Farm system expected to help this year
BRADENTON, Fla. — There was a time when the mere utterance of the word would make Pirates’ fans cringe.
Prospects.
Year after miserable year after losing year, the fans would read and hear about help being on the way from within the Pirates’ farm system. Yet the help either never came or wasn’t enough.
The Pirates had 20 consecutive losing seasons from 1993-2012, the major North American professional sports record, as so many of the touted minor leaguers either failed to make it to the major leagues or couldn’t hack it once they got there.
Thus, it would be easy to dismiss how talented the rosters of the Pirates’ Class AAA Indianapolis and Class AA Altoona farm clubs are expected to be this season as nothing more than spring training enthusiasm that will quickly fade away when the regular season begins April 3.
The Pirates, though, are banking on their current group of prospects helping, which is part of the reason why they resisted making any major roster moves in the offseason.
“We anticipate having internal options if he we need help as the season goes on,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “We always want to err on the side of caution in promoting players, but we do feel that a number of them could be ready to play in the major leagues in 2016.”
Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon will lead a starting rotation that will also include fellow right-handed pitching prospects Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl along with left-hander Steven Brault. Another top prospect, righty Nick Kingham, could be ready to join the rotation by midseason as he recovers from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery.
The 6-foot-8 Glasnow is universally considered the Pirates’ best prospect with his blazing fastball and big curveball. MLB.com ranks the 22-year-old as the 10th-best prospect in baseball while Baseball Prospectus has him at No 11 and Baseball America at No. 14.
Taillon was the Pirates’ first-round draft pick in 2010 but has missed the last two seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery and a hernia operation. Baseball Prospectus ranks Taillon at No. 51 and he is No. 52 on MLB.com’s list but he did not crack Baseball America’s top 100.
Switch-hitting first baseman Josh Bell will the top hitting prospect at Indianapolis. He is ranked 38th by Baseball America and 49th by both Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com.
A number of other players with major league potential will also be in the Indianapolis lineup, including catcher Elias Diaz. He won Baseball America’s Captain’s Catcher award last season as the top defensive player at the position in the entire minor leagues.
Other players to watch at Indianapolis include middle infielders Alen Hanson, Gift Ngoepe and Max Moroff along with right fielder Willy Garcia.
No wonder Huntington feels the Pirates have “the most near-ready group” of prospects since Clint Hurdle replaced John Russell as manager prior to the 2011 season. The GM was also happy with how the players who will begin the season at Indianapolis fared against major league competition in Grapefruit League games before being sent to minor league camp.
“They’ve played like they belong, they’ve showed up with consistent quality at-bat after consistent quality at-bat,” Huntington said. “They haven’t been intimidated by big-leaguers, they haven’t been intimidated by the speed of the game.”
The Altoona lineup will also have a number of top prospects, led by center fielder Austin Meadows, once he recovers from surgery earlier this month to repair a fractured orbital bone around his right eye. The Pirates are hopeful he could be ready by early May.
MLB.com ranks Meadows as the No. 20 and he is No. 22, according to Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.
Meadows was one of two first-round draft picks by the Pirates in 2013 along with catcher Ryan McGuire, who will also start the season at Altoona. Baseball Prospectus ranks McGuire at No. 76 and MLB.com has him at No. 98 while he did not make Baseball America’s list after failing to hit a home run last season at high Class A Bradenton.
Altoona’s right fielder will be Harold Ramirez, who impressed in major league camp by going 11-for-19 (.579) with two doubles before leading his native Colombia to victory in a World Baseball Classic qualifier then being optioned to the Curve.
Ramirez is ranked No. 80 by Baseball Prospectus and No. 95 by Baseball America, though he did not crack MLB.com’s list.
Like Huntington, Hurdle was very impressed with what he saw from some of the upper level prospects prior to them being sent to minor league camp. Hurdle is also happy they are all still in the Pirates’ organization.
“The guys that have done well, that have moved up through the organization, that have gotten the attention, a lot of these guys were in conversations last summer in trade talks as other organizations are eyeballing our talent,” Hurdle said. “A lot of times the trade talks will tell you even more than the prospect rankings. If you go by how many other teams like our players, I think we’ve got a pretty group of young men on the way to the major leagues.”