M Decker

@GMBCSuperfan Harrington is especially disappointing. I wonder if he will advance? This also makes me wonder - is Hunter Barco legit or did we a get caught up in the hype? Thanks for great work as always!

Minor League Roundup - May 2, 2026 Happy Saturday, folks! I’m back with a run through the top three headlines from each of our four affiliates. As you can see, the records in Indy and Altoona are pretty bad, and that reflects the uneven play from the prospects at those levels. But there is some real optimism looking at what is happening at A/A+ levels. Indianapolis Indians (11-20) 🔸Coming into the season, the Indians looked like they’d be a juggernaut of a team with guys who were threatening to go north out of spring training looking to continue their hot steaks into the start of the minor league season. Instead, it's been a cold, cold April. 🔸Top offensive performers continue to be non-prospects: Ronny Simon (1.032 OPS with 24 RBI) and Alika Williams (.867 OPS). Mitch Jebb was hitting well since his promotion from AA on April 22, but is now out 12 weeks having fractured his left thumb and suffering ligament damage that required surgery. A real bummer for him. Esmerlyn Valdez (.851) has cooled a bit of late but is still maintaining. 🔸The starting pitching for the Indians has been pretty bad thus far. Thomas Harrington is 0-4 with a 5.19 ERA and 1.50 WHIP and Antwone Kelly is 1-4 with a 6.38 ERA and an eye-popping 1.92 WHIP. Despite his shutdown performance for the Pirates in the recent bullpen game, Wilber Dotel is 1-2 with a 6.28 ERA. It's all really disappointing. This next wave looks pretty meh. Altoona Curve (7-16) 🔸If you think it’s bad in Indy, just feast your eyes on our AA affiliate where there is very little to celebrate. Like, at all. The team is significantly underperforming and will only improve as guys move up from Greensboro. 🔸Shawn Ross, an undrafted 26-year old catcher signed back in 2022, leads the team offensively with a 1.006 OPS including 5 HR in 16 games. That’s cool and all, but his strikeout rate is no bueno (21 K in 52 PA). Outfielder Will Taylor (.985 OPS over last 12 G) and 2B Keizer Delgado (.944 OPS over last 9 G) offer some hope, but this is a pretty bad lineup thus far. 🔸The pitcher with the most potential on this squad is Khristian Curtis, and he’s 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA. If you’re keeping score, that’s three of our top starting pitching prospects in the upper levels of the minors with 6.00+ ERAs to start the year. On the plus side, it's still (sort of) early and there is nowhere to go but up. Greensboro Grasshoppers (14-11) 🔸If not for pretty miserable starting pitching overall, the Grasshoppers should have 20+ wins given the prodigiousness of the starting lineup. There are multiple standouts even as Lonnie White Jr. (1.008 OPS) has been recently promoted (welcome Edward Florentino!) 🔸Wyatt Sanford is having a breakout season thus far. The 2024 2nd round pick has a .911 OPS with 5 HR, and is demonstrating strong defense at SS. The only strike against him, pun intended, is his 40% strikeout rate. That needs to come down to be viable. 🔸 Catchers Axiel Paz (.948 OPS) and Easton Carmichael (.843 OPS) are keeping pace, maintaining momentum that is so great to see. Jared Jones (yes, the other Jared Jones) has caught fire over the last 15 games (.958 OPS). At 6'5 and 240lbs, he's a big, 22-year old 1B who could move fast if he keeps this up. Bradenton Marauders (12-13) 🔸With respect to the rest of the team, the Marauders just got a lot less interesting with the promotion of Edward Florentino to the Grasshoppers. Florentino has been appointment viewing since he returned from a brief ankle injury, with a 1.250 OPS with 3 HR in 9 games. I can't wait to see what he does in Greensboro. 🔸Florentino leaves behind the other major headline of our system, Seth Hernandez, who gave up his first runs of the season yesterday (2 ER) in a 5-inning start where he also struck out 9 batters. That is 41 K in just 22 IP. He is the best pitching prospect in baseball right now and making an argument as the #1 prospect in the country. In fact, he might be competing with Florentino for #1! 🔸No Morning Shift Minor League Roundup would be complete without checking in on my man 'Papa' Murf Gray. He's slowed down a bit over his last 13 games (.790 OPS), but overall is still getting it done with a .966 OPS on the season with 3 HR and a decent K rate (22.9%). I suspect he will be joining Hernandez with a trip to Greensboro before the month is done. Bottom Line 📌 Yes, yes, it's early. We were saying that all April. But folks, it's May now and we need to start seeing some consistency. Outside of Hernandez, the state of the starting pitching throughout the system is really poor. We need to start seeing some turnarounds this month. At the same time, I've perhaps never been more excited for our offensive upside. Some of the expected bats are starting to warm up, others are surprising with above average production, and we have a real heir apparent to Konnor Griffin in 19-year old Edward Florentino. Things could be worse! Have a great weekend! BTW - This is my new model for the Minor League Roundup, which comes out every third Saturday. As I settle into a rhythm of how my coverage of the team will play out, I'm trying to lock in on an editorial calendar that delivers the goods. Please let me know if you like this structure, and if there is anything else you'd like to see from this account.

