Top 30 Prospects: #30-28

This is the top 30 prospects that Michael Mawhinney has compiled for Bloggin Buccos along with my edits.  The Pirates have added a good deal of top notch players that could be stars in the majors one day, which should give them a top 10 minor league system overall, possibly even entering the top 5.  The top and middle of the list was relatively easy to make, but as I got into the 20’s, I realized that there were around 30 players that could make a case for the remaining spots.  I mainly looked at the upside and talent of the players, even if they didn’t have good numbers (example: Mel Rojas Jr.), but there were just some players that you could not ignore because of performance (example: Ramon Cabrera).  I also looked at how much they have proven themselves as prospects. Players were ranked based on their OFP (Overall Future Potential) on the 20-80 scouting scale, with 50 being an average big leaguer.  This is our first top prospects list, so hopefully we can get a good start (unlike the Pirates’ pitching staff in August).  Special thanks to Pirates Prospects and Baseball-Reference for supplying Michael with stats and insight.

Just for Clarification: AAA--Indianapolis, AA--Altoona, High-A--Bradenton, Low-A--West Virgina, Short Season--State College, Gulf Coast League (Rookie League)
           
30.) Ramon Cabrera--C--21:  Cabrera is a border-line prospect, but I felt like he needed to be added to this list.  He had an amazing year with Bradenton this season, hitting for a .343/.410/.471 line.  He also struck out at a very low rate, and actually walked more than he was fanned.  But, at only 5’7”, he will face some difficulty down the road.  He is decent defensively behind the plate, but his arm is below average, as he only threw out 13% of base stealers, a number that needs improvement if he wants to be taken seriously as a catching prospect.  The argument could be made, however, that this is not a concern because Pirates minor league pitchers are very poor at holding runners on because they are taught to focus solely on pitching.  The Pirates may have a problem next year in Altoona, because Cabrera, teammate Carlos Paulino (.299/.351/.439), and Tony Sanchez all may be at that level.  I imagine Paulino will stay in Bradenton, and Cabrera and Sanchez will split time, with Cabrera also playing a good amount of games as the DH.  If Cabrera can have anywhere near a similar season as he had this year in AA, he can possibly be a top 15 prospect in the organization.

OFP: 44 (Backup Catcher)

29.) Quincy Latimore--LF--22:  Latimore makes this list because he possesses something that most players in the Pirates’ system don’t: power.  That is pretty much all you can say about Latimore, as he has failed to impress with his average, speed, and fielding.  He strikes out a little too much, in about 27% of his plate appearances, but that is expected with a power hitter.  But I would’ve like to see more than 15 HR’s from him this year in AA, if power is still the only tool he is showing.  If everything goes well for him, he can be a 20-30 HR guy in the majors, but expect a .220-.230 average.  I expect him to start the 2012 season in Altoona again.

OFP: 42 (Bench/Below Average Regular)


28.) Brooks Pounders--RHP--20:  Pounders was the 2nd round pick in 2009, part of a draft class filled with high school pitching prospects.  He is not as flashy as more recent second round picks like Stetson Allie and Josh Bell, but is still a decent prospect.   Pounders is built big at 6’4” and 270 lbs, but he is not a flamethrower.  His fastball was hitting 90-92 out of the West Virginia bullpen this year, where he spent almost the entire year, only starting once.  His strikeout rate this year was very good, at 9.8 per 9 innings, and he has above average control of his pitches.  If I were the Pirates, I would keep him at West Virginia next year and give him an opportunity to be in the starting rotation.

OFP: 49 (Back of Rotation Starter/Middle Reliever)

My Team For This Year: The Rest...Actually the guys that I hope never play for the bucs again

Ok, so that was a bad idea for me to care about what the team looks like for the rest of this year in the slightest.  It really just does not matter as long as I never have to see Ross Ohlendorf take the mound (at least as a starter) for the Pirates ever again.

