Weekly Notes: No Deals Yet, Bucs Take 5-of-6, Most Draftees Signed

Summertime, summertime…

Pirates Stuff 

• Paul Skenes picked up his first victory since May 28 and his first at PNC Park win since April 14 on Monday. He’s 5-8/1.91 overall, and in the nine starts it took to get win #5, he’s given up more than two runs once. 
• Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the Pirates are the first team to get swept by the worst team in a league (the White Sox) and broom the best team in a league (the Tigers) in back-to-back series since the 1980 Padres swept the #1 NL team, the LA Dodgers, then were broomed by worst NL team, the St. Louis Cards.

Johan Oviedo – 2024 Topps

• With an off day from Altoona, where he’s rehabbing from a lat strain, RHP Johan Oviedo stopped in PNC Park on Monday. He threw a bullpen for the coaches and was checked over by Buc docs; he’s hoped to return to action by the weekend. 
• OF Esmerlyn Valdez, who’s having a breakout year, injured his leg making a sliding catch on Tuesday. He was taken from the field via cart with a left lower leg contusion. Happy ending: X-rays came back negative and he was back in the lineup on Friday. 
• Jack Brannigan, 3B prospect at Altoona and the Pirates #11 prospect, is done for the year after shoulder surgery. He’s a good glove, low BA/high K guy, but in the past coupla years has flashed power potential, a pretty rare commodity in the Bucco system. He’s expected to be ready to roll for the 2026 season.
• CF Hudson Head, 24, who was the featured player in the multi-prospect 2021 Joe Musgrove-to-San Diego deal, was released after fizzling out at Altoona. He hit .221 in his five seasons of minor league ball and just .116 at Altoona this year.
• Greensboro’s CF/SS whiz Konnor Griffin is the new #1 Prospect in baseball per the draft-updated MLB Pipeline ratings.

Game Stuff

• Paul Skenes was called upon to right the ship against the AL-Central leading Tigers on Monday. He did his job, going six frames while giving up three hits, fanning six and leaving with a 3-0 edge. And that’s how it ended. Bryan Reynolds had a huge two-out, two-run knock, Spencer Horwitz had three hits and the other RBI and the bullpen held tight. Back to .500…

Pham on fire – 2025 Pirates image

• And holy moly, two in a row…and this one won by the sticks, 8-5. Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds and Tommy Pham went 9-for-14 with five doubles, six RBI and five runs scored. Mitch Keller got the win and the Renegade earned his 15th save. 
• The U-Turn continued as Bailey Falter fanned a career-high eight batters, Horwitz hit a grannie (his MLB first) and the Pirates broomed El Tigres, 6-1.
• After a day off, the D-Backs came to town to end the so-far schizo homestand. The Bucs got one hit! in 11 innings and dropped the opener, 1-0. The Pirates had moved the ghost runner to third with an out in both extras, but couldn’t push either runner home.
• Saturday started with a rain delay (spoiler alert: it didn’t rain, guessin’ it was just a force of habit call by management) and the bats stayed icy. But the pitching remained red hot, and Andrew Heaney and company took home a 2-0 dub, powered by Oneil Cruz’s two-run, second-inning blast and the Renegade’s 100th career save.
• Paul Skenes kept doing Paul Skenes things on Sunday, like spinning six shutout frames with nine K. The attack was strong for a change, and the Bucs took the game, 6-0, and the series. The pitching was silly good – two runs in the last four games (38 IP).

Draft Stuff 

• Signed: 1st round – RHP Seth Hernandez ($7.25M/slot $7,558,600), the highest bonus ever paid for a high school pitcher. 2nd rd (comp) – SS Murf Gray ($997,500/slot $1.13M), 3rd rd C Easton Carmichael, 4th rd – SS Gustavo Melendez ($674,300 slot value), 5th rd – C Adonys Guzman, 6th rd – 3B Matt Anker ($347,500/slot $380,500), 7th rd – 3B Brent Iredale, 8th rd – OF Josh Tate, 9th rd  -1B Jared Jones, 10th rd – RHP Matt King ($22,500/slot $193,100), 11th rd – 2B Dylan Palmer, 12th rd – RHP Cameron Keshock, 13th rd – RHP Dylan Mathiesen, 15th rd – RHP McLane Moody ($463,100), 16th rd – OF Eddie King, 17th rd – 1B/OF/LHP Carter Gwost ($497,500), 18th rd – OF Canon Reeder & 19th rd – RHP Brandon Cain.  
• The Pirates second round pick, prepster RHP Angel Cervantes, said he’ll honor his UCLA commitment and not sign a pro deal now. Pittsburgh will receive the No. 51 pick in the 2026 MLB Draft as compensation if he follows through.

MLB Stuff 

• LHP Rich Hill, 45, is back in the majors for a 21st season and a record-tying 14th team as the KC Royals called him up from AAA Omaha. He dropped his start on Tuesday, going five innings and giving up three runs (one earned) in a 6-0 loss to the Cubs.
• RHP Jesse Chavez, 41, who started with the Pirates back in 2008, has hung ‘em up. He announced his retirement after pitching 18 MLB seasons for nine clubs.
• 1B/OF Matt Gorski, released earlier in the month by the Pirates, signed a minor league deal with the LA Dodgers.
• IF Tristan Gray, 29, a then-prospect the Pirates traded to Tampa Bay in 2018 as part of the Corey Dickerson deal who has bounced around since, returned to Tampa when his contract was bought from the White Sox by the Rays.