@PlatinumKey13 How about that bomb by Davis?

IN MITCH WE TRUST. 5 strikeouts through 4 innings. 1-2-3 4th. 50 pitches. 8 whiffs. LET'S. GO.

@timburchett Thanks for voting for us!

Glad to be 1 of 73.

@MPFrazer Try Rothrock from PA. Value for money is there. Free shipping and the quality is good.

I'm paying $9 for the "experience" of waiting in a long line for slow-moving, entitled teens to make me a cup of coffee that tastes less like roasted beans and more like the charcoal for my grill? Nah. I pay $22 for a 2-lb bag of Copper Moon whole beans every 3 weeks.

@putzisbackbaby Every time

@GMBCSuperfan Yeah.

What in the actual fuck,

@DanZangrilli Don't forget 10 straight years of opening day on the road.

Must say, the League did the Pirates - and Pirates fans - no favors with the scheduling. 17 home games in April. The most of any month this season. 12 in June, 12 in July and only 8 in August.

@GMBCSuperfan @MartyOnFifthAve Yeah. Odds are against him. Would be nice if he had a little O'Hearn in his story (but sooner and without the multiple DFAs)

I think anytime a prospect hits for over 1.000 OPS over 100 PA, it’s worth having some hope. If he continues at AA, then I think we get excited. I’ll do a write-up on him because he’s an odd one. Completely agree as I was pretty excited for him as well, but it’s been a long, LONG, road to here. He should already be with the Pirates by now.

Aggressive push with Lonnie White Jr, I like it with him.

@GMBCSuperfan @MartyOnFifthAve Any hope for him? I was excited when they drafted him.

@MartyOnFifthAve Aggressive? He’s almost a year too old for the level, having spent 800 plate appearances across three seasons there. I’m glad he’s finally hitting. At 23, it’s time for him to get going.

For the 3,687th time - my house is not for sale.🙄🙄

@BobSmizik Yes. And Horwitz needs to bat 2nd.

Looks like it’s time to move Oneil Cruz from the top of #Pirates lineup, at least temporarily. In his past 9 games he is 6–45, .133, with a sickly .170 on-base %. And his power bat will play better lower in the lineup. His replacement at No. 1? That’s easy: Konnor Griffin.

Crazy we live in a world where #animalfarm is now pro- Communist The war on truth has no bounds.

Dear all #animalfarmpartners on the right: I strongly advise staying out of the blast zone on this one. Angel is using your good reputations to try to cover up the enormous shit they’re about to take on this. Spoiler alert: The movie is retarded socialist propaganda brought to you by a creative team that hates you.

@BobSmizik Yep. Team wide slump. Two consistent additional pieces would have offset some of this. Catcher remains an offensive black hole.

The #Pirates have lost 5 of 8. Here are some primary reasons for their decline. Davis 2-27, .074 Yorke 3-36, .083 Ozuna 3-29, .103 Lowe 4-29, .138 Bart 5-36, .143 Reynolds 7-41, .171, Cruz 7-41, .171.

@GMBCSuperfan Great read. Love it.

