Weekly Farm Report

Team of the Week: Bradenton Marauders
Hitter of the Week: Starling Marte, Altoona
Pitcher of the Week: Zac Fuesser, West Virginia

Indianapolis: 2-5 For the Week, 7-15 Overall

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Hernandez	4	6	1	0	0	3	1	5
Ciriaco, P	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	4
Presley	4	9	0	0	2	5	5	4	Hot hitter
Hague	3	7	0	0	1	3	4	3
Lambo	2	2	1	0	1	1	4	6	Still not a lot going on
d'Arnaud, C	2	5	3	0	1	3	3	6
Harrison	3	9	1	0	1	1	0	2	Keeps on hitting
Brown, D	2	3	2	0	1	1	1	6
Friday	2	4	1	0	0	0	5	3
Marte, A	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	5
Wimberly	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	Not playing much
Jaramillo, J	1	4	0	0	1	4	2	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
Lincoln	6.2	6	6	6	2	5				Nothing special
Thomas, J	1.3	0	0	0	1	2	1			Gets win in relief
Burres	3.2	8	6	6	2	3		1
Moskos	3	1	0	0	0	2			1	Picks up first save
Watson, T	2.1	2	1	1	1	3
Valdez, C	4.1	4	0	0	0	3
Gallagher	3.2	5	5	5	5	3		1
Leroux	2.3	3	2	1	2	2		1
Wilson, J	6	5	5	0	3	4	1			Bad defensive support
Wood, T	2.2	2	0	0	0	2			1
Owens	10.2	16	10	10	3	9		2		UGLY
Ascanio	2.1	2	4	4	3	1
Boyer	0.2	1	3	2	3	1
Olson	3.3	4	0	0	1	5

Altoona: 3-4 For the Week, 9-10 Overall

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Holt, B	4	10	3	0	0	0	3	6	Collecting hits
Marte	4	11	0	2	0	9	1	4	Driving in runs
Mercer	3	2	0	0	1	1	2	1
Sanchez	0	5	0	0	0	1	3	3	Slowly coming
Durham	2	4	1	0	0	2	1	12
Latimore	4	5	2	0	2	4	3	8	2 home runs
Farrell	5	10	4	0	1	3	2	4	Plenty of hits
Fryer	5	7	2	0	1	3	1	4	Hitting well
Chalk	2	3	0	1	0	2	2	3
Watts	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
Ford	0	1	1	0	0	2	0	5
Hernandez, J	0	3	0	0	0	2	0	3

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
Hughes	10	12	5	5	3	9				Nice K-BB
Dubee	5.1	10	5	5	2	4				Lots of hits
Alderson	3	2	0	0	4	4				Slowly
Claggett	5	1	0	0	2	7	2			2 wins?
Locke	5	8	6	6	2	10	1			Hard win
Colla	6	3	2	2	1	5		1
Boleska	5	2	0	0	4	3				Scoreless
Pribanic	7	3	1	1	0	2
Krol	2.2	4	3	2	2	0		2		Blown saves
Thompson	5	6	4	4	2	1		1
Leach	3	0	0	0	2	2
McSwain	4	4	4	4	2	1

Bradenton: 6-1 For the Week, 12-10 Overall

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Grossman	8	8	2	0	1	3	7	5	Continues to draw BB
Cunningham	5	10	5	0	2	6	0	2	Hitting plus power
Chambers	5	2	1	0	0	0	6	4	Walking
Cabrera, Ra	3	2	1	0	0	1	1	2
Anderson, C	4	6	1	0	2	6	1	4	2 home runs
White	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Rubinstein	4	4	1	0	0	2	2	6
Gonzalez, E	4	10	3	0	0	4	3	5	Plenty of hits
Gonzalez, B	3	4	2	0	0	3	4	4
Brown	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	2
Baker, A	4	10	2	0	1	8	2	5	Driving in runs
Santos, A	2	6	3	0	0	3	2	4
Paulino, C	2	5	0	0	0	1	1	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
McSwain	4	2	1	1	0	4	1			Moved to AA
Moreno	4	2	0	0	1	2
Erickson	4	4	2	2	1	6	1			Nice K numbers
Welker	3.1	1	2	2	4	3
Baker	5.2	6	1	1	1	2	1
McPherson	13	12	4	4	1	10	1			Great work
Ramos	1	4	3	3	0	0
Inman	9	5	4	1	0	3	1			First win
Miller, Q	1	2	1	1	0	1				Left start early
Lorin	6	6	0	0	1	4	1			Nice work
Lopez, P	1	1	0	0	0	1
Beckman, R	5	4	5	0	1	4		1	2
Irwin, P	2	2	1	1	2	1

