Minor League Roundup: Jarek Cunningham Homers, Doubles

by Charlie Wilmoth on May 25, 2011 3:04 AM EDT

Here's a look around at results from the minors last night.

Indianapolis lost 5-1 in Scranton, managing only four hits, two by John Bowker. Alex Presley went 0-for-4. Other than Presley and perhaps Brad Lincoln and Tony Watson, there haven't been a lot of really good Indianapolis performances by guys with futures with the big leagues, which is a shame, but at least this Pirates team isn't the type that has required tons of reinforcements from Class AAA.

Altoona lost 3-2 to Bowie and only had five hits. Tony Sanchez had the only extra-base hit, a double. Diego Moreno, who recently took Brian Leach's spot on the roster when Leach was demoted to Bradenton, pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Leach had 15 walks and seven strikeouts in 15 innings at Bradenton.

Bradenton beat Lakeland, 9-0. Jarek Cunningham continued piling up ridiculous power numbers, with a homer and a double; he now has 27 extra-base hits so far this year. He now has 19 strikeouts and no walks in his last nine games, however, and this could become a problem for him at the higher levels. Brett Lorin pitched six scoreless innings and had six strikeouts.

West Virginia was off. The Power will start a series at Delmarva today.

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Is Cunningham ready for a promotion?

Or will it wait until mid-season?

There is no love in the World. There's only pain.

by IAPiratesFan on May 25, 2011 8:35 AM EDT reply actions

No...

the strike out rate is approaching concerning levels again as is the BB rate. He stays in Bradenton all year until he learns to control the K zone. I don’t care how many HR’s he has.

#AllTheBuntsAreBad!

by Slick1 on May 25, 2011 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, he’s still young enough that he can stay in Bradenton the whole year and figure some things out.

The question is more when the hell does Matt Curry get a promotion? It’s not like he’s being blocked by Calvin Anderson or anything.

TravBlog

And on Twitter

by TravisDW on May 25, 2011 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions

This...

Curry should have been moved up by now imo.

#AllTheBuntsAreBad!

by Slick1 on May 25, 2011 9:50 AM EDT up reply actions

You’d have to think that he’s pretty close to a promotion.

Maybe they’re waiting until after the draft, so that they’ll have someone to take his place at WV?

by Vlad on May 25, 2011 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions

they already have someone: calvin anderson

i say move Curry up to Altoona. he probably will do better than Baker for now.

by white angus on May 25, 2011 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Jeebus Chistmas

Calvin Anderson is not a prospect… He can DH or Curry can DH, but in no means is he more than an organizational guy. Organizational guys NEVER should block prospects or cause a prospect to jump two levels

by VoteforPedro on May 25, 2011 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

dude, pay attention

i said Anderson can go back DOWN to west virginia… he isnt blocking anyone.

by white angus on May 26, 2011 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Good point...

I didn’t think about that though I don’t think that’s a good reason for holding back a prospect who arguably didn’t belong at the level in the first place (not saying you do). I think the Pirates are a littel too conservative at times when it comes to promotions. That said I felt Jeff Locke was ready for Indy so what do I know.

#AllTheBuntsAreBad!

by Slick1 on May 25, 2011 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions

conservative

The Pirates are relatively conservative with promotions, but it also seems like they have unique evaluation criteria as well. It’s really hard to look from the outside and suggest promotions because they seem to almost entirely disregard statistics when making those decisions. I really have no idea how they decide on promotions.

Case in point: Diego Moreno just got promoted to Altoona. Why he was left in Bradenton so long I have no idea, and why the Pirates felt like he deserved a promotion at this specific time, despite an ERA of 5 and his poorest BB rate ever, is beyond me.

The next time Charlie or whoever gets a chance to talk to Kyle Stark I’d be really interested in knowing more about how they make these decisions. Moreno would be a good for instance in describing the decision-making process. Locke is another one, I think, since he was left in AA despite good numbers, and he now seems to be working on something specific (either that or he’s injured), judging by his wonky results recently (not just pitching poorly in general, but walking a lot of guys, which is very unlike him and something he personally hates to do).

by epoc on May 25, 2011 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions

speculation

Another piece of the puzzle is that the FO has said that they like their prospects to struggle a bit and experience frustration during their trip through the minors. I don’t know how far they take that, but it does seem like they challenge their prospects with specific demands or restrictions and force them to overcome. Forcing young pitchers to throw 85% fastballs is a clear example. Owens has alluded to being frustrated about getting lit up in State College while knowing he could perform better if he was allowed to mix up his pitches more. Though I’m just speculating, I’d be willing to bet they do stuff like this all through the organization and that promotions are to some extent based on players’ abilities to meet these challenges.

by epoc on May 25, 2011 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions

That is what's weird about Curry

he’s walking, not K’ing, hitting for power, hitting for avg and even stealing bases. He’s dominating in every way. You can work on defense and baserunning at any level (besides MLB) if that is the problem.

by Mr. E on May 25, 2011 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions

agreed

I posted a couple of weeks back that Cunningham would be interesting to track because of his ratios, which weren’t terrible then, but weren’t great either.