Prospect Profile: Wilton Guerrero Jr. With the Dominican Summer League opening June 1, we’re about a month away from getting our first look at the Pirates’ 2026 international class. For most of these players, this is the beginning of a long journey, the first real step into professional baseball, where all the dreams and hoped-for outcomes start to become a reality. A highly-structured reality. The Pirates have done a nice job recently of pulling back the curtain on that process through their international scouting docuseries. The most recent episode is a deep dive into the Dominican Academy, which frames the environment less like a minor league team and more like a mash-up of a baseball boot camp and an American high school. Players take academic equivalency classes, learn English, and are introduced to the routines and expectations of professional baseball. Around the game, Dominican baseball camps are referred to as “baseball kindergarten,” which feels about right when you consider the starting age is 16 years old. Many of the players entering that system come from modest beginnings, the classic rags-to-riches pipeline the Pirates understandably lean into as a part of the series. But not all of them learned baseball on dusty streets. Some arrive already positioned for their moment in the spotlight, shaped by years inside the game and the infrastructure around it. Wilton Guerrero Jr. falls squarely into that latter category. Baseball Royalty The son of former big leaguer Wilton Guerrero, nephew of Vladimir Guerrero Sr., and cousin of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Wilton Jr. isn’t a player who was discovered -- rather, he is a player who was built, tracked, and developed with intention. The international signing period is big business in the Dominican Republic, and Guerrero represents the side of it where prospecting families with pedigree begins somewhere in the zygote stage. At 16, Guerrero is a 70-grade runner with a quick first step and an aggressive approach on the bases. That speed carries over defensively, where he projects to stick at shortstop thanks to range and a strong enough arm to handle the position long term. He is mentioned in multiple write-ups (e.g. Baseball America, MLB Pipeline) as having “high baseball IQ,” which is to say, he’s been around baseball since birth. Offensively, he is more tools than finished product. He shows bat speed and a feel for contact, with a 45–50 hit tool projection, but the power isn’t there yet. At 5’10 and around 160 pounds, the expectation is that SLG comes with time. The swing is quick and level, geared toward line drives, and the profile right now is built on putting the ball in play rather than driving it. The DSL: Where It All Starts The Dominican Summer League is the grand entry point -- a 72-game season played through mid-August in academy complexes, where the games are only part of the equation. The league functions as an onboarding system for teaching routines, expectations, and the day-to-day reality of professional baseball. There’s been a push in recent years to add more structure on the competitive side, including the introduction of the DSL Cup playoff format. But development still drives everything. This is where organizations begin to separate raw athletes from actual baseball players, and where early projections either start to materialize or stall out. The Moral Quandary of the System There’s an unavoidable contrast when you look at how players enter pro ball globally. In the U.S., the path is very structured with a formal, slot-system draft comprised of high school and college graduates in the 18-22 year old range. In the international market, players sign at 16 through a format of scouting and relationship-building that is much more Wild West. On paper, there’s an element of exploitation in the international market that the Pirates docuseries is trying to get ahead of, showing it as a net positive for the ballplayer and their families. Underneath all of it, though, is a broader reality -- this is a human supply chain. MLB needs a steady flow of international talent, and it’s competing with other sports, particularly soccer, for those athletes. Bob Nutting is framed as a good guy for investing millions in the Dominican Academy, but it is very much a function of keeping the talent pipeline secure and producing. Bottom Line 📌 This is a non-traditional prospect profile because there’s very little go on. Guerrero was 15 last year, got pimples, played video games nonstop, whatever. He is all projection and name recognition. What he wasn’t doing is sleeping three kids to a bed, or making do without a protein some days. He is somewhat nontypical, which is also to his advantage. “Strong baseball IQ” is also a signal, of a young player who understands the process, knows what is at stake, and has familial reinforcement for doing what it takes to succeed. His speed and defense give him a foundation that should translate immediately. The question is the bat and how much strength comes. That will determine whether he follows in the footsteps of Edward Florentino and Darell Morel, both profiled here fairly recently. Like most 16-year-olds, the range of outcomes is wide. But the starting point is higher than usual, and that alone makes him one to watch as the DSL season gets underway.

@Timcast Thanks for saving me the price of a ticket.

Indeed Andy Serkis admitted he made Animal Farm Anti-Capitalist

@RandPaul I appreciate your efforts in that regard. Here's our concern, if you would be so kind to address it It appears this is a military installation and likely data storage facility for the IC or Palantir Is the private funding about cutting costs or avoiding congressional oversight?

You should NEVER put your closer in a situation to close a game. Bonehead decision by Kelly.

@GMBCSuperfan I was like Wilber who?

Wilber Dotel is up to stay. We needed bullpen help, and we pull THIS GUY and his 100 mph out of a box someplace!?!

@GMBCSuperfan Didn't know he was that bad. Thought he was getting more knocks lately. Definitely a concern. I recall bat speed fell off last year. Some attributed it to the hip injury. Wonder where it is this season?

Ozuna with a 3-for-25 over his last 7 games. Does anyone know if there is a return policy?