Always Optimistic - Minor Leagues Half Way Point

As bad as the first half has been for the big league squad the minor league system is VERY encouraging.  First, it has seen the return from injury of some who could help the Pirates.  Brandon Crumpton and Casey Sadler are long shots, but they are back and that is good.  Nick Kingham is looking like his old self and that is very good. 

Indy was loaded with talent and their record shows it.  In fact, it is not as good as it ought to be because of how much the Pirates have had to raid it.  Max Moroff was on fire and is not sitting the bench in Pittsburgh.  Osuna looked good, and is looking okay in Pittsburgh.  Diaz has made several trips as have many bullpen pieces.  Some non-prospects have been hitting the cover off the ball, Bostick and Ortiz.  That always is nice.  But it is the prospects that make us happy.  Meadows had a slow start but a .300 May removed real concern.  It is the injury that worries now.  The pitching prospects are out of sight.  Glasnow has been great since his demotion.  Brault has been amazing.  Clay Holmes has good showings, and probably ought to be considered as the ground ball bullpen guy.  Drew Hutchinson is starting to look like someone who could be a major leaguer, and Edgar Santana has looked very good out of the pen. 

Prospects at Altoona have also done well.  Again Newman started slow, but has come on.  But the power of Kramer has been a revelation, and Luplow earned a promotion with his strong hitting.  Suiter is a lower type of prospect, but .313 is good.  Connor Joe is the only one that might be considered disappointing at .251.  Pitching is equally as exciting.  Austin Coley’s win-loss leaves something to be desired but his 67 Ks does not, nor does allowing fewer hits than innings.  J.T. Bruebaker is also striking out over 60 people, and Alex McCrae is not exactly failing with his 7 wins.  Yeudy Garcia has been disappointing, but hopefully a move to the pen will help him find his hard throwing way to the majors.  I am not sure how much we are supposed to be paying attention to Montana DuRapu, but he has a 1.16 WHIP with 14 saves.  Not mind blowing, but not awful.  And Tate Scioneaux has put together a good season out of the pen with a .98 WHIP. 

Bradenton has propsects showing great potential again.  Out of no where Logan Hill earned a promotion through his bat.  But the big prospects of Cole Tucker and Ke’Bryan Hayes have delivered in some surprising ways.  Hayes is hitting .267 in a non-friendly hitting league, but is showing good defense at the corner.  He also has stolen 22 bases.  That would be astounding if Cole Tucker had not stolen 34.  Tucker is also hitting .292.  The other name of real interest is Will Craig, last year’s first round pick, and he is hitting .291.  Kevin Krause has been derailed off the prospect track with injuries, but his .275 AVG with 6 HRs might help his cause.  It was the pitching that was always the exciting point of this team and while Gage Hinz has showed a lot of inconsistency, he has shown enough to keep one excited about him.  Mitch Keller’s .91 WHIP in 11 starts is competing with Taylor Hearn’s 96 Ks and a 1.16 WHIP for most exciting thing.  Daniel Zamora’s bullpen ability is also something to not neglect. 

West Virginia was expected to be awful, and they are not great, but playing better than expected.  This is partly because of Ty Moore, who earned a promotion.  Carlos Munez, who started off in extended spring training, hit well.  He has cooled off as of late, but a .257 AVG is something to be happy about.  Valerio and Alemais cannot stay healthy enough to get a good read, but Valerio has looked impressive.  This leaves really only Hunter Owen as a hitting prospect.  And he has delivered with a .280 AVG and a team leading 9 HRs.  The pitching here is what really exceeds expectations.  The futures games just got a taste of Luis Escobar.  But he is not alone in showing real promise.  Cam Vieaux earned a promotion (and has yet to lose in 3 starts in Bradenton).  He ought to be climbing onto some of the larger prospect lists as at least a possible lefty-bullpen arm in the future.  Oddy Nunez and James Marvel are both pitching rather well showing strikeout ability as starters.  And Eduardo Vera has a 62/8 K/BB rate, which was done in some starts and some bullpen appearances.  Cenderlind has been a disaster, but one such disaster should not take away from the others. 

That is a really nice look to our prospects in a fairly nice system.  It is top heavy, but the emergence of Escobar, Nunez, and Vera along with the stable hitting of Cole Tucker, Hayes, and Hunter Owen makes the bottom not quite as awful as it was thought to be.  If either Valerio, Alemais, or Munez can develop into something then the Pirates system is very deep and good.  And we have yet to look at this year’s draft.  

Now I understand the Bristol Pirates

I think the addition of the Bristol Pirates is finally making sense to me now.  It is related to how they are doing Latin American signings.  The Pirates are doing Latin American signings different than most every other team.  Perhaps it is motivated by money.  They are not spending big dollars and are not incurring penalties like some teams are doing.  They are pretty minor slaps on the wrist, and would be worth it if it landed a big name.  But the Pirates are going to the other extreme.  The Pirates are signing anyone they can get their hands on.

Yes, the Pirates announced this week that they signed 18 people on July 2 this year.  That is over 10 more people than originally thought.  No real high dollar signings, but money spread around over some young guys and some old guys.  The Pirates again are not going above 6 figures and did not make a serious play for any big names.  The Pirates clearly believe sign many, train hard, and see what turns up is a better fiscal policy than sign big names and hope they are worth it. 

The obvious example is Luis Heredia who signed for 3 million and his chance of making the pros is now low, and if he does it will be as a bullpen guy.  You can add the bonuses of Polanco and Marte and multiply by two and still not get close to Heredia’s bonus.  The Pirates cannot really afford to miss big like this, especially in the new system where some penalties happen.  I know I said the penalties are worth it, but they are only worth it if the guy you signed that busted the cap is a success.  And nothing is for sure.  So, the Pirates have decided not to take the chance.  The new way of doing things is too new to see how it will play out.  Some are going to flop like Michael Del Cruz seems to be doing, but Adrian Valerio is a man who looks to be a prospect.  He signed for 400,000, and Cruz about the same.  And that is on the high side of what the Pirates do now.  But for less than half what it took to sign Harold Ramirez and less than a third of what it took to sign Heredia, the Pirates have a prospect and a dud.  Same number of prospects at a much cheaper rate, but it does require more warm bodies. 

So this is why the Pirates are in need of a second Rookie level club.  They are going to be sending a lot more talent up from Latin America.  In the past the GCL Rookie team was simply a place to put high schoolers just drafted and some of the smaller college players along with the few who were getting the promotion from the Dominican League.  Now with lots more players expected to come from the Dominican, another landing place is needed.  Some of those smaller college guys can be diverted to a slightly higher level of competition with the Appy Rookie League, and maybe some guys who are not quite ready for Low A can move a half step in competition rather than eating a slot by repeating with the GCL team (think Jhoan Herrera this year).  This is especially important for pitchers. 