West Virginia: 2-4 For the Week, 8-12 Overall

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Maggi	6	4	2	0	0	2	5	3	Walking at good rate
Rojas	2	4	1	0	0	1	2	7	Lot of K's
Curry	9	10	1	0	2	8	6	4	Great week
Avila, Er	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1
Howard	4	9	1	1	1	5	3	4	Good production
Diaz, El	0	3	1	0	0	3	1	1
Grovatt	2	4	2	0	0	7	1	3	Driving in runs
Noris	2	3	1	0	0	2	0	4
Ngoepe	4	4	1	1	0	1	2	3
Vasquez, A	4	2	0	0	1	1	3	3	Homered
Mort	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	2
Emsley-Pai	2	3	1	0	0	0	2	2
Marquez	1	4	1	0	0	2	1	0

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
Foster	1.2	6	3	3	0	3		1
Cumpton	3	0	0	0	0	3				Scoreless
Decker	1.1	2	0	0	1	2
Waldron	5	6	2	2	0	5	1			Nice start
Fuesser	6	5	0	0	0	10	1			Lots of K's
Dodson	5	7	3	2	3	5		1
Cain	7	13	9	9	2	4		1		Lots of hits
Stevenson	5	4	1	1	0	2
Townsend	3	2	1	1	1	2
Von Rosenberg	3.2	9	5	5	3	3				Mixed
Pounders	2	3	2	2	1	4
Sadler	2.2	5	2	2	0	2		1
Taillon	2	3	1	1	2	0				Pro Debut

Bowker Vs. Paul

With the recent wavier claim on Xavier Paul, it was only a matter time of before the Pirates had to make a move on the 25 man roster to make way for him. Many had speculated that the move might be to send Steve Pearce down, as he had an option left. The second thought was that they might designate John Bowker to make room. Well Neal Huntington chose option 2 and designated John Bowker for assignment.

It is strange that Huntington made this move, he typically goes on the side of caution and I would have bet good money he would have sent Pearce down as that would have allowed them to keep all players. Granted Bowker might clear waivers and if so we still keep him, but there is a risk involved now.

In adding Paul the Pirates are adding a player with a broader offensive skill set than perhaps what Bowker brought to the table, but maybe not as much potential, as Bowker had some pop in his bat, though we did not see much of it. Paul has some pop, but also brings speed to the table and flexibility at all outfield positions.

It is the defensive flexibility that I think ruled the day with this move. Steve Pearce has picked up playing 3rd base. He already plays first and can play right at PNC. Also in right the Pirates have Garrett Jones and Matt Diaz. The team seemed to pigeon hole Bowker in the corner outfield role, which would put him 3rd on the depth chart. Adding Paul gives them a back up to McCutchen and Tabata.

It is my thought that Bowker got designated then because of his defensive 'flaws'. With Pearce playing third it has added to his value and gives Clint Hurdle another option. If anything we have learned in the first month, Clint Hurdle likes to juggle things around. Having guys able to play all over, fit his type of style.

It remains to be seen though if Xavier Paul can handle big league pitching, but he brings other elements to the table that make him an attractive bench option. In the grand scheme of things this all really does not matter, as Bowker for Paul is not going to cost the team the pennant, but it does perhaps show a higher emphasis on flexibiliyt and broader skill sets for players.

Alex Presley: From Nowhere to Somewhere

Presley has been grinning ear to ear, since bursting onto the scene.

Before the season started, I had noted that Alex Presley might be one of the more interesting Pirate minor leaguers to watch this season. Simply put prior to last season, Alex Presley was an after though in the Pirates farm system. Aside from a big season early on in Hickory, it looked as though Presley was destined to be the organizational guy. Then something clicked.

Presley, who struggled with contact, all of sudden improve tremendously in putting the bat on the ball. Additionally he started to drive the ball and at the same time, start to draw more walks. Presley was always a scrapper, a guy that would take the extra base, but now he was hitting the ball with authority and having great presence at the plate. Add to it that he is not all that shabby in the field, nothing to write home about but more than adequate, and he looked like a guy that was simply having a hot season.

This season Presley has continued to have that hot bat. He is batting .325, with 2 home runs, 11 RBI and 4 stolen bases. Great all around production from the outfielder. His hot start is going a long way to showing that he might not be a one year wonder.

If not a one year wonder, Presley is showing that he is a different type of wonder in that he seemingly came out of nowhere to do this. What once looked like a guy that was destined to stay in the minors, he now has some big league service time, and is a candidate to be a bench type player. What was it that made this happen? If I could tell you and replicate it with other players, well I'd be a rich man.

