Prospect Stuff

[element1286]

2013 Baseball Farm System Rankings - Minor League Ball

Surprised the Pirates system was ranked number 5 by Sickels.

 

[Etrius24]

For all the bitter disappointment we may have felt at the hands of NH... Statements like this take some of the sting out of it: " #5 and rapidly improving" That is a very encouraging statement!

We have three world class arms at the top of the system.. but this team and organization needs more players who can hit at a high level...

Without the money to buy the bats they need... Pittsburgh will continue to struggle to get to the next level without more help offensively from their farm system.... IMHO

 

[steelparrot]

Baseball Prospectus | Prospects Will Break Your Heart: Top 101 Prospects

BP's top 101.

They have Cole number 3 and the best pitching prospect in baseball.

The usual five in a unusual order, lowest ranking was Hanson at #66

 

[element1286]

Been thinking it would have been nice if the Pirates decided to take David Dahl instead of Appel.

Good to see Cole as the top pitching prospect. Think there is some group think with Bundy, in that he hasn't been on the scene long enough for anyone to be critical.

 

[thedddd]

Also I wonder where Josh Bell would rank if he would have stayed healthy and played a whole season?

 

[thecrow124]

Wonder where Miguel Sano would have ranked if we had signed him. Oh wait never mind. However, if we had Sano and Dahl we would probably be #1 or #2 in every system ranking.

 

[stillmatic32]

Wonder where Miguel Sano would have ranked if we had signed him. Oh wait never mind. However, if we had Sano and Dahl we would probably be #1 or #2 in every system ranking.

 

[Illinest]

Don't forget - we also apparently wasted a #1 on Tony Sanchez and our major league team should have Matt Weiters as well - in which case we wouldn't have spent 20 million on catching the last two years and probably could've signed a legit starting pitcher this year.

 

[Illinest]

I think that Tyler Glasnow is underappreciated. If he were entering the draft now I think people would be drooling all over him. 6-8, touches 98 w/ the fastball, consistently mid 90s, some control issues but nothing too extreme.

This season could be a huge breakout for him.

 

[Illinest]

Just saw video of a few players hitting the ball in the cage. It's over at Pirates Prospects if you're interested. I'm not any sort of an expert in judging swings but I can tell a little bit.

Dilson Herrera looked like he had a great swing - a major league swing. I don't know how much power he'll generate but it sounded like he was really stinging the ball. de Jhang (is that even right?) the Taiwanese catcher had a choppy swing with hands close to the body. I've learned to associate that with slappy hitters who don't hit enough homeruns. Hope I'm wrong.
Stetson Allie looks like a freakin' lumberjack but even my relatively untrained eye was able to recognize that he is a mess. He starts a little low and then he stands up when he swings. He seemed to be putting a hurting on the ball but I can't imagine that working too well.

 

[Etrius24]

Glasnow is an awesome story!

His curveball was his out pitch in highschool and it was projected to be a strikeout pitch in the majors. Glasnow was not a fireballer in high school his velocity barely touched 90... he threw mostly around 85!...2 years later he is touching 98!!! He is now 6 foot 8 and 220 pounds.. He grew 8 inches his senior year of high school and he has grown an inch since he was drafted! This kid is going to start the year in either A or High A ball and They will watch him closely to make sure he does not throw too many innings and that he works on the change up.

With a plus curve and a fastball that is 95+ miles per hour he has a chance to be very special! The addition of a solid change up would make him front of the rotation material...He starts throwing the change up for strikes I think we will see him move very quickly... He made a lot of bats miss last year..His arm is too much for the bats in A ball.... I suspect he might make it to AA by the end of the season...

There is a lot of great bloodlines in that family.. His brother is a decathlete at Notre Dame... His mother was a gymnist. This kid is a freakishly tall version of the natural...He has a lot of athletic ability. Getting this kid in the 5th round was an amazing find!

 

[element1286]

Pirates minor league preview, part 2: Bradenton - Bucs Dugout

Been reading some prospects stuff.

From this article, this jumped out at me.

Von Rosenberg’s fastball was topping out at 82-83 in camp

Feel sorry for the kid, he has to be hurt.

 

[thecrow124]

Pirates minor league preview, part 2: Bradenton - Bucs Dugout

Been reading some prospects stuff.

From this article, this jumped out at me.



Feel sorry for the kid, he has to be hurt.