Just look at an example from this year.  In 2013 the Pirates signed Nestor Oronel when he was 16 years old.  He spent a year playing for the DSL.  31 K’s with only 14 walks in 14 starts was good enough to have him come up in 2015 to the GCL.  There he started 9 games and appeared in a few more.  Not a great performance as he failed to win any games, but actually had a better WHIP.  He was not ready for a move to Low A ball to pitch against college hitters who were going to be 2 or more years older than him.  But the Pirates need to be looking at new prospects, so Oronel moves up to the Appy league and start 8 games and appear in more innings this year than last.  He recorded more strikeouts with 36.  Now he is still far from a prospect, but he will be 20 going into next season.  He may even need to start off in the Appy League again.  But, the fact he did not need to eat a starting spot in the GCL helped pave the way for like Miguel Hernandez.  He was signed when 18 (I think), and spent a season in the Dominican and earned his way as a 20 year old to pitch in the GCL where he started 9 games and appeared in one more.  He is a bit wild, but won a couple of games and did not give up as many hits as you might expect. 

Since the Pirates are going with the more the merrier approach in International signings, it is almost a necessity to have that extra Rookie level team to evaluate the people as they go through the system. 

It is a little early to tell if this approach is better than chasing after big names in Latin America, but failure here will be a lot easier to absorb as a system than failure like we see with Luis Heredia.  For a financially strapped organization, I am all for giving it a try.  

The Lower Minors are they a disaster?

I don’t like the Liriano trade.  It was bad.  But let us not let that affect the way we view the Pirates farm system as a whole.  WTM makes the comment that the Pirates lower part of the farm system is as bad as it was in the dark ages of the 90s, which means we ought to expect an end to our era of competitiveness soon. 

While it is easy to see a real disparity between the upper levels that are loaded, and the lower levels, which have been drafting later, it is not talent poor.  Nor is it as bad as the Littlefield days.

Let us remember first and foremost as we look at the West Virginia Power that this is the part of the year you want this team to be a little talent low.  You almost never pull freshly drafted college kids up to A ball, but you do often send A ball kids up to High A.  So as we look at the current roster of West Virginia remember that they have already sent up Tito Polo and the vastly underrated Taylor Scioneaux (batters hit under .100 at West Virginia against him and are currently hitting under .200 in High A).  Ke’Bryan Hayes also is on the DL, and by all accounts he is still a top prospect with a little more to learn about adjusting to pitchers who adjust to him.  Michael Tolman does not look awful at 2B and I have never understood why Daniel Arribas does not get more of a look.  Not great talent hitting, I grant you, but pitching they have plenty.  Recent addition Taylor Hearn will arrive soon.  In addition to the aforementioned Scioneaux they have Mitch Keller.  Keller has struck out over 100 people this year and walked less than 15.  Yes, he needs work on the change like everyone at this level.  And yes hitters have discovered lately to not swing at his curve because it is probably not a strike.  But no one is saying he is major league ready.  What we are saying is he looks like a real prospect.  Hinsz also shows similar ability with a 41:11 K:BB.  Let us not forget that both are pitching their first full season so a little drop off at the end should not worry anyone too much.  This is especially true for Keller who was in A all year. 

Morgantown is a similar story.  These guys are also all playing longer than they ever have before.  Will Craig started off awful, but has come back strong.  His average is now up to .248, which if you remember his start, is impressive.  He also showed he can take a walk, which is a good sign.  His defense is a disaster, but he can move to 1B if he has to do so.  And Sandy Santos has been more than up to the challenge making himself look like a prospect.  And while Hunter Owen was a late round pick, he has played great including some signs of power.  Don’t be too quick to overlook Kevin Krause, who missed a year for an injury.  A bit early to write him off as a repeat offender of this league.  And while pitching is not Morgantown’s strong suit, late round pick Danny Beddes looks very good, and closer Brandon Bingel has been good too.  Usually you don’t too excited about closers, but he is pitching more than an inning an outing.  Even 15^th round pick last year Scooter Hightower is showing good control with a 21:6 K:BB with no homers allowed.  He is improving and that is important at this age and level. 

Now I am not quite sure I see the point in having two rookie league teams.  It does dilute the talent level.  But taken together there is some talent at the Rookie Level.  Victor Fernandez and Jhoan Herrera are both on pace to be 22 in Short A ball next year.  Both are hitting well.  Fernandez has even shown improvement in his plate discipline striking out less and walking more against better competition.  It is too early to write off Nelson Jorge who is hitting over .300 and has shown major improvement over the winter.  Perhaps he can be something.  There has nothing to be upset in over most of this year’s draft picks pitching performances (except Blake Cenderline).  Travis MacGregor looks fine.  Maybe you want a few more strikeouts, but really not a bad start.  Matt Eckleman’s dominate performance at Bristol is probably a bit because he is too old for the league, but it is good enough to make one consider a jump to West Virginia next year rather than Morgantown.  Adam Oller is only 21 and a bullpen guy, but he too has been very good for Bristol.  He will be 22 at Morgantown next year and ought to see if he can be a steady bullpen hand. 

The DSL has a horrible record, but that does not mean that some of these guys might not make it.  I don’t know enough about these guys to see what will translate to American and what won’t but Christopher Perez leads the team in average and plays SS and 2B.  Leandro Pina is 18 and has an ERA and a WHIP under 1 with a 27:4 K:BB ratio.  Surely there is something there that could be developed into something.  Roger Santana is 18 and has a 43:8 ratio.  Does anyone remember what the Latin America program looked like under Littlefield?  Let us not get too upset about the record.  I think there are people here who have a shot at being good prospects. 

Now are these guys top 25 prospects?  Other than Keller, Hinsz, and Craig, Probably not.  Are there guys here primed for a breakout season and could work their way into the top 25.  Yes.  Could we easily be talking about Sandy Santos and Hunter Owen next year as break out stars?  I think so.  Could Nelson Jorge or Travis MacGregor still work their way to the majors?  Absolutely.  The lower minors look bad by comparison to our upper levels, but they are not without talent.

Early Returns on 2014 draft strategy

The West Virginia Power are always the most exciting team to watch as it is the first good glimpse of last year’s draft picks.  This year it is even more so because of the strategy shift thanks to being actually decent and not picking at the top of the draft.  It included a lot more college hitters and pitchers than normal.  This happened again this year in 2015, so West Virginia is the first glimpse to see if it is a good plan.

