GCL Pirates roster

The GCL Pirates roster showed up in my email this morning; they start their season today at noon. This roster appears to be more up-to-date than the one currently at MiLB.com, although that one could be updated by the time I post this. (LHPs indicated by *.)

Pitchers

Luis Campos
Melvin Del Rosario*
Roberto Espinosa
Jeff Gibbs
Cameron Griffin*
Adrian Grullon (pictured)
Jimy Hernandez
Yhonathan Herrand
Henry Hirsch
Hayden Hurst
Andy Otamendi*
Cesilio Pimentel*
Oderman Rocha
Miguel Rosario
Angel Sanchez*
Jonathan Sandfort
Cristian Santiago
Blake Taylor*
Wei-Chung Wang*

Catchers

Danny Arribas
Samuel Gonzalez
Reese McGuire

Infielders

Trae Arbet
Adam Landecker
Ulises Montilla
Carlos Ozuna
Maximo Rivera
Kevin Ross
Enyel Vallejo

Outfielders

Justin Maffei
Candon Myles
Luis Urena

Rehab

Chris Diaz (IF)

The most prominent, obviously, are this year's early round draftees: McGuire, Taylor and Arbet. Hopefully, Austin Meadows will be joining them soon.

Several of these players are college guys drafted this year: Griffin, Hirsch, Landecker and Maffei. The current FO has rarely sent college draftees to the GCL, unlike the previous maladministration, which loaded the rookie league roster with college seniors. This year may be a little different, simply because of numbers. It's also possible some of these guys will move up eventually for various reasons, like injury or performance issues.

There aren't any prominent international prospects here, because the premium signings from 2011, Harold Ramirez and Elvis Escobar, went straight to the GCL in 2012. There are a couple of pitchers with some potential in Grullon and Pimentel, and possibly one or two others. Wang signed out of Taiwan and missed last year due to Tommy John surgery. He reached the low-90s before the surgery and has a good curve. There are also several position players who put up some good numbers in the Dominican Summer League last year in Arribas, Ozuna, Montilla and Rivera. Arribas has a line-drive bat and appears to have settled in at catcher. Ozuna put up solid offensive numbers playing short last year in the DSL. Montilla has put up outstanding numbers the last two years, but may not have much projection. Rivera was a quasi-prominent signing several years ago, but struggled until breaking out last year. He's played all over the place, including short and center, but has had severe error problems as an infielder.

Other players on this roster are returning from prior years. Sandfort, a 3rd round pick in 2012, made eight starts in the GCL last year and was having command issues in camp this year. Hurst is a big RHP who's hit 95; he was drafted in 2012 but wasn't able to pitch. Myles was drafted in 2011 and played briefly, then spent 2012 in the GCL. He's arguably the fastest player in the organization, but his bat is suspect. Urena is a very toolsy signee out of the Dominican who has a lot of raw power but serious contact issues. This will be his third stint in the GCL. Ross was drafted in the 8th round last year and played briefly in the GCL. He has some power potential.