I don't feel sorry for him in the least, he got $1.2 million to sign and has put forth zero effort to get better. People bitch about Sanchez from that draft but he busts his ass to get better meanwhile thos high school pitchers get nothing from us. Sanchez will be a major league starting catcher and none of the HS pitchers taken will amount to anything.......except maybe Brooks Pounder.

 

[element1286]

I don't feel sorry for him in the least, he got $1.2 million to sign and has put forth zero effort to get better. People bitch about Sanchez from that draft but he busts his ass to get better meanwhile thos high school pitchers get nothing from us. Sanchez will be a major league starting catcher and none of the HS pitchers taken will amount to anything.......except maybe Brooks Pounder.

Is there a report about this, maybe he put forth the effort and got no results. That seems morel likely.

 

[element1286]

Didn't know where to put this....thought is was interesting.

Keith,How much more in signing bonues money do you think Appel needs to get to make returing to Stanford "worth" it? Do you think he'll get it?
Klaw
(1:18 PM)


If he ends up with $5 million, which is about 30% more than he turned down last year, how is that not a win? And if he gets it from Houston, a city where he has family ties, or the Cubs, an organization with a larger fan base and more resources than the Pirates have, isn't that an even bigger one? I don't think he gets past the Cubs. He's the best player in this draft - which he wasn't last year - and one of those two teams has to work something out with him.

I know most around here don't like Law, but I generally do. That being said, I think he is being a contrarian for the the sake of being contrarian here.

So he is getting a 30% pay raise, for taking the risk or getting hurt, or having a poor performance and dropping down in the draft. Also, the consideration of delaying free agency by at least a year. And then to top it off, he throws the garbage that he can be close to home, and the Pirates are a bad organization (missing the point that the Astros already passed on Appel last year. Junk reasoning.

Also, Law will be the first to tell you, results aren't as important as the process. In this case the process was junk, it just happened to work out in Appel's favor, most likely.

Link to chat.
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/47576

 

[calsnowskier]

What is the story with Hunter Strickland? We (the Giants) picked him up off the waiver-wire, and we would like to get some info on him. Was he ever a prospect?

thanks

 

[thedddd]

What is the story with Hunter Strickland? We (the Giants) picked him up off the waiver-wire, and we would like to get some info on him. Was he ever a prospect?

thanks

Not much of a prospect ever and came to the Pirates from the Red Sox in the Adam Laroche deal. His value might be as a relief pitcher but he lost a year due to shoulder problems. He has good control but is very hittable.

 

[thecrow124]

Is there a report about this, maybe he put forth the effort and got no results. That seems morel likely.

Nothing difinitive. I follow a lot of minor league guys on twitter. A ton of the young guys tweet about their workouts or their products. The mkst I formative tweet I saw from ZVR was about his feelings on the defenseless recei er rule in the NFL.

Then again it could be the fact that he and I dsagree on every political view, but more than likely I just think he is a lazy POG.

 

[magnumo]

What is the story with Hunter Strickland? We (the Giants) picked him up off the waiver-wire, and we would like to get some info on him. Was he ever a prospect?

thanks

Strickland was originally drafted by the Red Sox out of high school (2007?) and was acquired by the Pirates in 2009. He has been mostly a starter for much of his minor league career..... but was converted to the bullpen in mid-2012.

Hunter Strickland Minor League Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com

- As you can see from his stats page, Strickland missed the entire 2011 season while recovering from an arm/shoulder injury.

- He has never been more than a marginal prospect, and has not appeared on any recent top Pirate prospect lists, even those extending to 30 players.

- Although Strickland has decent stuff, most Pirate fans were surprised when he was added to the 40-man roster in late 2012. In fact, many fans have speculated since then that he would be removed from the 40-man to make room for other players..... and it finally happened.

- Actually, I was a bit disappointed to lose Strickland..... since his stuff improved some once he was sent to the bullpen full time..... and it's a shame to lose any kind of asset for nothing. On the other hand, the term "marginal prospect at best" probably defines him well.

Here's a link to an article published at Pirates Prospects (a well-respected blog) when the Pirates filled out their 40-man roster in November 2012. As you can see, Strickland was (appropriately) treated as a kind of afterthought in the article:

Pirates Prospects » Pirates Add Five to the 40-Man Roster

 

[element1286]

Nothing difinitive. I follow a lot of minor league guys on twitter. A ton of the young guys tweet about their workouts or their products. The mkst I formative tweet I saw from ZVR was about his feelings on the defenseless recei er rule in the NFL.

Then again it could be the fact that he and I dsagree on every political view, but more than likely I just think he is a lazy POG.

Fair enough.