It has to be admitted that so far it is not working out all that well.  Let us start with the bad news.
Connor Joe the Comp round pick has only played 24 games, and he is hitting .244 with a .655 OPS letting you know he has not shown power or anything of that sort yet. 
Taylor Gushue, who hit so well in short season last year, has been a big disappointment offensively.  The 4th round pick is hitting a paltry .211 in 44 games with only one homer.  Kevin Krause, who was the other catcher taken in the ninth round is injured and out all season. 
Jordan Luplow, the 3rd round selection, is hitting .232 with 3 HR’s, but a hopeful 16 doubles to lead the team, and 33/23 K/BB rate. 
Tyler Fillben, a twelfth round pick, is hitting .233. 
This is not a great look for the big name hitters.
The exceptions are top pick Cole Tucker, Michael Suchy (5th), Chase Simpson (14), and Jerrick Suiter (26).  Suiter is hitting .308 in a smaller game sample, although large enough to be decent.  Chase Simpson is slumping after a very hot start, but is still .257 with a team lead 6 HRs and leads the team in total bases and second in OPS (for those with a minimum PA).  He does lead the team in strike outs, but also in walks.  Suchy is a close second in walks.  He is hitting .253 with 12 doubles and 3 round trippers.  Cole Tucker is hitting a nice .271 with only 25 Ks.  He also has 16 stolen bases.  He has not looked awful at short either.  And he really does not count in this discussion because he is straight out of high school. 

The pitchers look a bit better.  Austin Coley, 8th round pick, is actually looking very good as a starter.  He is 8-4, but more importantly has 61 strikeouts to lead the team and has only 9 walks. 
Alex McRae (10th) is also starting.  He is giving up a few more hits and runs, but has 40 Ks to 12 BBs.  Not bad. 
John Sever, a 20th round pick who did well at Bristol last year, is also looking good with 55 Ks and 19 BBs.  He was starting, but has been moved to the bullpen or maybe a sort of piggy back role.  He could miss a few more bats, but potential is there.
Sam Street (16) has a similar issue with allowing hits out of the pen, but is striking out 8 per 9 innings, so that is good.  Remember they work heavily on the fastball at West Virginia making higher hit totals not so troubling. 
Montana DuRapau has struck out 9 and only walked 1 in 19 innings.  He has a WHIP of .414.  Admittedly it is a small sample, but something to be encouraged about. 
It is not all good for the pitchers Nick Neumann (28) is only 17 Ks and 7 BBs.  And Eric Dorsch (15), who has only 7 innings, is also not good.  He has walked 6 to striking out 5, but he has also plunked 2 guys. 

This year’s draft feels a lot like last years.  Hopefully they will have slightly more success at the West Virginia level.  It is still far too early to tell how well drafting in the middle of the draft is going for the Pirates.  But there is room to hope it gets better, at least for the college guys.

Alen Hanson vs. Dilson Herrera

Well, it is time to face the facts.  Dilson Herrera is better than Alen Hanson and it may not even be close.  Dilson Herrera has made the majors and is now going to be facing Pirate pitching. 

I always thought Herrera was better than Hanson.  When the trade was Hanson was on a higher minor league level and still playing short.  Now Herrera has past Hanson, although one could argue that the Mets need may have played a role and Hanson is not needed right now in Pittsburgh.  However, Herrera was hitting .370 in AAA and Hanson's OBP is not that high (.318).  Hanson has two errors already this year and there is little reason to think moving to second is going to make his defense acceptable.

The problem with Hanson has never been his ability.  I do think Herrera was underrated in that area ever since he put together a massive hitting streak in the DSL, but Hanson can hit.  The problem is mental and that is always worse than someone who has a more physical hole in his game.  I don't think Herrera has ever been sat down by his team.  Hanson has it happen quite a bit.  His error in the field were not a player trying to play short stop that did not have the tools, the errors were on the routine plays.  Baseball is mostly routine plays.  Baseball is doing the ordinary stuff really well.  Hanson seems prone to throwing fits, not running out ground balls, and not having his head in the game.

We lost that trade with the Mets.  Vic Black and Herrera are going to be key pieces in the Mets trip to the playoffs this year.  We got what we needed in the short term, but this is why I never like trading for short term rental players.

Looks like the Pirates just lost in 10.  Ugh.   

Why it is too early to give up on Luis Heredia

There is no hiding it, Luis Heredia is having a bad year.  He entered tonight with more walks than strikeouts, and averaging giving up a hit an inning.  He did have a good night tonight as he went seven innings giving up no runs, three hits, two walks and getting five strikeouts.  It lowered his ERA to under 4.  Sadly the Power blew the game and Heredia will not get a win for his efforts.  Still it was one of his best outings of the year.

Heredia is only 20.  He is young for his level, and is eating innings despite his control problems this year.  He is averaging a little over 5 innings an outing.  There is something to be said for that.  Heredia is still a work in progress.  Last year he came into camp overweight.  This year he did not.  He started off the year on the DL, but is putting innings on his arm and looking healthy now.  A lot of his problems come from the Pirates trying to get an out pitch.  They switched him this year to a slurve, and it is not working.  They went from a curve to begin with to a slider now to a slurve.  They are playing with his arm slot, and this accounts for a lot of his problems.

Yet, Heredia still has a good fastball.  His change up is okay, and if they can settle in and let him develop a decent out pitch he can be a good pitcher.  His projection to be an ace is probably out the window; however, Heredia still has the potential to be an inning eater who can get your team wins.  A lot of this depends on developing that out pitch, but the Pirates system has some real success with pitchers, so there is real reason to hope.  Outings like tonight can be much more regular.

Heredia does not have to be added to the 40 man this year, but he will in 2015.  So, I do not think that Heredia can repeat A Ball.  Next year he has to start out at High A to see if he can handle the jump in competition.  Will Heredia work hard in the offseason again, and will he come back with that out pitch?  Important questions.  These last months of baseball are important.  Heredia is improving, and if that trend continues there is good reason to be bullish on Heredia.

What to do at catcher next year at West Virginia?

One of the interesting things that has developed after this year's draft is what to do at catcher next year in A ball (West Virginia).
They already have a bit of a problem in Jamestown between Taylor Gushue and Kevin Krause.  One can DH while the other plays catcher, so it works, but both are top 10 draft picks who should be viewed as prospects.  Getting playing time behind the plate is especially important to Gushue, who only had one year at the position at Florida.
Add to this the new level of Bristol, a Rookie League club, but a high rookie league, and you can have some problems.  At Bristol sits Daniel Arribas.  Arribas is an international signing, and he has talent.  He played GCL last year, and DSL the year before that.  He is talented enough to play any position, focusing mostly on 1B when not playing catcher, but he is a catcher first.  Arribas has a nice bat, but cannot spend a third year in short season ball without it killing his career.  Plus, he has done everything needed to get promoted to full season ball.  The organization needs to be able to evaluate Arribas and now there is a back log on talent at catcher.  Arribas has more years in the system, which means his clock is starting to tick loudly.
You might be thinking that Arribas could just go to 1B for a while so that all three might could play, but that is not really possible because the Pirates have Kevin Ross currently playing 1B at Jamestown.  He was an 8th round pick in 2012 who did well in the GCL in that year, but the next year was hurt, played little, and lost a whole year of development.  He is too young to toss aside.  He probably needs to be seeing time at West Virginia as well.

