Tim previews the Pirates' Gulf Coast League team, which has its first game this afternoon. You'll want to watch out for the following players:
-P- Colten Brewer, Tyler Glasnow, Jon Sandfort, SP. Projectability! Brewer and Glasnow were early-round picks last year, while Sandfort was the Bucs' third-round pick in 2012. The Pirates put some of their other early-round high-school pitchers from the 2012 Draft at State College, so they may think Brewer and Glasnow have more to work on. Glasnow, in particular, should be worth watching as a very, very tall and skinny pitcher in the Trent Stevenson mold.
-P- Cesar Lopez, SP. Lopez got a $600,000 signing bonus, but he's already 21, so it's too bad he's still in the GCL.
-P- Yhonathan Herrand, RP. A big, hard-throwing reliever who got a $185,000 bonus. His control has been terrible so far, and at age 20, he needs to get moving.
-P- Wyatt Mathisen, C. The Pirates' second-round pick this year.
-P- Jin-De Jhang, C. Jhang got a $250,000 bonus last year. He has a prototypical squat catcher's body, a little like Michael McKenry's.
-P- Edwin Espinal, 1B. He's a big guy, he's very young, he put up respectable numbers in the DSL last year, and he got a $150,000 bonus.
-P- Dilson Herrera, IF. Another big-bonus Latin American player. Played brilliantly in the VSL last year.
-P- Stetson Allie, 3B.
-P- Eric Wood, 3B. The Pirates' sixth-round pick this year. He isn't currently listed on the GCL roster, but I assume he will be eventually.
-P- Jesus Vasquez, 1B/3B. At 20, he's a little old for the level, but he put up ridiculous numbers in the DSL last year, showing tons of power to go with a .435 on-base percentage.
-P- Elvis Escobar, OF. 17 years old, got a $570,000 bonus last year. Small, at 5-foot-9.
-P- Harold Ramirez, OF. Born on the same day as Escobar and got a $1.05 million bonus. Apparently has a lot of hitting upside, but as with Escobar, it wouldn't be a shock if he didn't show it this year, given how young both of them are.
-P- Luis Urena, OF. He's 6-foot-5, 180. The Pirates promoted him to the GCL last year after not hitting much in the DSL in 2010, and he held his own, although he struck out way too much. He's still only 19, so he bears watching.