Weekly Notes: Draft, Bucs Win One, Shufflin', ASG Stuff, Player News

The All Stars are ready to shine…

Pirates Stuff:  

• Draft: Rounds 1-3 of the MLB Draft were held Sunday evening, with the remaining picks (4-20) made on Monday. The Pirates had the sixth overall selection and picked RHP Seth Hernandez, a 19-year-old out of Corona HS, CA. He was one of the more highly touted guys available and the Bucs have some cred developing pitchers, so Seth checks the boxes…Second round/#50 pick was 17-year-old RHP Angel Cervantes, Warren HS. CA. Less toolsy and more of a project than Hernandez, he was a Top 50 Draft Prospect…the 73rd pick/Competitive Balance was 3B Murf Gray, a 21-year-old out of Fresno State who was a two-time MVP in the Mountain West… In the third round/#82, they selected C Easton Carmichael, a 21-year-old out of Oklahoma, a good stick with gap-to-gap power.
• On Friday, OF/1B Matt Gorski was DFA’ed and IF Jared Triolo (.158 BA) was optioned to Indy. Moving up to Pittsburgh is RH reliever Yohan Ramirez. He posted a 2-1-2/3.29 line at Indy and has five big league seasons (6-9-7/4.58).

Johan Ramirez – 2023 photo Charles LeClaire/USA Today

• RHP Chase Shugart (left knee inflammation) was placed on the 15-day IL while OF Jack Suwinski was called up.
• Southpaw reliever Ryan Borucki (back) began a rehab stint at Lo-A Bradenton on Tuesday and a coupla of days later, he was moved along to Indy. 
• Righty reliever Colin Holderman finished his AAA rehab assignment (thumb) and was optioned to Indy. In a small sample there, he gave up five runs (four earned) on nine hits in four innings/five outings. 
• The Pirates released RHP Tanner Rainey, who had been pitching for Triple-A Indy (three saves/3.18). His line was 0-1/10.47 in 11 outings for the big club.
• RHP Khristian Curtis has been named South Atlantic League Player of the Week. Curtis spun the first six frames of Greensboro’s three-man perfecto last week v Aberdeen. He was the Pirates 12th round pick out of Arizona State in 2023.
• Bradenton OF/1B Edward Florentino, 18, has been named Lo-A Florida State League Player of the Week after hitting .348 with three long balls. He was recently promoted from the Pirates Florida Complex (Rookie) League squad and is already the Bucs #23 Prospect according to MLB Pipeline. 
• Blowback from the Pirates brick walkway fiasco: Per a team announcement “By the beginning of next season, the exterior of PNC Park along West General Robinson Street and Mazeroski Way will have a new look…By then, a series of commemorative bronze plaques, featuring thousands of messages from Pirates fans that were originally displayed as part of the Bucco Bricks program will be installed on the lower portion of the limestone façade.”

Game Stuff: 

• And it’s time to lick wounds and head to Kansas City. It should be an interesting set – the clubs have both scored 300 runs, tied for 28th, and are the last two teams in homers. It didn’t look it – the Bucs scored three! runs (on just four hits) and Tommy Pham homered, but the Royals broke out and banged four over the fence on the way to a 9-3 Monday romp.
• The Pirates Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzales homered on Tuesday, but the Royals also banged a pair of long balls and took a 4-3 walkoff win.  

Tommy Pham – 2025 image/Pirates

• And it was pretty much rinse and repeat on Wednesday; an eighth-inning homer – KC banged three long balls – gave the Royals the sweep, 4-3. Pham continued to sizzle, going 3-for-4 with a couple of nice grabs in the pasture while Ke’Bryan Hayes had a pair of RBI.
• After an off day, it was off to Minnesota for a three-gamer to lead into the All-Star break. And yah, same ol’ Bucs – Paul Skenes was tuff enuff, but the bats were AWOL yet again, and the Twinkies took the opener, 2-1. Skenes rang up his 300th K after 43 starts to become the first Pirates pitcher and one of only 17 MLB pitchers all-time to reach 300 strikeouts that quickly in his career.
• The beat goes on…by the third inning Saturday, it was 9-0, Minny. It ended up 12-4 Twins, the Bucs eighth straight loss, a season high. Jack Suwinski homered.
• Same plot line, except today the Bucs turned an early Pham solo shot and three ninth-inning singles into two runs, enough to snap the losing string and pull out a 2-1 dub; Mitch Keller spun six solid innings and The Renegade gave up a lead-off single in the ninth, then got to work to ice the win and post his 13th save. Isiah Kiner-Falefa went 4-for-4.

• For the second straight year, Paul Skenes was named the NL’s starter for the ASG. He’ll hook up against the Tigers Tarik Skubal. He is the first pitcher to start in his first two MLB campaigns; other players who have done it are Joe DiMaggio, Ichiro Suzuki, Rod Carew, and Frank Robinson.

Paul Skenes – Pirates image

• Skenes may be the only Pirates All-Star selection, but it was announced on Tuesday that CF Oneil Cruz will participate in the 2025 ASG Home Run Derby; he leads the Bucs with 16 long balls. The derby was held at Atlanta’s Truist Park on Monday for the Classic’s opening act. Cruz is the first Pirate to be in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. 
• Konnor Griffin (Hi-A Greensboro) and Esmerlyn Valdez (AA Altoona) played in Saturday’s Futures Game, with the NL winning, 4-2. Konnor started at shortstop, went 1-for-2, was caught stealing and left the game after being bopped in the wrist. But he appeared to be OK and returned to the bench later, though the Pirates are bringing him to Pittsburgh for an exam to make sure there’s no damage, not a bad precaution considering he’s their “rising with a bullet” prospect. Esmerlyn played first base and went 0-for-1.

MLB Stuff:

• RHP Carson Fulmer, who the Bucs had stashed at Indy for a while last year, was called up by the Los Angeles Angels.
• LHP Joey Wentz, who the Pirates DFA’ed in June, was waived by the team that claimed him, Minnesota, this week and selected by Atlanta.  Life sure gets interesting once a player runs out of options…
• The Detroit Tigers signed Geoff Hartlieb to a minor league contract and sent him to AAA Toledo. Geoff worked out of the Buc bullpen from 2019-21.