So next year there will be three catchers who need to be at West Virginia.  Two of them can play other positions, particularly 1B, but that position is has a person sitting on it too.  One of these catching prospects is going to be missing a lot of at-bats.  It will be interesting to see who the Pirates handle it.

The start we wanted

Gregory Polanco has a hit streak going.  Some of those early hits may not have been impressive, but his 5 for 7 night last night including the game winning two run homer was impressive.  Polanco is going to be a great addition to Pittsburgh.

But I was thinking more of the addition of Taylor Gushue.  He has a multiple hit game and a homer as well.  The other hit was a triple.  I was also thinking of Nick Kingham.  He made his AAA debut.  And he was marvelous.  He struck out 8 in 7 innings, with only one walk.  He has a perfect 0.00 ERA.  It is not hard to start day dreaming about next year's starting rotation with Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton, Nick Kingham, Jameson Taillon, and someone else.  I think I could live with that line up.

The Pirates also apparently have signed Nelson Jorge.  I would imagine he will start in the GCL.  Interestingly the also signed a 21st round high schooler Eric Thomas Jr.  I just assumed he would go to college.  He is a center fielder with upside I guess.  The Pirates don't have to offer him a contract just because they drafted him.  I can't imagine they gave him over slot money as he is not a highly regarded prep player.  They may actually be over their limit anyway.  This is probably the reason we have not yet signed Connor Joe and Luplow.  We need to save some money on those two guys contracts.  Not a lot to be under the amount, but a decent amount if we want to throw any over the slot money on other guys.

Chase Simpson also signed.  I expect him to start at 3B for Jamestown.  And a Junior college pitcher, Palmer Betts, also signed.  He may start out in the new Bristol Appalachian League affiliate.  It used to be the Bristol Tigers, but I assume now it will be the Bristol Pirates.  I watched that league growing up and saw Darrell Strawberry play for the Kingsport Mets.  The Elizabethton Twins almost always win that league.  We will see if the Pirates can keep pace.

Anyway you look at yesterday it was a good start.

Mel Rojas Jr. promoted to AAA

Mel Rojas has been promoted to AAA.  He deserved it as he had been hitting around .300 all year.  Plus, the Pirates need to know what they have in him.  He has gotten better as each year passes.  Played AA last year and had his best year.  He returned there this spring, and increased his walks and lowered K's.  He has hit better as well.  This could be to help the AAA outfield assuming Polanco is up to Pittsburgh in a week or so.  It may also be because Lambo had surgery and is probably not coming back soon.  I thought Keon Broxton might get the call up as he has been just as good as Rojas all year and he plays a corner outfield spot.  Keon deserves a promotion soon.

If we are looking for other people who are deserving of a promotion Drew Maggi could be mentioned. He is hitting over .300 and is becoming a jack of all trades.  He is a super utility player who might deserve a future spot on the 40 man.  He is playing some outfield now, and perhaps that is a good reason to leave him in AA for now.  But he can play the infield and soon corner outfield spots.  If his hitting stays as good as it is, it would be nice to see if he could do it at the AAA level.  Later in the year you might look at promoting Adrian Sampson as well.  He is pitching lights out baseball this year.  It is not time for him to go to AAA yet, but before the year is out it will be.

If some of those guys get promoted you have to fill the holes, and I actually think Jonathan Schwind should get the first call up.  He is hitting a nice .325 and is playing the outfield now.  He could see what he could do against AA pitching.  Josh Bell is over .300, but just getting through a season healthy seems to be the best idea for him.  I do think before the year is out AA is where Bell needs to be, but there is no rush.  Schwind needs evaluation and seems to have A+ figured out.  Schwind is not a real high prospect, so no big deal if he flops.  Bell you have to be careful with.  Wait until you know he is ready.

The problem is I am not sure what position guys to promote to A+ from West Virginia.  No real outfielders stand out because the prospects are all hurt.  McGuire is hitting well and throwing out runners, but I go back to the no need to rush a prospect.  The guy who is hitting the best is Erich Weiss, but he is learning second base, and so there seems to be a reason to keep him lower to work on his defense.  In fact, Buddy Borden might be the guy who should be called up.  He has 45 K's and seems to be working late into most games.  But this is his first year of full season ball, so I would not do that any time soon either.  Wait and see how his stuff looks after he logs some more innings.

The Pirates are 3 outs away from taking Game 2 from the Dodgers for two in a row.  I refuse to get sucked back in.  This team is out of it, and I will not allow my hopes to get up.  I will not.

Minor League Look for April

With a couple of Pirates games rained out maybe now is the time to look at the minors a bit more.  It is starting to get a little worrisome looking at the majors.  Any team that consistently is starting at least 2 players who hit below .200 will not win many games.  However, you can also think that those players are due for warming up with the weather, so it kind of depends on whether it is half full or half empty.

Let’s start with Indy and AAA.  The prospects here are doing fine, if not great.  Gregory Polanco has an OPS of 1.089.  He is ready for the majors as he does not seem to have too much trouble at the corner outfield spot he will be playing in the majors.  As soon as super two is not a worry, I expect to see Polanco starting in Pittsburgh for the rest of the year.  The other outfielder to care about is Andrew Lambo.  And yes he has been moved back to the outfield now that Ike Davis is at first.  His OPS is just barely under 1.  He has not had the power one hopes for, but he did hit a homer the other night.  His slow start is over and now he is looking like a guy who could be useful in the big leagues if he is needed. 

Pitcher here has also been fine with the exception of Phil Irwin, who is just coming off surgery so it is understandable.  Jeff Locke’s stats aren’t that great and he has a problem with the long ball, but he has a 16/4 k/BB rate.  Sadler and Crumpton look good.  Jerod Hughes looks ready to be a spot reliever too.  Duke Welker is walking a few too many, but he could also be used if needed. 

AA and Altoona is almost the opposite.  Hitting the prospects are disappointing.  Allie is up to .260 and 6 dingers, and so there is something to be excited about.  He has 12 walks, which might be a bigger reason to get excited.  He is always going to be a high strike out guy.  What he needs is to be able to draw walks and get his average up a bit.  A .260 average with his power might be okay at the big league level, but it is too low for AA.  Sadly Hanson is not hitting either.  I also do not understand why they keep him at SS.  His 8 errors already this year show a need to move him.  I understand he loses value as a second baseman, but how much longer does he need to show he can’t play SS.  .  Mel Rojas is repeating the level, and his walk rate is improving so perhaps that is good news.  If you are looking for a bright side it is perhaps Drew Maggi.  He is playing 3B now, but is hitting .316.  No power, but he might project as a utility back up man, like a Josh Harrison. 

Pitching is a little different.  Joely Rodreguiz is not pitching well.  Nick Kingham has had a bad outing or two, but still looks good.  20/12 K/BB rate is not awful especially noting that he has yet to allow a homer.  The big surprise has been Adrian Sampson.  Sampson has a 23/8 rate with a 1.05 WHIP.  Sampson is putting his name into the prospect list.

