Pirates Minor League Thread

[Witlon]

All minor league news is going to go here. I'll be posting scouting reports on the Pirates top 30 prospects throughout the season.

[Witlon]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06052/658578.stm

BRADENTON, Fla. -- When the Pirates' position players report to spring training today, the lone teenager among them plans to act his age.

To an extent.

"I'm really excited about this," outfielder Andrew McCutchen said from his home in Fort Meade, Fla. "It's such an honor to be invited to major-league camp, just to be around players at that level."

At the same time, there clearly is another side to McCutchen, the team's first-round pick in the amateur draft last summer, that grasps a sense of belonging in such environs.

Not now, maybe, but sometime soon.

"It's a learning experience for me. That's how I'm taking it. One of these days, I'm going to be somebody they're counting on to help them in Pittsburgh."

Do not expect anyone in the Pirates' management to dispute that, given the unusual move they made in having McCutchen attend major-league camp even though he will open the season at Class A Hickory.

It is common for a first-round pick to have a clause in his first contract that requires the team to invite him to the main camp the year after he is drafted. McCutchen has a similar clause, but it requires the Pirates to invite him in 2007, not this year.

"There are two reasons Andrew McCutchen will be in this camp," director of player development Brian Graham said. "One is that it's going to help him down the road. The other is that he deserves it based on his performance last season."

McCutchen, a right-handed-hitting center fielder, made an immediate impact after being drafted 11th overall out of Fort Meade High School.

He was named top prospect in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League, batting .297 with 9 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs and 30 RBIs in 45 games for Bradenton. He also posted a sterling .411 on-base percentage, thanks largely to 29 walks and only 24 strikeouts in 158 at-bats.

Promoted late in the season to Williamsport of the New York-Penn League, he fared even better by batting .346 with a .443 on-base percentage in 13 games.

It was McCutchen's patience that most impressed the Pirates in this setting.

"It's not something you expect from a kid right out of a small high school program," minor-league field coordinator Jeff Banister said. "It's just a natural instinct with him to wait for his pitch."

McCutchen fairly shrugs when his patience is mentioned.

"My high school experience helped a lot there because I knew I'd get walked a lot," he said. "I just kind of took that attitude with me to pro ball."

That eye has helped McCutchen get the most out of what scouts describe as an unusually potent swing for someone 5 feet 11, 170 pounds. Baseball America rates him as the Pirates' second-best prospect behind catcher Neil Walker, largely because he has a strong and quick upper body that allows him to turn on the ball and hit for average and for power.

Some in the organization liken him to Marquis Grissom or Ron Gant.

"You're looking at someone who has that leadoff ability but also could get you home runs," Graham said. "We see Andrew as having a power kind of swing, and we want to make sure we give him the opportunity to develop that."

To that end, the Pirates plan to move him from leadoff, where he spent most of last season, to No. 3 in the order at Hickory.

"He's got that extra thump, and you want him to use it," Banister said. "To be honest, Andrew's one of the most impressive athletic players I've ever seen, especially when he's hitting. Everything comes together right in the hitting zone, all the parts of his body, all his natural strength. He doesn't have a picture-perfect swing, but his leverage point is always together. That's not a learned skill. He just has it."

McCutchen has speed, too, as evidenced by his stealing 17 bases in 19 attempts and by the ground he covered in center. Baseball America chose him as the best defensive outfielder in the Pirates' system, even though his arm is below average and his ability to read the bat off the ball remains raw.

"I had to work on my defense the hardest and, really, that's why I was the happiest with that part of my game," McCutchen said. "I was able to make some fantastic plays in the outfield I didn't think I could make before."

"He started off struggling a little," Banister said. "But he got so much better quickly."

In his 58 games, McCutchen committed only three errors and recorded six outfield assists, half of those by throwing out a runner at home.

Add up all the statistics and the praise, and it is enough to give off the appearance it all came too easily for him.

"You know, some things do come a little easier to me than to others," McCutchen said. "But I believe it takes preparation to succeed and to get where I want to go. All that hard work I did off the field paid off for me last season."

The Pirates are not projecting how long it will take McCutchen to arrive in Pittsburgh, but he has a target in mind.

"I'm hoping by, at the latest, 2008," he said. "I really think that, if I have another good season coming up, then another, I'll be ready. Maybe I can even get a glimpse of the majors in '07. I just have to keep trusting in myself."

