.0	-1.67	7.58	5	80.00%
Change	86.0	-6.88	4.53	15	53.33%
Slider	87.5	2.21	5.16	22	68.18%
Curve	77.0	5.42	-5.15	6	33.33%
Cutter	89.4	0.34	7.82	7	71.43%
2-Seam	90.5	-6.34	6.65	12	66.67%

You can view all the season's pitch f/x posts by clicking here

Recap 9/5 | Pirates 6 Astros 3

The Bucs came away with a series win against the Astros tonight with a 6-3 victory. Kevin Correia had a very solid outing for the Pirates. He pitched six innings and allowed only one run on four hits. Jared Hughes had two solid innings out of the bullpen and Jason Grilli closed the game out.

The offense looked pretty good for the Pirates tonight as well. Gaby Sanchez had a three hit game and Alex Presley had a good game also, hitting an RBI triple. Clint Barmes reached base three times and had an RBI and Brock Holt picked up two more RBIs to add onto his impressive rookie showing.

After a disappointing loss Monday, these two wins to win the series against the Astros will hopefully set up a successful series against the Chicago Cubs this weekend.

Rod Barajas vs. Michael McKenry, August & September Starts

Threw together some data about the Pirates catching situation since August. In this time frame the Pirates are 11-21 in this time. Here's the breakdown of who has started what games at the catching position.

Rod Barajas has made 17 starts and has hit .183/.254/.250 in those starts. The team is 4-13. A.J. Burnett has made six starts, Wandy Rodriguez, Kevin Correia, and Erik Bedard have all made three, and James McDonald and Jeff Locke were both caught by Barajas once in that time.

McKenry's numbers are better. Despite being the better hitter all year long, he's started just 15 of the last 32 games, in which the Pirates are 7-8. McKenry has hit .235/.307/.412 in that time, still not a good line but he's hitting for power when he's hitting and compared to Barajas he looked likes Johnny freakin Bench. He has become Jeff Karstens personal catcher, catching all six of his starts. The Pirates also prefer McKenry to catch McDonald, and five of his six starts have come with McKenry behind the dish. Rodriguez has made three starts with The Fort and Bedard made one.

There's no question that McKenry gives the Pirates a better chance to win than Barajas does. One thing I don't think people understand is that one catcher can't start every game. We're into September now, and these two have been at it all year long. All of the games this year have been caught by one of these two, so it's very probable that they're both probably pretty worked by now. You really have to split time at the catching position in this situation. It still seems like Barajas is getting more of the time, which is opposite of what should be happening. If the Pirates really think Burnett is that much better with Barajas, that's fine. But they need to find a way to get McKenry more than half the starts. I'd say it should be a 3-2 split with McKenry getting that 60%.

Is it a coincidence that the Pirates have three more wins in two less games with McKenry starting over Barajas? It probably is. Like I said, he really hasn't been doing much offensively either. Having McKenry behind the plate gives the Pirates a better chance to win, but not a much better chance. They need better performances from their starting pitchers to win, that is the bottomline. However, it just doesn't seem like the Pirates are doing the little things correctly here.

Monday 9/3 Minor League Roundup

AAA Indianapolis | Indianapolis 2 Louisville 0 (8 innings)
An absolutely ridiculous season finale was cut short due to rain after eight innings with Indianapolis getting the win and heading to its playoff series against Charlotte on Wednesday. How crazy was this one? Jeff Larish aimed to play all nine positions, and he was on track to do so as he actually recorded an out in the bottom of the seventh and only catching remained. But the game was called before Larish accomplished the rare feat. Even weirder, Larish was credited with the save! The wackiness didn't stop there: in order to get Larish on the mound, Jose Diaz, who is listed at 300 pounds but might weight more, played second base for a third of an inning. His spot came up to bat in the eighth inning, and he reached base on an error and moved to second. Diaz then somehow stole third base, which automatically has to qualify as the worst moment in Louisville catcher Brian Peacock's career. Diaz then scored on a single by Chase d'Arnaud, who had a 3-for-4 day. d'Arnaud, who was originally sent to Bradenton after his demotion from Pittsburgh, will likely remain with Indianapolis through its playoff stretch and then move back up to Pittsburgh at the conclusion of the Indians' season. Anderson Hernandez had two hits. Also, Chad Qualls pitched the first inning in a rehab outing and struck out all three batters he faced. Daniel McCutchen grabbed his seventh win of the year by pitching two innings of scoreless relief right after Qualls.

AA Altoona | Altoona 2 Erie 1
Altoona finished its season with a winning 72-70 record by edging Erie in its season finale. Brandon Cumpton pitched six innings and allowed one run on two hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Cumpton finished the season with a 12-11 record and a 3.84 ERA. Victor Black capped an amazing season by earning his 13th save with a scoreless ninth frame. Black had a 1.65 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 60 innings compared to 29 walks. Kelson Brown went 4-for-4 with a double to lead the Curve's offensive charge. The team was without stalwarts Matt Curry and Ramon Cabrera who were promoted to Indianapolis over the weekend to help for the playoff run. New starting catcher Charlie Cutler smacked two triples. Adalberto Santos went 0-for-5 but still finished the year with a .340 average.

A West Virginia | West Virginia 4 Delmarva 1
Zack von Rosenberg finished his season on an extremely high note by hurling a complete game against Delmarva and earning his fifth win of 2012. Von Rosenberg gave up one run in the Power's final contest of the year, and that was on a solo home run. Von Rosenberg allowed three hits and didn't walk a batter while fanning two. He lowered his ERA to 4.36 with the performance. Gregory Polanco sat out the finale, and Alen Hanson went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .309, which seems like a season-low right at the tail end, but it was still a breakout season for both Polanco and Hanson. Eric Avila probably wishes 2012 wasn't coming to a close, as he mashed right up to the end by going 3-for-4 with his 11th home run of the season and eighth since the beginning of August. Alex Fuselier also homered for the Power, which was his first in low-A. Dan Gamache went 2-for-4 and smacked his 40th double of the year and ended with a .285 average and .780 OPS.

A Bradenton | Bradenton
Bradenton's season finished on Sunday.

A State College | Williamsport 7 State College 2
Dilson Herrera has pounded the ball since his promotion from the Gulf Coast League last week, and did so on Monday by going 2-for-4 with a double and is now hitting .368. But the rest of the lifeless Spikes offense combined for just three other hits and Joely Rodriguez furthered his late-season blowup by getting shellacked for seven runs in 4.1 innings in a defeat to Williamsport. Samuel Gonzalez tripled and walked, and Jared Lakind and Chris Diaz had the only other hits for the Spikes. State College did walk nine times but couldn't take advantage enough and scored just two runs. Rodriguez allowed all seven runs on 11 hits while walking and striking out one apiece. Ryan Hafner finally had a good outing as the season winds down, as he pitched three shutout innings and gave up two hits and one walk with one strikeout to lower his Spikes' ERA to 6.08.