High A at Bradenton is not exactly loaded with prospects.  Josh Bell is the one everyone is watching.  He had a mini slump this season, but seems to be out of it now.  He is hitting .287 and leading the team with 2 homers.  This production all year without injury would be a success, although a little more power would make me happier.  Osuna’s .280 with one homer and 5 doubles is not awful, but perhaps a little disappointing.  The other prospects (Crumlich, Wood, Moroff) are a bit disappointing.  I have always enjoyed Jonathan Schwind, who was drafted as a catcher, but is in the outfield now.  He is looking fine in this league.  He is hitting .324.  He is old for the league, but it might be worth a call up just to see if there is any hope here of something.

Pitching at this level has a bit more success.  It is hard to say any of the starters have been awful.  Castro is succeeding.  Creasy looks fine, and even John Kuchino is not horrible.  Tyler Glasnow, who is the big prospect, has just pitched twice.  The first was brilliant, the second a nightmare, so stay tuned for this one.  It is the bullpen that has been just awful.  Ryan Hafner is a bust, and I had liked him out of the bullpen, but it is not working.  Robbie Rowland is not getting it done.  They have thrown Walter Grouley, an infielder, multiple times. 

At A ball in West Virginia is where the real fun is.  It would be even more fun if everyone was not injured.  The outfield was supposed to feature Austin Meadows and Barrett Barnes and Harold Rameriz.  All three have been injured.  Meadows has yet to make an appearance and Barnes and Rameriz played 4 games a piece.  That was okay because they still had speedy outfielder Candon Myles, and they moved Danny Collins out there to help because they had new sensation Edwin Espinal to play first.  Well, things have continued to get worse and now they have activated last year’s breakout possible, who now is left off most lists of players to watch, Elvis Escobar.  He has only played in two games and went 0 for 6.  Reece McGuire also has gotten hurt, but before the minor injury he was hitting a scant .222.  The team has resisted the urge to put Wyatt Mathieson back behind the plate allowing him to continue to learn 3B.  He is hitting .259 while picking up his new position.  Erich Weiss, who is learning another infield spot is hitting a cool .333, and JaCoby Jones is over .300 as well.  Although his 7 errors give me the same sort of pause I have always had with Alen Hanson. 

Pitching features mainly Heredia, who went down with a sore arm and Cody Dickenson, who has been so-so.  This is the level where they are focusing on throwing fastballs for strikes and learning changes, and not really trying to pitch as they would at higher levels, so things like hits allowed are bit misleading.  Dickenson is not missing very many bats giving up 31 hits in 24 innings.  But he does have 18 K’s, and hopefully will get stronger as the year goes on. 

All in all, it is a hard year to evaluate the Pirates minor leagues because so many are out hurt.  But right now it looks like the big names are doing okay, but there are no real surprises to get excited about with the lone exception of Edwin Espinal.  Adrian Sampson might be one, but he needs more time.    

Minor League Troubles?

It has been a while since I posted. I am not going to be able to do so many game posts as I used to, so this blog is now going to have to be a little more big picture. And this far into the season some complaints have come up about the minors. This is usually connected to whether or not the Front Office should be retained or not. So let's look. It is true that the Indianapolis Indians have struggled offensively this year. They have underwhelmed to be sure. However, we should take a closer look. First, the actual prospects have not done horrible. Marte started blazing hot and has cooled. Matt Hague started off in the majors, so has not been down the whole time. But his average is not bad, and I think has earned another call up for the interleague series. We will see about that. Jordy Mercer is hitting well. He had a slump that hurt his overall numbers, but just had a 13 game hit streak. Gorkys at .266 could be better, but he is blocked at the major league level anyway. Chase D'Arnaud is really the only one who should cause worry, and he missed most of the season so far with a concussion. Plus, he has a .292 OBP, which is good when your average is .150. That said, the pitching has been nice. Daniel McCutchen is doing well. Rudy Owens is showing his promise again. Bryan Morris is decent enough out of the pen. Both of those guys have WHIPs under 1, and amazing K/BB ratios. Daniel Moskos is having some control problems, so there is one let down. He needed to step up and earn the second lefty spot in the pen that Hurdle wants so badly. Lincoln was great while he was there. In fact, he never walked anyone in his 12 innings. McPhearson has been out, so that is a loss, but not because he is no longer promising. So overall not so bad. Altoona is the place that we knew would be weak. This hole in the organization predates Neal and the current Front Office and has been moving through the organization. Two years ago it was in WV, last year it was in Bradenton, and this year it is in Altoona. The big disappointment here is the lack of production from Robbie Grossman. But he is still coming off of surgery, so some extra slack time ought to be allotted. Tony Sanchez is the big concern. He is starting to look like a bust. AA has been too much for him. This is the second year in a row he has struggled. He is not even getting as much playing time as one would think any more. He has already sat out over 10 games. So, that is a miss for the Front Office. Other than that the prospects have been good. Brock Holt is hitting well as is Matt Curry. I know a lot of people like Jarek Cunningham, but I have never like him that much. I don't even have him in my top 50. He is doing just about what he always does. Show flashes of power, and hits around .250. However, he has only played in 12 games so, maybe something will change when gets back from the DL. Pitching here has been okay as far as the prospects go. Phil Irwin just got off the DL, and had a good game tonight to earn the win. Brandon Crumpton has given up too many long balls, but has an impressive K/BB rate. No reason to worry about him. The person to watch is Victor Black. He gives up a lot of hits, and that is bad in a reliever. However he has a 21/7 K/BB rate, which is good. Good hard fastball makes him interesting. I believe they have to make a choice about him soon, so watch Black for the rest of the year. Bradenton is where all the eyes are and Cole and Taillon have not disappointed. They are striking out guys a lot. And we are seeing Taillon go deep into games now. Good news. Cain has been less than one might have hoped, but 24/12 is not awful of a K/BB ratio. He has some stuff to work on, but it is far from a prospect busting performance. Tyler Waldron needs to be moved permanently to the pen, and he has made two pen appearances. It is not like that was not expected when he was drafted, so I hesitate to call this a draft bust. Josh Poythress in the pen has pitched his way to interesting prospect status. No runs allowed in 10 innings is nice. The bats could be better. I was hoping for more from Alex Dickerson, who has a strikeout problem and is hitting .252, which happens to be the same average of Dan Grovatt, who I was hoping more from. Drew Maggi started off hot, but is cooling down a bit. The bright spot here is Mel Rojas, who did not look all that good last year. Rojas is hitting .273, but making it even better is his 5 triples. Speed is always good. Rojas has not made a fielding error either. But Rojas needs to be more patient at the plate as he strikes out even more than Dickerson. West Virginia is even more fun to see, and I think the real proof we need to keep the front office. The Latin America players are shinning through here. First, Bell was hitting .267 and that is including a slow start to the first few games. His knee injury does not look too serious, so we should see him again this year. Alen Hansen is unbelievable right now. He has an OPS over 1, but his 17 errors including a recent four error game are a problem. He has hit 6 dingers showing the kind of power one hopes for at this stage of development. Gregory Polanco is almost as impressive with a .299 AVG and 7 homers. Jose Osuna is doing okay as well with a .281 AVG and Junior Sosa is showing back up on the radar with a .297 AVG. And Dan Gamache should not get lost in all of this. He is only hitting .267, but his 12 doubles is interesting. As great as the hitting here has been the pitching has been equally as disappointing. Allie was sent back to extended spring training. He was awful, and had elbow tightness to boot. Nick Kingham has been beat around giving up 6 homers in 8 games, but is sporting a 26/10 K/BB ratio. Zack Dodson also has been hit around with stats very similar to Kingham. Ryan Hafner has missed a few games on account of injury, but looks shaky with only one decent start under his belt. He is not striking guys out either. Matthew Benedict was okay for a while, but has had a couple of rough outings here at the end to show his weakness. Jordan Cooper and Orlando Castro have been disappointments out of the pen as well. No one on this staff can do anything except get beat down. Still let us not forget that we are going to be treated to a lot of high school arms when short season starts. Overall I think it is too early to give up on a Kingham or a Hafner. Arms are not fully mature until about 24. Cole and Taillon look great and on track. There is a great one two. Cain shows promise of being a three man in a rotation. And if we keep turning out players like Hansen, Polanco, and Osuna from our Latin American system, we should be in great shape offensively. Dilsen Herrera should be in rookie ball this year, and it will be neat to see him continue this new tradition. Overall, things look fairly good. If the high school arms flop in the rookie or Low A when those seasons start then we can start to say that maybe we loaded up too much on a gamble that does not look to be paying off. Until then, we should all just relax.