As the season continues to progress, I will be paying close attention to Presley to see how he continues to play. If he puts up the numbers continually at Indianapolis, we may be seeing him in Pittsburgh shortly, instead of a revolving door of guys from other organizations.

Debut of Wood

Now that Brandon Wood has made his debut, and did so driving in a few runs, many will now place some unfair expectations on him. Not necessarily anyone who pays attention to baseball, but if you have a passing interest someone may think that the Pirates made a steal. In fact I am going to make a predication that in some office in the Pittsburgh area, around the water cooler, some idiot will say something like the following, "Good thing Wood got those RBI's. We can now trade him like the rest of them now that he is worth something."

I am sure that statement will be said by someone. I can almost predict that it will happen in my office. What the real statement should be is, what exactly are we doing with Brandon Wood? Is he here to rest Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker? Tonight for example, he played third, as a lefty John Lannan was on the mound. Alvarez being left handed was sat in place of Wood.

Now Pedro Alvarez has struggled in the early going, but had hit a home run before returning to Pittsburgh and had shown signs of getting on track. Now we sit him against an average lefty for Brandon Wood? I am sure that this will happen at some point with Neil Walker as well. Riddle me this then, are we better off trotting out Pedro Alvarez game after game or giving Brandon Wood a shot? I think the answer is obvious.

If we want to see Wood play, then play him at short. See if he can still play it. If not, then let him settle in as a utility guy. Any ballplayer can be a utility guy. Why not see if Wood can still hack it before settling him somewhere, but do it not at the expense of a cornerstone of the future in Pedro Alvarez.

Pirates Add Wood

In what was seemingly predicted by many when he was designated for assignment, the Pirates put in a claim on Brandon Wood, bringing the former top prospect into the fold with the Pirates. Adding former top prospects is nothing new for Neal Huntington. He has done it before in adding Andy LaRoche, Lastings Milledge, Jose Tabata, James MacDonald, Andrew Lambo, among others. There has been mixed success there and what can we expect of the Brandon Wood claim?

When announced many simply assumed the Wood would be playing shortstop replacing perhaps the most despised Pirate, Ronny Cedeno. I had assumed as much anyway. Cedeno is not doing much of anything. The club has not much of anything to play in the middle infield. Why not add a guy that many thought had great potential and see what happens?

I then read the quotes about what the team is going to do with Wood, and if you are take what they are saying a truth, it seems that Pirates' brass is not sure what to do with Wood. There is agreement that he may not have gotten much of a chance in Anaheim, other than that, there is not much more. When asked where he may play, Neal Huntington told this to Jen Langosch:

"We brought him over here to fill the role that Josh (Rodriguez) was in -- be a versatile utility player that can bounce around the field for us and be a threat offensively. As he plays and as he progresses, he may get more opportunity or he may not."

And Colin Dunlap got this from Clint Hurdle:

"Wood primarily has played shortstop and third base, but he also will play first base and second for the Pirates, manager Clint Hurdle said."

So Wood is coming not to immediately supplant Cedeno, but be some sort of option in the middle infield and around the diamond. How is that different from what Wood was doing for the Angels? I got to think that they may start him as a utility guy and see if he can defensively handle short or if they can find the life that was once in his bat.

It seems that the team is trying to temper the enthusiasm with Wood, perhaps learning from past mistakes when they have brought on board former reclamation projects.

Weekly Farm Report

Team of the Week: Indianapolis Indians
Hitter of the Week: Matt Curry, West Virginia
Pitcher of the Week: Matt McSwain, Bradenton

Indianapolis: 4-3 on week (5-10 overall)

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Hernandez	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	5
Ciriaco, P	2	5	1	0	1	5	0	6	Nice run production
Presley	3	5	3	0	0	3	2	4
Hague	3	7	3	1	0	3	1	2	Keeps hitting
Lambo	6	7	3	0	0	2	0	3	Nice bounc back
d'Arnaud, C	3	3	1	0	0	0	1	5
Harrison	3	5	1	1	0	1	1	2
Brown, D	0	3	2	0	0	3	1	1
Friday	1	3	0	1	0	2	2	3	Remember when?
Marte, A	4	3	1	0	1	4	3	4
Wimberly	2	3	1	0	0	1	1	1
Toregas	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Jaramillo, J	0	4	1	0	0	3	0	5	Not good