All I really want to say in this post is that these players I would love to see not on the team next year, whom are on the active roster:

Pitchers:  Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Resop, Jose Veras...Ohlendorf is a complete mess and has cost the Pirates upwards of 5 games this year.  Resop and Veras will give you great outings in situations were it does not matter, but when you need them, they are terrible.

Hitters:  Mike McKenry, Chase d'Arnaud, Josh Harrison, Brandon Wood, Ryan Ludwick, and maybe most of all Xavier Paul...McKenry is a hard worker and a hustler, but he is very poor offensively and he is no better than an average defender, d'Arnaud has lots of potential but he clearly is not ready to be in the bigs, Josh Harrison is solid defensively at 3rd, but lacks power and takes almost no walks, so he isn't of much use.  Brandon Wood is also pretty solid defensively at third but couldn't hit water if he jumped off a ship in the middle of the ocean.  Ludwick is poor defensively, hits poorly and is overpaid, I've seen more than enough.  And then there is Xavier Paul, who Clint Hurdle loves.  Clint cannot seem to get through a game without putting him in.  He is an atrocious hitter, and he is certainly overrated defensively.  I really hope Neal Huntington has a sane enough mind to let him and the rest of these guys go.

My Team For This Year: Lineup

I often think about what I would do as the General Manager or Manager of the Pirates and here are my thoughts on this year's team:
2011-Lineup:
1. Jose Tabata RF
2. Alex Presley LF
3. Neil Walker 2B
4. Andrew McCutchen CF
5. Derrek Lee 1B
6. Ryan Doumit C
7. Pedro Alvarez 3B
8. Ronny Cedeno SS

I have Tabata leading off and I'm sure that Clint Hurdle would have him there as well if he was healthy. Clint Has has Presley in left as he should so no complaints there. Neil Walker should be batting third because you should have a solid hitter in that spot, but not your best and Neil fits the mold pretty well.  Next up in my order would be Andrew McCutchen in the cleanup role.  Cutch has emerged as a serious power threat and this is the best spot for him at the moment.  Batting 5th is Derrek Lee and the tall first basemen has all the qualities neccessary to be in this spot.  Batting 6th at catcher is Ryan Doumit.  Doumit is a good hitter when healthy and is truly the pirates best catching option at this point.  That being said, the Pirates should look elsewhere for next year because of his poor defense and his inabililty to stay healthy.  However, he is only marginally worse defensively than Mike McKenry, in my opinion, and his offense is far better than McKenry's so its an easy call for me.  Batting 7th at third base is probably the toughest decision, but I ultimately went with Pedro Alvarez.  Pedro has the most potential in the lineup, so with the team far out of contention, it is in the team's best long term interest to gert Pedro as much playing time as possible to work things out going into next year.  Batting 8th at shortstop is an easy call for me as I believe that Ronny Cedeno should have that spot locked up for this year and next.  Clint Hurdle clearly does not agree with me, but the fact is that Ronny is a slightly above average defensive shortstop and a slightly below average offensive shortstop on a well below average team so there is no doubt in my mind that he should be starting at Shortstop.  The fact is that the Pirates also have no better internal options, with the closest replacement option being Chase D'Arnaud, and he has struggled in all facets of the game since he has been in the Major Leagues. 

I will continue this series looking at this year and next years teams soon!

19 Losing Seasons

Post Written By Bloggin Buccos Contributer Michael Mawhinney:

    Today’s 3-2 loss against the Cardinals was the 82nd of the season, marking 19 straight losing years for the Pirates.  When the Pirates finished with their 17th consecutive losing season, they had broken the major North American sports record for that streak.  But by that time, and even now, it was to be expected, and many people didn’t even seem to care as much as they should.  In fact, the owner of this blog, Brian Hannon, and I were at the game two years ago where the buccos lost their 82nd game, breaking the infamous record.  When the game ended, there was a lot of cheering in the stands from the few who actually attended the game.  To be honest, Brian and myself were included in this.  We were proud to say that we saw the game that pretty much defined the Pirates over the last two decades.  But now, after 19 seasons, it is becoming a bit too much.
    We all know how the streak started.  In 1992, the last winning season we’ve had, we made the NLCS with high hopes of winning the pennant and were seemingly headed to the World Series with a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th.  Needless to say, we gave up three runs in that inning, with the final run scored by the very slow Sid Bream on a bad throw by Barry Bonds.  After the season, we lost our best player in Bonds and our ace in Doug Drabek.  Things were looking bad heading into the future.  But we never thought it would be this bad.  
    The Pirates have seen star players come and go (Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, Jason Kendall), but none of them have led us to glory.  At one point in 2008, the bucs had possibly the most productive outfield in baseball, with Bay, Nate McLouth, and Xavier Nady.  All three of those players were traded within a year of each other, and the Pirates began to rebuild under General Manager Neal Huntington.  And finally, after so many losing seasons, the Pirates are finally giving us a glimmer of hope.
    Young players are becoming the forefront of our roster, highlighted by Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Jose Tabata, and Pedro Alvarez (too much realized potential to keep Pedro off this list).  This year’s team was in playoff contention until early August, and showed that they can seriously compete in the near future.  Also, under Huntington, the organization has added a lot of talent to the system, including pitchers Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, and Luis Heredia, along with outfielders Starling Marte and Josh Bell.  To have these types of players on our major league team and within our organization is definitely encouraging, and I expect to see major strides over the next few seasons.
    Over the past 19 years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been far worse than disapointing, there’s no denying it.  But, the new management has done a fine job adding quality talent to the major league team and minor league system, and the city of Pittsburgh can finally see some bright spots heading into next season and beyond.

Instant Replay In Baseball... leads me to a huge rant

The Pirates once again got hurt by a bad calls by an umpire.  The 3rd base umpire claimed that Pedro Ciriaco left early when trying to tag up on on Derrek Lee fly out which would have put the Pirates within a run of the Cards.  This same umpire made bad calls all game and really hurt the Pirates chances of winning this game.  Umpires are have big egos for the most part and try to look smart and it looked like this was the case once again.  The video replay clearly showed that he was wrong in his call and it unfairly hurt the Pirates.  Instant replay must be expanded to improve the game of baseball and it gets more upsetting every time something like this happens.

This leads to a bigger issue, which is the fact that Major League Baseball is unwilling to change any rules.  The people who run Major League Baseball wonder why the NFL has surpassed them in popularity.  Some might say that the sport of football is better than baseball.  That is entirely false because the beauty of the game of baseball is surpassed by no other sport.  The true reason why the NFL is more popular is because they know how to please their fans.  The NFL will do anything to please their fans because they realize that it is the fans that keep the game going.  Somehow the people that run the MLB fail to realize this and do not care about anything but themselves and the "traditions of the game."  Who says that traditions are always good?  A tradition of umpires getting calls wrong so frequently and sometimes completely ruining the game, a tradition of big market teams getting a completely unfair advantage over small market teams, a tradition of only allowing 4 teams in each league into the playoffs?  Are those advantageous traditions?  The MLB favors big market teams so much that it is out of proportion.  If they really want to grow the game of baseball, they would realize that the successful big market teams have already reached a certain threshold of how many fans they are going to get and it is markets like Pittsburgh that can be tapped into and a lot of money can be made.  The NFL's most popular team may be the Steelers and certainly one of the NHL's most popular teams is the Penguins, so no argument can be made that trying to make baseball succeed in Pittsburgh and other small markets is pointless.

The people that run the MLB are so short-sighted and it is really frustrating because the great game of baseball could be so much more popular than it is if they would just change some of their philosophies.  Don't get me wrong, I love the history and some of the traditions of Major League Baseball, but the failure to adapt is what is bringing America's pasttime down, and along with it comes America itself. 