[Witlon]

Credit: Baseball America's 2006 Prospect Handbook

Pirates Top 30 Prospect List
1. Neil Walker, CA
2. Andrew McCutchon, OF
3. Tom Gorzelanny, LHSP
4. Paul Maholm, LHSP
5. Jose Bautista, 3B
6. Nate McLouth, OF
7. Bryan Bullington, RHSP
8. John Van Benschotten, RHSP
9. Chris Duffy, OF
10. Matt Capps, RHRP
11. Rajai Davis, OF
12. Craig Stansbury, 2B
13. Ronny Paulino, CA
14. James Boone, OF
15. Brad Corley, OF
16. Mike Johnston, LHRP
17. Josh Sharpless, RHRP
18. Joe Bauserman, RHSP
19. Todd Redmond, RHSP
20. Adam Boeve, OF
21. Brent Lillibridge, SS
22. Javier Guzman, SS
23. Matt Swanson, RHRP
24. Matt Peterson, RHSP
25. Jason Quarles, RHRP
26. Clayton Hamilton, RHSP
27. Jonah Bayliss, RHRP
28. Wendall Sterling, RHSP
29. Eddie Prasch, 3B
30. Brian Bixler, SS

[go_bucs2000]

12. Craig Stansbury, 2B

went deep in todays game veres washington

[Witlon]

Ian Snell article, from PZ.com
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/06065/665794.stm

LAKELAND, Fla. -- He is not quite Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky, swearing and slamming his resin bag as he circles the mound.

But the Pirates' Ian Snell can be, by his own estimation, a bitter young man with a baseball in his right hand.

"I pitch mad a lot, for some reason," he said. "I think I pitch a lot better like that, not when I'm all happy and that."

He fairly spits out those final few words, as if to suggest happiness is a sign of weakness, then manages a slight smile.

"Really, that's just how I've been the whole time I've been with the Pirates organization. I don't know. You can call it a chip on my shoulder or whatever, but it's there."

It will remain there, too, in all likelihood, as Snell advances through what now is a six-man competition for two vacancies in the starting rotation.

Does Snell have a shot?

He did not hurt his cause in his spring debut yesterday, the Pirates' 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers yesterday at Joker Marchant Stadium. He pitched scoreless third and fourth innings, with a strikeout and a walk. Sixteen of his 27 pitches were strikes, including high heat to whiff Curtis Granderson.

There was one hard-hit ball, off the bat of Mike Hessman, but center fielder Rajai Davis tracked it down in front of the 420-foot mark.

"I felt great out there," Snell said. "It felt like everything was working."

He used his fastball, changeup and an especially effective curve.

"Ian threw the ball extremely well," manager Jim Tracy said.

Snell, 24, is younger than any of the right-handers in the running: Victor Santos is 29, Ryan Vogelsong 28 and Brandon Duckworth 30. He also has a dynamic arm and has been an unequivocal success in the minors.

But there are other circumstances that could become factors.

The Pirates can use as much experience as possible to make up for the loss of Kip Wells, and Snell has made six career starts.

Also, he has an option remaining and can be demoted to the minors one more time without the Pirates risking losing him through waivers.

"I have no idea if that will play into it," Snell said. "I don't even know how this option stuff works, so I'm not really worried about it. I've just got to do my job. It's whatever they want. Hopefully, I'll win the spot. If not, I'll give the guy who wins it all the support in the world."

Snell has gone 61-20 in the minors, including a dominant debut in Class AAA last season in which he went 11-4 for Indianapolis with a May 15 no-hitter. That earned him two stints in Pittsburgh, where he wound up 1-2 with a 5.14 earned run average in 15 appearances, including two starts.

One of those, his first career victory Sept. 19 at PNC Park, gave a glowing glimpse at his potential. He matched up against Houston's Roger Clemens and scattered three hits in eight scoreless innings in a 7-0 rout of an Astros team battling to make the playoffs.

That was one of the games the Pirates' video staff included in a DVD it made of his performances and mailed to him this winter.

"It's kind of neat to have that and be able to see it," Snell said. "The whole DVD helped, actually, because it allowed me to study how hitters approach me and to see what I do best."

Most often, Snell's best is a fastball that effortlessly reaches 95 mph, but he also has a slider and a curveball that was his crispest pitch that night against Houston. There is a changeup, too, he describes as being "very much improved" over the offseason.

Even so, ask Snell the key to his success, and he will go back to the anger issue.

"Basically, it's just a matter of my teammates cheering for me, the catcher keeping my calm, the infielders keeping me calm, telling me to take my time. I need to have good control, too, keep batters off balance."

Ask him what it will take to carry his success from the minors into the majors, and he stays right on topic.

"It's about being calm. The game is pretty fast when compared to the minors. I used to stare at Jack Wilson or Freddy Sanchez on that side of the infield and wait for them to put their hands up, telling me to settle down. It made me feel relaxed, knowing they had my back. That's what I like."

