I know this was already cited in a Fanpost the other day, but here are the Pirates' top ten prospects, as rated by Baseball America:
1. Gerrit Cole, RHP
2. Jameson Taillon, RHP
3. Luis Heredia, RHP
4. Gregory Polanco, OF
5. Alen Hanson, 2B
6. Josh Bell, OF
7. Kyle McPherson, RHP
8. Justin Wilson, LHP
9. Barrett Barnes, OF
10. Clay Holmes, RHP
The head scratcher in this list, at least to me, is Wilson. Yeah, he misses a lot of bats, but the command issues are a serious problem. There's a reason he's not in the conversation for a starting job along with McPherson and Jeff Locke (who, along with Starling Marte, is no longer eligible for this list). Another head scratcher is the projected 2016 lineup, which features Russell Martin as the catcher and Alex Dickerson at first. Ironically, according to BA itself, Dickerson received no consideration for the Florida State League top 20 list, as league scouts consider him maxed out. And the writeup on Josh Bell is actually less informative than the MiLB interview that was published yesterday.
The introductory article is a waste of cyberspace. BA chose to rehash the hoka hey stuff, which BA just rehashed a few days ago in a feature rehash article. The latest rehash, in an article that's ostensibly about the team's farm system, doesn't get around to discussing the farm system until the last couple sentences. The article is written to foster the impression that the system had a bad year, which should come as news to Polanco and Hanson, in particular.
UPDATE: In the accompanying chat, Perrotto says he didn't write the introductory article. He also says the focus on the training methods was overblown and that none of the players were in any danger of serious injury. So it appears somebody else at BA is determined to keep flogging that story until it appears as an extra in the next zombie movie.