Minor League Review: State College

Ross Ohlendorf just pitched his first homer, and got a win. Good news for the Pirates. I still think you let him go during the off season, but hey, it is still nice.

State College was not very good this year, and a lot of that was the result of getting only 4 seniors in the draft. But, I am still higher on what was at State College than most. Let's take a look.

Pitchers:
It is true that there were not a lot of break out seasons here except Nick Kingham, but they were not disastrous either.

Nick Kingham:
He had a 1.10 WHIP and a 47:15 K:BB ratio. He threw in the low 90's and looked great after a shaky first start. He could very well be a top 10 prospect.

Stetson Allie:
Disappointing in some ways because of his hype, but we all knew he had command problems. He walked 29 and struck out 28. The command problems were there. Still, the dominance was also there. His fastball sits at 95, and when he is on, he is going to blow away the competition. He has plenty of time to get control of his walk total. So, I think he had a better season than most do. The walks were to be expected. He also seemed to be improving a bit until they moved him to the pen so as not to overload his innings. The adjustment to coming in from the pen was rough. July was 15 strikeouts to 10 walks with 5 starts. No starts in August resulted in 12 walks and only 6 strikeouts. That hurt his numbers a bit, so it is not as bad as it might look.

Ryan Hafner:
I am a little higher on Hafner than others as well. His fastball is still high 80's, and that will never get it done even out of the pen. Still he pulled off a 1.19 WHIP and a 31:20 K:BB. That is too many walks, but an impressive number of strikeouts considering he was not overpowering anyone. Remember he came from high school, so I think power can come with age. It might have been that some of his walks were nibbling at corners. I still think he adds power, and then he can be real good.

As for what we got in the draft, I do like Josh Poythress as a future reliever. A 29:10 K:BB is not a bad start. I am not ready to give up on Matt Benedict either. A 39:15 K:BB is enough to keep me watching and hoping, but he gave up far too many hits.

Hitters:
Alex Dickerson:
He came late to the league, but was as advertised. .313 AVG, .886 OPS with 3 HRs. He has to learn 1B, so his defense is below average, but his bat looks great.

Samuel Gonzalez:
He thrived at this level. He hit over .300 and only struck out 15 times, which is a big thing. Add in 14 walks, and I like his plate presence. Needs more power, and needs to play better defense, but it was a good year for him.

Wes Freeman:
Now I am not as high on Freeman as others. He was repeating this league, so he should have dominated it. Still, he hit 6 homers and hit .303. His defense is good enough for the corner outfield. You have to call this a success.

Now I would not worry about a lot of the others that some are pointing to as disappointing. Dan Gamache hit .231, but he was recovering from a hand injury and only had 20 games to get adjusted. I am also not too worried about Taylor Lewis nor Derek Trent. Trent is not a big time prospect anyway, but it was a major jump in competition for those guys and they had to learn the wooden bat at the same time. They played in lower college conferences as opposed to Dickerson and Gamache. Both showed good plate discipline with Lewis leading the team in walks with 34 and Trent was 4th with 20. Both played good Defense. Lewis also had 7 triples. No kidding. Lewis had 35 hits and 7 of them were triples. 20% of his hits were three baggers. He added on double, and he stole 16 bases (being caught 4 times). His speed should keep him on the prospect radar. Kirk Singer was another draftee who got better as the year went on, so he should not be thrown under the bus.

There were a few huge disappointments. Exicardio Caynoes was awful and thought to be a nice prospect. Junior Sosa should have done better as well. And the Pirates has seen enough of Justin Benscko, as they have him listed as released now. So the team had some disappointments.

My thoughts overall is that this team was weak from the beginning, did not have real good performances from the early signers in the draft, which matched up with disastrous performances from Caynoes and Sosa. They got better, but it was too late to make the team look good. But they showed enough to not be depressed.

Reviewing the Minors: GCL Pirates

McCutchen clocked two today and Hughes made his debut, and the Pirates got the win, which went to Tony Watson for his one out in the top of the 8th.

The minors are done for the year and it is time to look at what we have before we come to the list of top prospects for the year. We will start at the bottom and work up.

The GCL Pirates, a Rookie League team, was actually very good and very interesting this year. They lost a one game playoff, but it is the individual success that was even more exciting than the team success.

Pitchers:
Luis Heredia - of course it starts with him. He did pretty well considering his young age. He had some control issues. He struck out 23 and walked 19 in 30.1 innings. He threw a lot of fastballs, so he had some long at bats because he was not allowed to throw the curve to get people out. This led to a lot of pitch totals being high and him coming out of the game. Nothing to worry about here, you expect a 16 year old to have some command issues. He throws mid-90's, so he has what it takes.

Orlando Castro - Wow. This guy looks like a major league bullpen guy for sure. He started here threw a 22:2 K:BB ration in 25 innings, and was on his way to the next level.

Logan Penvy - He looked okay. He is still a bit of a project and a long shot, but a 23:13 ratio is no reason to write him off. It is not great, but not bad either.

Dovydas Neverauskas - He too is still a big project, but occasionally looked good coming out of the pen. Not enough strike outs, but still has a projectable frame that might fix that problem as he goes forward.

