Prospect tracker

1

Nick Gonzales, 2B, Class AA Altoona: Gonzales was hitting below the Mendoza line through May 12. Since then, he’s 10-for-19 in his last five games, raising his slash lines to .250/.364/.414. He’s also homered in two of his last three games. That’s still a little lower than you’d expect from the top prospect, and his 34.2% strikeout rate must improve, but it’s big-time progress.

2

Henry Davis, C, Class AA Altoona: Odd stuff here. He sat out three games before being placed on the injured list, and during those three days, Altoona manager Kieran Mattison told the Altoona Mirror that it was “nothing physical” and that there was “no injury.” Now, Davis is on the injured list with a wrist contusion and is coming to Pittsburgh to get further evaluation. A shame, because Davis was hitting the ball very well.

3

Oneil Cruz, SS, Class AAA Indianapolis: Slower progress than Gonzales, but progress nonetheless. Cruz played in both games of Indianapolis’ doubleheader Thursday and went 2-for-4 with four walks. He’s still hitting just .195 with a .658 OPS, but he’s on a four-game hitting streak and seems to be righting the ship a bit. Still hitting rockets when he connects. A hot streak might mean an automatic call-up.

4

Quinn Priester, RHP, Class AA Altoona: Priester still hasn’t pitched this season, but according to the Pirates, he is about a week away from throwing his first live batting practices since suffering an oblique injury. That would be big news.

5

Roansy Contreras, RHP, Class AAA Indianapolis: What more do you need to see? Safe to say Contreras is stretched out after tossing 52⁄ 3 innings Thursday. He allowed two earned runs in that start, but one was on an inside-the-park homer that was hit to infielder-turned-outfielder Ji-Hwan Bae. Opponents are hitting just .181 against him this year in Class AAA, and he has a 2.66 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 201⁄ innings 3 at that level.

6

Liover Peguero, SS, Class AA Altoona: Perpetually on fire this season, Peguero’s average “dropped” from .340 to .321 over the past seven games. In that span, he hit two homers, had two multi-hit games and had just two hitless games. He still has an .875 OPS and remains one of the youngest players on the Altoona roster.

7

Endy Rodriguez, C/OF, High-A Greensboro: We’re out of “small sample size” territory, but one game can still tilt things. On May 14, Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Now slashing .261/.351/.461, and he’s catching more frequently with Davis up in Altoona.

8

Anthony Solometo, LHP, FCL Pirates: Solometo has yet to make his professional debut, though it’s likely to come in the near future once the FCL begins in June.

9

Bubba Chandler, RHP/SS, FCL Pirates: Chandler at least got to play 11 games in the Florida Complex League last year, hitting .167 with a homer in 11 games. As for now, Chandler is in a similar boat to Solometo, currently waiting to get into official game action.

10

Matt Fraizer, OF, Class AA Altoona: Just as things started to come together, it crashed again. Fraizer strung together two multi-hit efforts in three games within the last week, but went hitless twice in a row immediately afterward. He’s slashing .165/.213/.261, which is enough to allow fans to wonder what happened since last year, when he hit .288 with an .848 OPS in Altoona.