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
Lincoln	10	14	9	9	0	12		2		Lots of K's nothing else
Thomas, J	4	1	0	0	2	3
Burres	7	4	0	0	0	8				Nice start
Moskos	2.4	6	3	2	0	1				Lots of hits
Watson, T	3.4	4	2	2	0	4		1
Valdez, C	3	2	0	0	2	2
Gallagher	6	3	3	2	2	7
Meyer	1.1	1	3	3	2	0				Not good
Leroux	6	3	1	1	4	8	2			2 wins in relief
Wilson, J	6	2	0	0	2	4	1			Nice start
Wood, T	4.1	1	0	0	1	6			2
Owens	6.1	3	1	1	2	3	1			Usual
Ascanio	0	2	1	1	0	0				Poor first start at AAA

Altoona: 2-3 On the Week (6-7 Overall)

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Holt, B	4	7	1	0	0	0	2	1	Led team in hits
Marte	1	5	1	0	0	0	1	1	Only 1 K
Mercer	2	4	1	0	2	3	0	3	Power surge
Sanchez	3	5	0	0	0	2	2	0	Solid
Durham	1	6	1	1	0	1	4	4
Latimore	1	5	1	0	0	3	0	4	No HR yet
Farrell	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	4
Fryer	1	1	0	0	0	1	2	2
Chalk	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	5
Watts	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ford	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
Hernandez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
Hughes	5	5	2	1	0	1		1		Hard luck
Dubee	2	1	0	0	0	2
Alderson	4	3	2	2	1	2				Still a project
Morris, B	4	4	3	3	3	3		1		Mixed results
Claggett	0.2	0	0	0	1	1
Locke	6.1	3	2	2	0	6				Nice start
Colla	3	5	3	3	2	4
Boleska	2.2	2	0	0	0	1	1
Pribanic	6	5	1	0	0	2	1			Solid start
Krol	3	6	3	3	0	1			1
Thompson	5.1	5	4	3	2	3		1
Leach	2	0	1	1	2	1

Bradenton: 1-5 On the Week (6-9 Overall)

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Grossman	5	3	1	0	0	1	5	2	Drawing walks
Cunningham	4	3	0	0	2	5	2	7	More power
Chambers	1	3	1	0	0	2	5	5	1 to 1 BB to K
Cabrera, Ra	3	6	0	1	0	2	1	0
Anderson, C	3	6	1	0	0	2	2	7	K's pile up
White	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1
Rubinstein	2	8	2	0	1	4	4	4	Nice week
Gonzalez, E	3	7	3	0	0	5	3	4	Productive
Gonzalez, B	2	4	1	0	0	1	0	4
Brown	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	2
Baker, A	2	4	0	0	0	2	1	5
Santos, A	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Paulino, C	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	0

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
McSwain	6	3	0	0	0	11	1			Lots of K's
Moreno	0.2	1	1	1	0	0			2	Easy saves.
Erickson	6	8	4	4	3	4			1	Hard work
Baker	9.1	14	9	7	5	7				Lots of hits
Ascanio	1	1	1	1	0	1
Ramos	2.3	7	3	3	1	2		1
Inman	3	3	2	2	2	2				Slowly coming along
Alvarado	1	0	0	0	0	1
Miller, Q	6	5	1	1	2	2		1		Better results
Navarro	5	5	3	3	3	5		1
Lorin	8	12	8	8	4	8		1		Not good looking
Lopez, P	2.1	2	3	3	1	3		1

West Virginia: 3-4 On the Week (6-8 Overall)

Player	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	Note
Maggi	3	3	1	0	0	1	2	2
Rojas	2	11	1	0	0	3	0	3	Led players in hits
Curry	7	8	3	1	1	5	5	2	Great numbers
Avila, Er	3	5	1	0	0	5	1	3
Howard	3	7	2	0	1	5	2	8	Adds a HR
Diaz, El	4	4	1	0	0	1	1	7
Grovatt	3	3	1	0	0	2	11	2	Ton of walks
Noris	2	5	2	0	0	2	0	4
Ngoepe	4	6	1	0	1	1	3	0	Good patience
Vasquez, A	3	4	0	2	0	2	0	3
Mort	1	6	0	0	0	4	3	1
Emsley-Pai	2	6	1	0	0	2	1	2

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	W	L	S	Note
Foster	4.1	3	1	1	0	4
Cumpton	2.2	7	7	7	2	2		1		Struggling
Decker	5	5	1	0	1	5		1
Waldron	11	16	8	8	3	7	1	1		Lots of hits
Fuesser	4	5	3	3	3	2
Dodson	8	9	9	7	3	10		1		Lots of K's
Beckman, R	1	2	0	0	0	2
Cain	6	1	0	0	1	5	1			Great Start
Stevenson	2	2	0	0	1	1
Townsend	2	2	1	0	0	3
Von Rosenberg	5	9	5	5	0	5				Lots of runs
Pounders	6	4	1	0	0	7	1			Good work
Sadler	2	0	0	0	0	2			1