Diomedes Mateo - He actually led the team in strike outs with 33 and only 16 walks. He got a late season look at State College, which is where he ought to end up next year.

Batters:
Rodarrick Jones - Clearly the big excitement on the team. He was drafted in the high rounds, tore up GCL and got promoted. Showed some signs of power.

Jonathan Schwind - He played well both offensively and defensively. His age says he ought to, but he played at a small college, so it is good to see him dominate. He tied for the team lead in doubles (14), and had on OPS over 1.000. He should go to full season ball next year.

Jose Osuna - The .331 average and the other with 14 doubles. He got a late season call up to SC. He looked like a bat with some promise in the OF.

Willy Garcia - He led the team with 5 dingers. The hint of power is enough to be exciting.

Yonathan Barrios - Decent defense at SS and an .815 of OPS.

Alen Hansen - He swipped 24 bags and hit 13 doubles. Not consistent hitting, but the skills are there. Throw in 7 triples and you begin to get an idea about the speed.

There were some disappointments here including Jared Lakind, Joey Schoenfeld Junior Sosa, and Jorge Bishop.

Candon Myles played just a few games and it is not enough to say much.

The number of good hitting prospects was exciting. Osuna, Hansen, and Jones are very exciting players. Most of these guys have plate discipline issue left to solve, but you expect that here. Not as much pitching, but enough to think it was not a bust. Castro in particular. A nice showing by a team that was mostly from the Latin American market.

What is wrong in State College?

First things first, the Pirates beat Baltimore to win the series and return to .500. They are just 3 games out going into a day off and a scary series versus the Boston Red Sox.

Today the topic is the State College Spikes, the Pirates A- minor league team. They were shut out the second night in a row and held to 3 hits. They have just one win to their credit and are an absolute disaster on offense. Nick Kingham did a lot to remove worries about his abilities by going 5 giving up 1 run and striking out 8. A nice recap can be found at Pirate Prospects.

A quick look at the stats shows that of those people with 10 ABs only two appear able to hit. Derek Trent is hitting .286 and Samuel Gonzalez is hitting .500 with an OPS over 1. Other than that the next best hitter is Carlos Mesa at .222. There are 6 players below .200 and 3 below .100 with the requisite number of ABs. Only 1 HR has been hit so far. This is not a good start.

The question is why such a slow start to the offense? Is this just what happens when you only draft 4 seniors, 2 of whom are pitchers, and one of whom just played his first game tonight where he went 1 for 4. Derek Trent is the other, and he was one of the hitters with an acceptable average.
But this cannot be the whole answer as a few college juniors are struggling like Brian Sharp and 10th round pick Taylor Lewis. Plus, some of these guys were fairly well regarded prospects coming in such as Exicardo Cayones, who is hitting below .100 right now. Cayones is easily the biggest prospect on this team and he is currently 1 for 11 with 5 strikeouts. That is not good.

I know that this is early in the season, and that many more prospects will be showing up such as hopefully Alex Dickerson (3rd round pick), or maybe Dan Gamache (6th round), who should help the offense quite a bit. But, has been 6 games, and this is not a promising start. This team is not going to win when only 3 players are hitting (Justin Bencsko is one AB short, but will be at least a .300 hitter when he gets that 10th AB). Cayones and Lewis are the two who need to start hitting and hitting now. Wes Freeman ought to be hitting as well. He is 21 and has had enough minor league experience that he ought to be hitting. He is hitting .214 and has that lone homer, but that is not good enough for a guy who has this much experience in the minors.

No matter how you look at it, this is not a good start. While it is too early to panic. The Pirates are going to need a wave of bats, and some of these guys are going to have to figure out how to do it.

Spikes

Okay, the MLB site was completely wrong. How can they be that wrong. I don't know, but I won't make that mistake again.

The current Spikes roster is up. Expect a few more as I think two seniors have yet to sign. Taylor Lewis has since signed and will be here. Dan Gamanche has singed, but is not listed here. I expect he will go straight to West Virginia because Eric Avilia is horrible there. A spot is clearly open for him in WV.

The people to watch are of course Allie, but also Kingham, and Hafner in the rotation. I will also be watching Matthew Benedict, 30th round this year, because he is from the Southern Conference.

At the plate, we need to watch first and foremost Exicardo Cayones. Taylor Lewis ought to also be interesting to see. Michaelangel Trinidad is also one to keep an eye upon, and Brian Sharp is a 24th round guy. I will be watching Derek Trent because I grew up watching ETSU baseball. They used to be SoCon. I will watch him out of loyalty.

Som real good guys on this list. I like it. Looking forward to seeing the Spikes start up.

Short Season A and Rookie League Ball talk - UPDATE

It should be about a week before the short season teams start. Right now the whole rosters have not been put out, but it looks like the GCL Pirates in Rookie League are going to be very exciting.

They currently have listed as on their team Stetson Allie and Luis Heredia. If that were not enough Nick Kingham and Ryan Hafner are on this squad. I will be watching these guys a lot. Bryan Trepagnier and Kevin Kleis are familiar names also on staff. Another interesting name, not so much because he is a prospect, is Sheng-Cin Hong from Taiwan.

I am not so sure about the non pitchers on this roster. I am not sure that they are all right because they include some people you would expect to be at a higher level this year like Junior Sosa and Joey Schoenfeld. Still you probably should expect to see Jared Lakind playing first base, so that hitters will be not be all unknowns.

The State College Spikes have a much more trustworthy looking semi-roster up. They have Zack Dodson on their staff. He is probably just waiting for someone to depart West Virginia because he was not bad there, but he is the odd man out in that crowded rotation. Logan Pevny and James Archibald join Dodson on that staff along with lesser known names like Mitchel Fienemann for Australia who will be a starter, and Joely Rodriguez who had a fairly successful stint in the Rookie League last year. He will probably start. They only have four position players on the roster right now two catchers: Miguel Mendez and Matthew Skirving, making it seem more probable that Schoenfeld will be in the GCL. And short stop Walter Gourley, a 2009 draftee, and Jodaneli Carvajal who seems to be making a leap from the DSL and playing second. You can expect a few quick signings to probably bolster this team including: Brian Sharp, SS, 21st round; Derek Trent, C, 31st round; and I think that the Pirates will also get Taylor Lewis, OF, fairly fast despite him being a junior. There are some others that I am unsure whether they are juniors or seniors right off hand, and I am too lazy to look it up. But eventually this team will include Daniel Gamache, 3B, and Alex Dickerson, OF/1B, and then they will be something to watch in the hitting department.

A lot of good stuff to watch here. Hoping we get a few signings soon. I am breaking out into cold sweats waiting for this stuff.

UPDATE:
According to Jennifer Langosh the Pirates have assigned Stetson Allie to State College, not to GCL Rookie league. This is more in line with where expectations would have had him. Now the only thing to figure out is why they have him on the Roster for the GCL Pirates at MLB.com. Either way this is good news for the Pirate organization. I was a little worried that his control issues were not going well for him to start in Rookie League.

Also the Pirates drafted 4 total seniors, who should all sign fairly quickly and be at State College. I remembered two, who the other two are escapes me right now.

Matt Curry and Minor League notes

The Pirates had a great come back win to stop their mini-slide. Good to see. However with the draft upcoming, I have to admit that I am enjoying the minor leagues a little more right now. Although major league debuts from Dusty Brown and Josh Harrison resulted in hits for both. Harrison in fact had the game tying RBI.

Matt Curry is the big news. He made the jump from A ball where he was hitting .370 or so to AA. Big move, but in two games he is hitting .250 with a hit and a run in each game so far. Howard will now get some field time. I think this was a good move by the Pirates, and I think it means Matt Curry is going to go to the Arizona Fall League. You have to get exceptions if they are not in AA. Now Curry qualifies and they can beg exceptions on other players like Victor Black.

That is right Victor Black is back in West Virginia and pitched two nice one inning outings. Joining Victor in the WV bullpen is Vincent Payne a late round pick last year. He did briefly make an appearance at State College, but spent most of the time in Rookie League.

Drew Maggi has returned to the land of prospects. He had one of the worse Aprils I have ever seen. But in May he is hitting .252, and he is walking more as well. He is hitting .270 in his last 10.

Eric Fryer has moved up to Indy while Dusty Brown is in the majors thanks to an untimely injury to Ryan Doumit. He got a hit in his first game, but was hitless today. It is worth keeping an eye on him.

The VSL and DSL have started. Last year signee Dilsen Herrea has hit safely in every game now (I believe that is correct). He looks very good with the stick. He hit his 5th double today.

Last year's draft keeps looking better and better. Taillon is amazing. Mel Rojas started slow, but is hitting now. Brandon Crumpton is on fire. Literally blazing through hitters. Tyler Waldron is also showing he has decent stuff. Curry is already in AA. Maggi is coming around. Justin Howard has been near .300 all year. And best of all is Daniel Grovatt. He is hitting .300 as well and drawing a lot of walks. We have not even seen Allie, Lakind, or Penvy yet this year. And even the guys who are really just minor league depth like Kevin Decker are pitching well.

Sorry for the absence

I have been gone for a while because of work, but I have kept up with the Pirates even through the very disappointing Brewers trouble. Thankfully, the Pirates are looking up a little thanks to a two game sweep of the Reds. The Pirates are a fourth by half a game behind the Brewers. Interleague Plays starts this weekend, and it could be bad for us.

However there are some really good signs for the Pirates. McCutchen is hitting okay. Morton and McDonald are pitching very good. It looks as if they are going to be able to stay decent all year. But the really is good signs are in the minors.

Brad Lincoln is pitching very well. There is not a place for him in the majors right now, but he is looking like a starter. If we should trade some pieces, Lincoln is ready. Also at the Triple A level and doing good is Chase D'Arnaud. His bat was asleep early in the year, but he is almost up to .300. Not quite the power you want, but he is looking better. Behind him in AA is Jordy Mercer. Mercer is having a nice May after an awful April. You still want him to hit for better average, but his homers are good and his walks are actually leading the team. Sterling Marte is ready for a promotion and Sanchez ought to get one before the year is over as well. Brock Holt is slowing, but still doing very well. He may be ready soon too. In high A, Robbie Grossman is looking like a prospect again, as is Jarek Cunningham (although Evan Chambers is not looking like one anymore). The Power are loaded with talent in pitching to go along with Matt Curry, who needs a callup now and Justin Howard as well as Kawami Pai. Tallion lost the other day, but is striking people out and not walking them. He looks good. Colton Cain looks the best, but Waldron is okay and while Von Rosenburg might have higher expectations, he is not behind where he ought to be as his strikeouts are ridiculously high despite poor win totals. Brooks Pounders has the best WHIP, so good pitchers litter this Power line up.

Even better is let us remember the Pirates have two more big time prospects yet to make a start in Allie and the 16 year old phenom from Mexico. Oh yeah, Victor Black has not shown up yet either. And the draft is coming up where the Pirates are bound to get at least one big new prospect and probably two or three that will excite us.

Looking forward to seeing the Tigers and Leyland again.

Minor Leaguers you should be paying more attention

The big name prospect guys often eat up all the press and get all the notification. Let me just drop a few names that ought to be getting a little more attention.

Dan Grovatt. Dan is hitting .274, but has a nice .440 OBP. He obviously has command of the strike zone and his defense seems solid. This is his first full season of professional ball, and he is doing rather well.

Robbie Grossman. Grossman was highly touted, but is repeating High A because he has had strike out problems. Although the strike out totals have gone down every year, and he is on pace to go down again this year. In fact he has drawn 23 walks to lead the Marauders in that category. He is hitting in the .260's, but has an OBP of .404. He has a couple of homers as a lead off guy.

Brooks Pounders The first thing that jumps off about Pounders is his 18 strike outs to 1 walk in 12 innings. He has an ERA under 3, and a WHIP of 0.92. This guy is not getting the notice of some of the other draft picks of the last few years, but he is not about to go away anytime soon.

Jordy Mercer. Yes, Jordy Mercer. He has a .398 SLUG despite only hitting .215. However, this number is on the rise. He appears to be coming out of his early season slump, so don't give up watching him. He was left to repeat AA to lower his strike out rate and increase power. He has struck out 12 times in 96 ABs, so that is not too bad. His power . . . well almost half of his hits have been for extra bases including 4 homers.

Mel Rojas. Oddly enough Rojas has not gotten the press I thought he would. Starling Marte is the next big thing in the outfield, but Rojas was the 3rd round pick this past year. Taillon and Allie deserve their attention, but Rojas should get some too. He started slow, but is up to .289 in his BA. He needs to work on plate discipline as his strike out rate is too high and walks are almost non-existent. Still, Rojas is young (he only had one year of college), and this looks like a good pick for the Pirates.

Philip Irwin. Irwin has pitched 11 innings over 3 games and has an impressive 0.82 ERA. His strike outs are kind of low, but he has only given up 6 hits. You have to like that. In the end, Irwin is looking very good and has historically been pretty good with the strikeouts.

Those are just a few of the guys we ought to be taking a nice look at as the season goes on.

VSL Championship

The Venensula Summer League Team won the championship today after taking game 3 of a best of 3 set against the VSL Mariners. Not only did they win they won big. 21-3. They got 21 runs on 20 hits. 5 Mariner errors helped a lot.

David Pino is a guy to watch from this team. He hit .313 on the year and a .357 in the series. He had on OPS of over .900 on the year. He is a second baseman too. Expect to see some of these guys in Rookie League ball next year.

Congrats to the VSL Pirates on a championship!