Pirates Extend Neal Huntington

Sorry about the late analysis of this huge news, but I've been extremely busy over the past day. Anyways, Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington had his contract extended for three years, through 2014, along with a club option that could keep him under contract through 2015. I, as many baseball people would agree, support this move made by Bob Nutting and Frank Coonely. Neal really did deserve the extension because although the Major Leafue team has had a terrible record during his time as GM, he should not be blamed because he took over a team that was washed up and playing poorly along with a minor league system that was in shambles. Through a plethora of moves, Neal has improved the Major Leafue team, although to this point, it's been just a marginal improvement. Most importantly, however, Neal has overhauled the minor league system through trades and drafting, which is the best way for small market teams like Pittaburgh to make a competitive team. During Neal's tenure, the Pirates have spent more Money on the draft than any other team in baseball. Through this, Neal has brought in players such as Pedro Alvarez, Chase D'Arnaud, Victor Black, Tony Sanchez, Zach Von Rosenburg, Nick Kingham, Colton Cain, Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie, Mel Rojas, Gerrit Cole, Joah Bell and Alex Dickerson, among many others. The Pirates also have invested Heavily in Latin America, where so much baseball talent comes from, during Neal Hintington's tenure as GM, most Notably signing Luis Heredia out of Mexico. I will continue to evaluate Neal Hintington in future posts, but for now I got to run, Go Bucs! Great win tonight over the Cards to put the club at67-80 on the year!

Jeff Locke's Debut Recap

Written By Bloggin Buccos Contributer Michael Mawhinney:

On Saturday, Jeff Locke, a 23 year old left handed pitcher, made his debut in the majors.  He was originally drafted in 2006 by the Atlanta Braves in the 2nd round out of high school.  The Pirates acquired Locke from the Braves in 2009 in the Nate McLouth deal, which also brought us Charlie Morton and prospect Gorkys Hernandez.  

Locke spent the 2010 season between Bradenton (High-A) and Altoona (AA), putting up respectable numbers in both leagues.  Overall, he had a 12-5 record with a 3.56 ERA.  He put up great secondary numbers, with a 139/26 K/BB ratio.  Locke was also part of the Altoona rotation that was filled with prospects, and helped lead the team to the Eastern League Championship.  He started the 2011 campaign in Altoona, and he struggled early in the season.  A big reason for this was his control, as he let up 20 more walks in 19 less innings.  As the year progressed, he began to figure things out finished with a 4.03 ERA in AA before being called up to Indianapolis (AAA) in August.  While in Indy, he had a string of five solid starts, putting up a 2.22 ERA.  These performances led to his September call-up and his major league debut.  Overall, he had a 3.70 ERA with a 139/55 K/BB ratio in the minors.

Jeff Locke’s debut was not spectacular, but that was to be expected.  He wasn’t exactly lights out in the minors this year, so it was unlikely that he was going to have an exceptionally strong start.  His line ended up as 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 K, 4 BB.  As you can see, his control was not with him during the start.  He didn’t let up a lot of hits, but many of his outs were hard hit balls to the outfield that stayed up just long enough for our speedy outfielders to catch.  The most likely cause for the hard hit balls was that he was leaving the ball up in the zone too much, where major league hitters will make you pay.  Locke was getting away with this, however, until the 3rd inning where he allowed all of his three runs.  His strikeout pitch also was not working, and the only strikeout came against Anibal Sanchez, the opposing pitcher.  

Although much of his start was mediocre, I did notice some encouraging signs.  First, he was throwing his fastball in the 90-92 MPH range, which is encouraging considering he already has a lot of innings under his belt this year.  Also, he was not afraid to challenge hitters on the inside part of the plate, which is essential if you want to succeed in the majors.  Finally, he displayed a big breaking curve that induced some swings and misses.

Jeff Locke should continue to pitch out of the rotation for the remainder of the season, but since he already pitched over 150 innings in the minors, expect his starts to be limited to four to six innings.  If Locke can regain the control that he had in the 2010 season, he will be able to succeed at the major league level.  He has the upside of solid #3 starter, and could be up with the Pirates full time some time next summer.  With the rotation for next year having as many options as it does, it is very likely that he starts next season back in AAA.