FanPost

On the Farm - Through 7* games


Unfortunately, the Pirates dropped last night's game to the Brewers to the tune of 6-0. That loss brought our record to 5-6, below .500 for the first time this year.

Obviously, its still early and there is time to bounce back. Certainly, this Pirates team should be better than last year. Still, realistically, the Pirates may be a few years away from being true contenders in the NL central. While there is plenty of young talent already on the Major League squad, and it will continue to get better, help will need to come from the farm. Below is a brief review outlining how the Pirates farm system, most notably some of its more interesting prospects, has fared so far. Fortunately, to offset the first sentence of this post, the news is exciting and promising.

*WV has only played 6 games due to the weather.

Hot Batters

  • Alex Presley is both smaller and older than the ideal prospect, Presley will have to let his production do the talking. Last year he broke out with a .320/.373/.494 line. This year, he's off to a scintillating start, holding a .483/.516/.690 line. I like the McLouth comparison as his upside, meaning he might be the perfect stopgap in right to the heir apparent Starling Marte. Presley could then be traded or settle into a bench role.
  • Speaking of Starling Marte, he's also off to an incredible start and is showing no ill-effects from having his hamate bone removed last year with 4xbh's out of 11 hits. His line so far this year is .367/.406/.567 line. He will need to improve his plate discipline with only one walk in 31 PA and already 8 strikeouts.
  • Chase D'Arnaud has rebounded well so far from his "down" season of a year ago. His line so far this year .320/.452/.560 showing good plate discipline and power. MarkinDallas has also posted videos demonstrating a solid defensive skillset at short, where he is the heir apparent.
  • Nearly forgotten Gorkys Hernandez is off to a solid start as well. His .292/.393/.417 shows decent on base skills and a hint of power, which would make his stellar defense much more useful. Gorkys is another stopgap candidate in right.
  • Another injury victim last year, Brock Holt has responded well so far in AA, posting an odd, but still good, .333/.455/.370 line. He's gonna need to hit for more power, but he has shown he can get on-base.
  • Holy Ramon Cabrera! Obviously he's only played in 5 games, but Cabrera, considered one of the better catching prospects in a weak group behind Tony Sanchez, has a tripleslash of .615/.667/.769. If he can produce half of that, maybe with a little more power, he will shoot up Pirates prospect lists.
  • Matt Curry is somehow actually having a better season so far than Cabrera. A college draftee old for his league (he will turn 23 in July), Curry has a mediocre .556/.619/1.111 line, for a decent/solid 1.730 OPS. Something tells me if he continues like this he will see a promotion soon.

Hot Pitchers

  • Rudy Owens, in his only start, went 7 IP, giving up 7H - including 1 HR for his only ER of the game - and struck out 5 while walking none.
  • Jeff Locke, while receiving two losses in his two starts has still pitched well, sporting a 1.93 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, and a 10K:2BB ratio in 9.1 innings of work.
  • Kyle McPherson has pitched 9.2 innings giving up 1 ER for an ERA of 0.93, a WHIP of 0.83 and 8 strikeouts to 0 walks.
  • Three of the "big 4" high school pitchers signed in 2009 have pitched well so far. Zack Von Rosenberg went 5.0 IP, with a 1.80 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, and 9 strikeouts for a 16.20K/9. Zack Dodson only had 1 strikeout in 5.0 IP, but only gave up 2 hits and a walk for a ERA of 0.00 and a WHIP of 0.60. Colton Cain went 4.2 innings, giving up 0 runs and striking out 5 while only walking 1 batter.
  • Daniel Moskos so far 4.1 innings of relief work has a 0.00 ERA, a 0.69 WHIP, and 4 strikeouts to 1 walk.
  • In a very small sample size, Tim Alderson has struck out 4 batters in 3.1 innings of relief work for Altoona.
  • In an even smaller sample size, Diego Moreno has struck out 5 batters in 2.1 innings.

Cold Batters

  • Top prospect Tony Sanchez is off to a cold start, having 3 hits in 21 AB's Still he has a HR and a 4:3 BB/K ratio so its not all terrible.
  • Andrew Lambo has been horrific. His tripleslash is a horrendous .167/.231/.208 with 11 K's in 24 AB's.
  • Mel Rojas has a interesting (and bad) looking .167/.167/.167 line.
  • Andrew Maggi has a worse .059/.158/.059 line.

Cold Pitchers

  • Quinton Miller had a horrible first start, giving up 11 hits and 10 ER in 3.1 innings of work for a grizzly 27.00 ERA and 3.90 WHIP.
  • Eliecer Navarro currently sports a 12.27 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. He still has a decent strikeout ratio with 4 punchouts in 3.2 innings compared to 1 walk.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the managing editors or SB Nation. FanPosts are written by Bucs Dugout readers.