Prospect Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

by Richard Douglas

Pirates fans likely wish they could go back to last year just before the all star break, when the team was 11 games above .500 and the long term planning was finally paying off.  Sadly though, they are forced to live instead in the world where the Pirates ended up 4 games under .550 for their 20th straight losing season, a controversy with their player development office for pitting prospects against each other in hand to hand combat, and failing to sign the 8th overall pick in the draft last year.  The draft failures didn't end there though, with both Walker Buhler and Brandon Thomas deciding to head to college instead of signing with the Bucs.  The news however isn't all just downright awful.  2011's top pick was Right handed pitcher Gerrit Cole, a 22 year old who had spent his collegiant career at UCLA developing some of the best fastballs seen in a starting caliber prospect in years.  His 4 seam fastball touches into the triple digits with easy, and normally gets offered at the 97 mph level.  He also has a two seamer that lives 93-95 that has a good sinking action.   His slider gets graded out as a 70 by Baseball America, ranging from the high 80s to the low 90s with a hard tilting action.  He also has an above average changeup.  His control and command need some work, since hes given up 113 hits in just 132 innings of work at the minor league level.  His strike out rate is still devastating though, with a career average of 9.3 per 9 innings.  He posted solid numbers this spring, pitching 10 innings with 8 hits and 4 runs given up.  His strike outs per walk was also a nice 3.5, right in the range of his minor league average of 3.2.  He'll likely spend just a little more time seasoning at the AAA level this year before making the jump to the rotation in Pittsburgh.

Fellow pitcher Justin Wilson took some big strides this past year, moving up 8 spots in the Pirates prospect rankings, Wilson played his ball at Fresno State, where he earned fame by becoming one of the few pitchers to win more thn one game in the College World Series.  He's likely to be destined as a reliever in the pros, because of a lack of control (259 walks in 519 innings of work).  He normally works his above average fastball in the mid 90s, and has been clocked up at 99 during his time at AAA.  In Indianapolis, he allowed just a .189 batting average allowed, after posting a .254 mark the season prior.  His spring has been pretty darn good, allowing just a single run in his 10 innings of work, and striking out 13.  He did however walk 6 batters.  He has a good chance of being with the big club this year.

The team does have a great SS prospect as well in Alen Hanson, a 20 year old from the Dominican.  He's swung the bat well in the Rookie and Low A levels, slugging .482and getting on base at a .381 rate (both these averages are lower than his Class A performance).  He has good bat speed, and should develop solid power after hitting 16 home runs last season.  Hanson has plus speed as well, but he needs to work on his timing after getting caught 19 times in 54 attempts.  His defensive play though might force him from manning the middle, after posting 40 errors last year to go along with below average arm strength.  He's far down in the system, but if he can put together a season liek last year at Low A West Virginia, he'll advance quickly.

Tony Sanchez is the system's top catcher, a player that the Pirates over drafted to be able sign international players.  Sanchez has struggled with his defense and has bat doesn't do a whole lot to get scouts excited (just a .316 OBP with 46 strike out sin 206 at bats).  There is still a chance though for him to develop at the AAA level, where he did slug .408.  He was part of the same draft class as 1B Matt Curry, but Curry opted to play one more year of college ball at TCU first.  Curry is an interesting prospect that has good power projections despite playing mostly in pitcher's parks throughout his minor league career.  He's also played well this spring, OPSing 1.100 through his 4 games.  His overall athletic ability is low though, so he has to make big on his power.