Now they are approaching terrible.

by BurgherKing on May 25, 2011 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions

We haven’t seen much of anyone get a battlefield promotion yet…so I can’t see Cunningham being the first one.

by Thunder on May 25, 2011 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Morris got promoted May 16 last year

But Cunningham is certainly not dominating A+ ball to the extent morris was. The strikeouts are troubling.

by maguro on May 25, 2011 9:46 AM EDT up reply actions

I was referring to no battlefield promotions THIS season.

by Thunder on May 25, 2011 9:47 AM EDT up reply actions

altoona has holt, mercer and farrell in altoona right now

where would Cunningham play and whom from altoona gets bumped up or demoted?

by white angus on May 25, 2011 8:38 AM EDT reply actions

RF, perhaps

or even bump Mercer up, if he’s ready… i m simply playing devil’s advocate though, since i dont think Cunningham should move up yet.

by BurgherKing on May 25, 2011 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

he and Farrell can probably rotate between the CI slots I imagine. or Jarek 2B, Mercer 3B, Holt SS Farrell 1B on occasion

by Mr. E on May 25, 2011 8:33 PM EDT up reply actions

soooo Matt Curry needs to get moved up soon, right?

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

by C Shint on May 25, 2011 9:43 AM EDT reply actions

I would hope so.

22 years old and destroying low A. There’s no reason not to promote at this point.

Everything that guy just said is bullshit . . .thank you

by Scranton on May 25, 2011 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions

I would have thought he started the year at Bradenton, now I just hope he gets there in the next few weeks. His bat has a chance to be something

We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

by C Shint on May 25, 2011 10:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Looks like 3 of the best minor league pitchers were from Seat

Pribanic, Adcock who FO gave away for 50K and the most interesting one Lorin all have produced at a relatively high level.

Sanchez has been disappointing, .273 with only 1 HR and 7 errors.

The rule 5 pgh had this year is as poor as you can have with respect to having the number 1 overall pick. Huntington did an extremely poor job this year.

I agree that Curry needs to be promoted, beating up on kids is great for an ego I guess but does NOTHING to enhance his chances for playing ball in the MLB. 23 year old guy needs to be challenged, that is the only way to find out if he is for real and for him to continue progressing as a player.

One last thought, Bowker is hitting at AAA again, I for one would rather see him play 1B than Overpay. Playing daily along with some possible help thru Hurdle, he may turn out to be that 20 home run .300 hitter he’s capable of.

by jackiegleason on May 25, 2011 12:03 PM EDT reply actions

check out Sanchez' OBP before calling him a disappointment

by white angus on May 25, 2011 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Bowker, once again, done with the Pirates unless he gets a callup in September

he will NOT hit in the major leagues. how many times do you need to see him fail???
he didnt play in the field in april for a reason.

by white angus on May 25, 2011 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions

and Bowker has always hit AAA pitching. this is not something new.

the only argument that can be valid about getting rid of Overbay is to move Jones back to 1B and promote Presley to the outfield.

bowker is pretty much done in black n yellah.

by white angus on May 25, 2011 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Valid point on Rule 5

Why did we take a SS – position player – by the way? All but three of the picks were pitchers. Seems like Rule 5 position players have a very low success rate (Raynor, Rodriguez, even Bautista). I didn’t check the whole list, but it seems like more than a handful of guys (Adcock, Tobin, A Rodriguez, etc) have stuck in the majors.

by CO_Bucs on May 25, 2011 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions

See the following studs who were Rule 5 Picks

1.ROBERTO F’ing Clemenete!!!!!! (seriously man)
2. BOBBY F’ing BONILLA !!!!! (WHO ARE YOU?)
3.Josh Hamilton
4. Shane Victorino

by VoteforPedro on May 25, 2011 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Josh Hamilton is the exception to the rule

Everyone knew what kind of talent he had. Obviously, he had MVP-caliber potential at the time he was drafted. He wasn’t available because people didn’t think he had the ability, which is almost always the case with Rule 5 picks

The glare of the spotlight is harsh, and the pressure that success breeds immense. We revere our heroes, but expect much. And criticism can come as easily as praise.

by glass0941 on May 25, 2011 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, possibly the 4th best Pirates hitter, (and maybe 3rd best player) of all time came from the rule 5

But I’m guessing that your point might be valid CO. The rule 5 is one draft though I’d pick based on a combination of need and BPA due to its nature.

by Justin Mos on May 25, 2011 1:08 PM EDT reply actions

see above...

our best player (unless u like Honus)
and the second best player on our last solid team

by VoteforPedro on May 25, 2011 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Time to bring back the old GM via Ouiji board

there’s been impactful rule 5 over the years, having the number 1 pick and losing who’s turning out to be the steal of that draft (plus he pitched very well last season) and getting nothing on your pick is inexcusable.

Leroux and the infamous protecting of Ledezma who was cut 2 weeks later, humorous while it was still off season so the release wasn’t performance based, the lack of any future thought process is almost scary. Never any rhyme nor reason, it seems like the spur of the moment type of thought.

by jackiegleason on May 25, 2011 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions