THREE UP & THREE DOWN

1 Huge fan of the Pirates’ Bubba Chandler pick. Not only getting a player who was ranked 20th overall by Baseball America, but allowing him to attempt to pitch and hit. If a player has that sort of pedigree, it seems stupid to make him pick one position just because that’s the way it’s always been done.

2

Strikeouts aren’t everything, but they are something. And Low-A Bradenton — which has several exciting pitchers — has been piling them up like crazy. Marauders pitchers had punched out 781 entering Saturday’s game. That’s the third-most in all of minor league baseball. As a staff, Bradenton has the sixth-lowest ERA (3.85) in all of low Class A.

3

Another minor league story that continues to stand out has been Matt Fraizer, an outfielder for high Class A Greensboro. How good has Fraizer been? He was slashing .318/.400/.581 entering Saturday’s game. Only two players in all of MiLB have more total bases (155). A promotion seems in order, the same for a jump into the top 30 rankings.

1

Pirates have a tough call with Mitch Keller, who struggled in his last start. What do you do? Easy thing would be to have him produce results and promote him. But if the inconsistency remains — which it seemingly has — then it’s a big risk to try this again and potentially have it go awry.

2

Strange situation all-around in Indy with Cole Tucker, who hurt his thumb while playing the outfield Wednesday, a position he’s hardly played this year. More concerning has been his lack of offensive development. The 2014 first-rounder is hitting just .221 in the minors and is 3 for 21 when given major league opportunities this season.

3

I don’t think this has anything to do with sticky stuff, but it’s unfortunate timing for

Richard Rodriguez. In 21 games through May 30, Rodriguez had a 1.61 ERA. In 15 games since the start of June, Rodriguez has seen his ERA jump to 4.50. His batting average against also went from .143 to .258.