[Witlon]

Prospect Scouting Reports, Issue 1: Chad Blackwell
Credit: BaseballAmerica's 31st team. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...331stteam.html

Chad Blackwell, rhp, Pirates
Born: Jan. 7, 1983. B-T: B-R. Ht.: 6-1. Wt.: 145. Drafted: South Carolina, 2004 (6th round). Signed by: Spencer Graham (Royals).

Picked up along with Jonah Bayliss from Kansas City in a December trade for Mark Redman, Blackwell led NCAA Division I with 20 saves for South Carolina in 2004 after transferring from Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College. He signed for $160,000 as a sixth-round pick that June and has continued to breeze through the lower minors. Though Blackwell has a slight frame, he's more resilient than he looks, capable of multiple-inning outings and pitching on consecutive days. He has a herky-jerky arm action and a low three-quarters delivery that make him deceptive. His fastball clocks in around 90 mph, and he expertly commands it and his slider to both sides of the plate. He also can fool hitters by pitching up in the zone without a dominant fastball. His changeup is an effective weapon against lefthanders. Blackwell projects as a set-up man. He's polished, so he could move quickly after beginning this year at high Class A Lynchburg.

I personally liked Blackwell a little better than Jonah when the complete deal was announced. Here's to hoping he moves fast enough to help the team in the next few years.

[Witlon]

Credit: Baseball America's 31st team
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...331stteam.html

J.J. Furmaniak, ss/3b, Pirates
Born: July 31, 1979. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-3. Wt.: 190. Drafted: Lewis (Ill.), 2000 (22nd round). Signed by: Bob Cummings. (Padres).

Acquired from the Padres last July in a trade for David Ross, Furmaniak made his major league debut with the Pirates in September and collected his first hit with a double off Chris Carpenter. Furmaniak's father John plays the accordion for polka legend Marion Lush. J.J. has a good bat for a middle infielder, with the ability to hit for both average and power. He strikes out too much and his lack of plate discipline will likely keep him from being a big league regular. He's an average runner who can take the extra base if the defense doesn't pay attention. Furmaniak has soft hands, adequate range and the versatility to play second base, third base and shortstop. Though he has a good arm, he tends to rush his throws at times, leading to errors. Furmaniak will vie for a bench job with the Pirates this spring, and they're likely to try him in the outfield during spring training in order to increase his versatility. If he doesn't make the club, he'll likely start at one of the infield positions for Triple-A Indianapolis.

[Witlon]

Credit: Baseball America's 31st team
Link: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...331stteam.html

Kyle Bloom, lhp, Pirates
Born: Feb. 21, 1983. B-T: R-L. Ht.: 6-4. Wt.: 180. Drafted: Illinois State, 2004 (5th round). Signed by: Duane Gustavson.

Bloom went 8-4, 2.17 in his first 24 professional starts, split evenly between short-season Williamsport in 2004 and low Class A Hickory last season. Bloom was selected to pitch in the South Atlantic League all-star game last year, but was promoted to high Class A Lynchburg, where everything fell apart for him. He went 0-4, 8.04 in six August starts. Bloom isn't a hard thrower and gets by on location rather than velocity. His fastball reaches 90 mph but usually is in the 86-88 range and doesn't have great movement. He throws a hard curveball and his changeup is above-average. Bloom needs pinpoint control to succeed, as evidenced by his struggles at Lynchburg, where he walked 6.1 batters per nine innings. He has a hard time consistently getting on top of his pitches, causes them to lose bite, particularly with his curve. Bloom is ticketed to begin 2006 back in high Class A.

[Witlon]

Last member of the 31st team...
Credit: Baseball America's 31st team
Link: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...331stteam.html

Steve Pearce, 1b, Pirates
Born: April 13, 1983. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 5-11. Wt.: 200. Drafted: South Carolina, 2005 (8th round). Signed by: Jack Powell.

After batting .346-21-70 for South Carolina's 2004 College World Series team, Pearce turned down the Red Sox as a 10th-round pick. He gambled he'd do better in 2005, and he did go in the eighth round after hitting .358-21-63. While he moved up in the draft, he probably lost money because he accepted a $40,000 bonus as a senior with little leverage. Pearce's bat is his ticket. He can hit and has plenty of raw power, generating good bat speed with a short righthanded stroke. He led the short-season New York-Penn League with 26 doubles in his pro debut. Pearce doesn't run particularly well. The knock against him defensively is that he presents a small target for infielders as a 5-foot-11 first baseman. However, Pearce shows good agility around the bag and his reactions are good enough that he was able to see considerable action at third base during his college career. Some teams thought he might have the potential to catch, but Pittsburgh has no immediate plans to try him behind the plate. Pearce probably will open 2006 at low Class A Hickory.

[go_bucs2000]

hmmm doesn't look to bad lucky he took the gamble not to go to the red sox