Pirates to go with all-prospect rotation at Indianapolis

The Pirates will not have any of their five Indianapolis-ready pitching prospects -- Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Steven Brault, Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl -- begin at Altoona, farm director Larry Broadway tells Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects. Kuhl is behind after missing some time earlier this spring due to "unspecified soreness," but he will assume a starting role in Indianapolis once he's ready, with Wilfredo Boscan pitching there until then.

Kyle Lobstein, meanwhile, appears set for a role in the big-league bullpen, but could lose his spot when Jared Hughes returns from his lat injury. At that point, the Pirates might have to make a decision that could involve sending Lobstein to start in Indianapolis.

"We’ll see how it goes," Broadway said. "There’s a lot of moving parts."

The takeaway for now, though, is that the Pirates plan on using Glasnow, Taillon, Brault, Williams and Kuhl as the core members of their Triple-A rotation. That's fun, and it's good for the Bucs to have this many prospects this close to the majors. They'll apparently be joined by a variety of interesting position players, including Elias Diaz (when he's healthy), Josh Bell, Alen Hanson, Max Moroff, Adam Frazier and Willy Garcia.