Minor League Notes: Brad Lincoln Has Big Game, Jameson Taillon Takes Loss

by Charlie Wilmoth on May 18, 2011 10:11 PM EDT

BRADENTON FL - FEBRUARY 20: Pitcher Brad Lincoln #32 of the Pittsburgh Pirates poses for a photo during photo day at Pirate City on February 20 2011 in Bradenton Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)

Here's a look at scores from the Pirates' minor-league affiliates today:

Indianapolis beat Buffalo 6-1, with Brad Lincoln going seven innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. He now has 42 strikeouts and eight walks in 46.1 innings on the season. Chase D'Arnaud went 3-for-4 with a homer, improving his season line to .285/.358/.444.

Altoona is losing 8-6 in a game in-progress against Akron. Jeff Locke gave up eight runs and six walks in 4.2 innings.

Bradenton lost 13-3 to Dunedin. Nate Baker allowed seven runs in 1.2 innings, although only two were earned. The Marauders were mostly shut down by Jays 2009 first-rounder Chad Jenkins, who had five strikeouts while allowing two runs in 7.2 innings. Robbie Grossman, who had been struggling, went 3-for-4 with a double and a walk.

West Virginia split a doubleheader against Lexington. Matt Curry, Dan Grovatt and Kawika Emsley-Pai all had three hits in a 9-3 win, with Curry and Grovatt also hitting homers. Curry is currently hitting .361/.463/.689, and his hitting coach Dave Howard recently said he had to come up with special drills for Curry to keep things from getting "boring," so I can't imagine he'll be at West Virginia much longer.

The Power lost the other game 4-2, with Jameson Taillon taking the first loss of his pro career. Taillon struck out four batters and walked none in four innings, but allowed four runs, three earned, including a solo homer to 23-year-old slugger Adam Bailey. That doesn't concern me too much, honestly.

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Comments

Not a good day for the lower level pitchers...

Though I’m not going to worry about Taillon yet. Throwing 85% fastballs I’d expect him to get hit every now and then. At least he’s still getting K’s and not walking anyone.

by Slick1 on May 18, 2011 10:25 PM EDT reply actions

I wouldn't worry about him at all

He’s being doing very well. Considering they barely let him use breaking pitches its extremely impressive how well he has done at such a young age.

Should the Pirates keep Neal Huntington?

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2011/5/16/2174135/poll-should-huntington-be-retained

by Kosstic518 on May 18, 2011 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions

agreed

by Slick1 on May 18, 2011 10:52 PM EDT up reply actions

As much as I want to see it.....

I don’t think that we are going to see Karstens moved out of the rotation for Lincoln, or any other arm from Indy or Altoona. I’d love to see Lincoln get another shot, and think he should be the at the front of the line. But I think we are going to have to wait for a trade or injury for that to become a reality. For some reason they are content to have Karstens fill Ross’ spot until he returns.

by Coolleey on May 18, 2011 10:40 PM EDT reply actions

It's because he's pitching really well.

by Slick1 on May 18, 2011 10:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Who?

Karstens? I’d say he’s serviceable, but I wouldn’t classify it as really well. He’s not really capable of going more than 5 or 6, so he’s taxing the pen every 5th day. He is the definition of replacement level…..

by Coolleey on May 18, 2011 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions

He's pitching pretty well for a 5th starter

It wasn’t that long ago that we had Yoslan Herrera and JVB starting games, so it could be much worse, no matter what Fangraphs says about replacement level.

by maguro on May 18, 2011 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions

karstens is pitching pretty well for karstens

hows that?

by white angus on May 19, 2011 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

No...

he’s pitching well for anyone. Really well for him and especially well for a 5th starter.

by Slick1 on May 19, 2011 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions

the guys that hit homers off him would agree with that

by white angus on May 20, 2011 9:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Im just waiting for them to move Curry up. We should start taking bets on it heh

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

by C Shint on May 18, 2011 10:45 PM EDT reply actions

If the WV coach thinks he's getting board...

from not being challenged it shouldn’t be too long before he’s moved up.

by Slick1 on May 18, 2011 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions

which is very encouraging, Curry could really become something

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

by C Shint on May 18, 2011 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Eh. Curry came out of a major college program that doesn’t play at a vastly different level than the one he’s at now. I agree with moving him up, but he needs to hit well with Bradenton before I’ll feel any real excitement.

No jinx no jinx no jinx.

by Suffering Buc on May 18, 2011 10:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Id argue Bradenton is more along his level of competition, where he goes from there will determine anything, but he has to be at A+ which apparently should happen soon.

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

by C Shint on May 18, 2011 10:58 PM EDT up reply actions

i'd consider moving Curry up to altoona... lemme explain why...

Baker and Anderson are at Bradenton. Not sure Baker is proving hes ready for a callup to Altoona, and Anderson is pretty much going to be an exPirate in the near future.

In altoona, the 1Bman is Miles Durham. Not exactly a prime prospect.

I believe that Curry needs to get that bump to AA and bypass A+. I know its probably not going to happen, but i think if anyone can bypass a level, its Curry.

by white angus on May 19, 2011 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions

I mean why not? If he struggles then you send him down

But if he does good, Yinzers start going crazy…Great PR Move! ;)

by BigB2323 on May 19, 2011 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions

actually, i could care less about PR

not only is Curry hitting for a high average, OPS and power, his OBP is very high. great eye on him. this is the reason why he “could” skip a level.

a couple weeks ago i said to wait on Curry to see if he slumps, since he really hasnt as a pro. two weeks later, he still hasnt, and hes still stinging the ball.

baker and anderson havent proved anything, so lets see what Curry can do in altoona.

by white angus on May 19, 2011 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions

OPS? OBP?

Who are you, and what have you done with angus?

Free your ass and your mind will follow.

by cocktailsfor2 on May 19, 2011 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions

ah haaaaaaaaa... busted

everyone knows my metrics are limited to OPS and WHIP…

i aint frontin’, yoh

by white angus on May 19, 2011 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions

you didn’t really argue for Curry, just against the other guys getting promoted. Just promote Curry and demote Calvin

by Mr. E on May 20, 2011 6:05 AM EDT up reply actions

"If the WV coach thinks he's getting board..."

I know the current bunch likes to run a tight ship with discipline and all, but isn’t corporal punishment of grown men going a little far?

by patthatt on May 18, 2011 10:55 PM EDT up reply actions

heh...

yes that does seem a little harsh.

by Slick1 on May 18, 2011 11:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope I can get to Charleston again this year, especially to see Taillon.

by patthatt on May 18, 2011 10:56 PM EDT reply actions

TEASER!

I saw Taillon pitch last Friday and plan on writing a long write-up about him and the entire Power team. I’ve just been swamped with my internship this summer.

I will say this. If I had to venture a guess to what’s been holding back Curry in both his path to Bradenton and as a prospect in general I’d have to say its his defense. He was horrendous the night I saw him (SSS alert). Unless it was a fluke, I can’t imagine Curry being able to play 1B at the ML level and instead will have to DH, which greatly reduces his value. That leads to my second tidbit. Taillon pitched MUCH better than the stat-line showed he did last Friday. Most of that had to do with Curry’s defense.

Da'Sean Butler - A Mountaineer Legend

by McCutchenIsTheTruth on May 18, 2011 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions

according to baseball reference Curry has made 0 errors.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=curry-001mat

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

by C Shint on May 18, 2011 11:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Hard

to make errors when you can’t get to the ball. Look at both the doubles Taillon gave up that night. Neither should have been hits. I can say with 99.9% certainty you would have fielded both those balls C Shint…

And if this is a tounge in cheek sarcasm thing.. well * hangs his head in shame *

Da'Sean Butler - A Mountaineer Legend

by McCutchenIsTheTruth on May 19, 2011 9:46 AM EDT up reply actions

ive heard that Curry is adequate with the glove. in fact, since his weight loss, hes actually more mobile than ever.

and i believe he has 1 error now.

by white angus on May 19, 2011 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions

the only real complaint ive heard about Curry's D is the same thing you hear about Pearce...

hes a right handed tosser.

by white angus on May 19, 2011 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Well

what you heard probably relies on a much better sample size, but what my eyes saw was unspeakable. He made a very nice play on a ball hit in his range. It’s just his range seems to be how ever far he can reach from his starting position.

Da'Sean Butler - A Mountaineer Legend

by McCutchenIsTheTruth on May 19, 2011 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions

so your saying with some better conditioning along with a little more weight loss and work on his lateral movement at 1B he could be excellent both with a bat and glove. this i like

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

by C Shint on May 20, 2011 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions

His defense...

is indefensible.

The Hammer Speaks
Extra Innings
Twitter: @DTonPirates and @hammerspeaks

by David Todd on May 19, 2011 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Did Jose Hernandez...

Really not only pitch an inning, but strike out the side? Crazy.

by ElDuce on May 19, 2011 1:55 AM EDT reply actions

And those 3 guys were Akron’s 1-2-3 hitters, including speedster Jordan Henry (.310 / .403 / .362 and 18/17 BB/K ratio) and Tim Fedroff (.344 / .388 / .459).

Disclaimer : that was just the 9th inning in a 10-run game, so hitters may not have been 100% into this.

Does somebody remember if his scouting report graded his arm as “plus” ? Does he have a background of pitching in College or before ?

by From France on May 19, 2011 3:59 AM EDT up reply actions