August 11th- With the Pittsburgh Pirates nearing their 17th consecutive losing season, older Bucs fans must really be lamenting those years in the 70’s and 80’s when their beloved Pirates were relevant on the baseball landscape.
It still looks fairly bleak amid an eight game losing streak, as new GM Neal Huntington must shed the dead wood passed down to him by ex-GM David Littlefield, who for six years did more harm than good in almost every aspect of baseball operations.
Littlefield’s drafts were completely inept, lacked creativity, and vision, best exemplified during the 2002 MLB Draft. He selected the average Bryan Bullington number one overall instead of B.J Upton (second pick), Zack Greinke (sixth pick), or Prince Fielder (seventh pick) citing that Bullington would sign quickly, and he would become a “good number three pitcher in a rotation.” You certainly get what you pay for, because Bullington is currently in the Jays system toiling away in AAA Syracuse, working on being a “good number three,” while Upton, Greinke, and Fielder are impact players for their small market teams. Let’s not even get into the rumors that he also turned down several deals from the Philadelphia Phillies a few years back for a young slugger named Ryan Howard. It’s that fickle and shortsightedness that has rendered this franchise futile ‘til this day.
BUT…..look at the present and future of these Bucs. As the team’s GM, Neal Huntington has breathed some new life into this organization by vowing to allocate more funding to their amateur drafts and Latin American operations.
Last year they spent a Pirates record $9.8 Million dollars in the Draft (fourth most in baseball), signing the best bat in third baseman Pedro Alvarez, and were also aggressive in selecting one of the top arms in Tapper Scheppers in the second round, who would’ve been a top 10 pick if it weren’t for an arm injury and bonus demands. They failed to sign Scheppers, but that aggressiveness and creativity was a good sign for an organization looking to add talent in every way possible.
This year was more of the same, as they spent nearly $9 Million dollars in draft signings so far. They took a little flack for taking Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez fourth overall, but they figured a young catcher with great defensive, leadership, and possible hitting abilities was too much to pass up. They signed him for near slotted money ($2.5 Million), and so far in Single-A he’s hitting a robust .336 with a .989 OPS, opening the eyes of scouts with his bat and receiving acumen. Huntington and Scouting Director Greg Smith have also been tenacious in the lower rounds over slotting on: seventh round pick high school arm Trent Stevenson for 350K, promising fourth round lefty high school pitcher Zach Dodson for 600K, and eighth round pick lefty fireballer Colton Cain for a whopping $1.125 Million dollars.
More good news in Bucs-land? Over the weekend they came to terms with sixth round pick Zachary Von Rosenberg, paying him $1.2 Million Dollars, making him and Cain the top two highest bonuses given outside the first round so far this year. As of now, they’ve signed their first nine selections with seven of them being pitchers with high upside, as Huntington is looking to retool an organization devoid of pitching talent.
Looking at their Major League roster and high Minor League levels, you can start seeing the influx of good young position talent starting to flow into beautiful PNC Park. CF Andrew McCutchen is really looking like a bonafide talent, who when he starts getting more confident on the base paths could be a perennial 20/20 threat. Frustrating OF Lastings Milledge is starting to harness his talents after bouncing around the NL East and was hitting .333 in AAA prior to his call-up to the big leagues via trade with the Washington Nationals. There’s also promise with players Garret Jones who’s proving that he belongs in the bigs, slugging an incredible .642 in 134 at bats, and Delwyn Young who’s been doubted his entire professional career, although hitting with a .303 average in 715 minor league games in the Dodgers system. Hitting as high as .337 in AAA Las Vegas in 2007, he was never given a chance because scouts deemed him to be “too slow” or “defensively challenged,” so when Los Angeles designated him for assignment Huntington quickly pounced. Now he’s the full time second baseman and is currently hitting a solid .301. With solid young players such as C Ryan Doumit, 1B Steven Pearce, and 3B Andy Laroche (maybe) to go along with young pups in the minor league system such as OF Jose Tabata, 3B Pedro Alvarez, OF Gorkys Hernandez, C Jeff Clement, SS Argenis Diaz, and pitchers Daniel Moskos and Tim Alderson, the future is suddenly looking bright for the Pirates.
Funny how making sound trades and focusing on player development can infuse some hope into an organization doesn’t it? It’s safe to say that the new regime in Pittsburgh has a plan, and that should at least bring a little smile to the faces of Bucs fans everywhere.
Come back tomorrow, as we go in depth into two of the Bucs more promising prospects: LHP Daniel Moskos and 3B Pedro Alvarez. TPFS was on assignment and charted both players recently. Check out what our live and detailed scouting report revealed about each of those players. You won’t get this type of detailed information anywhere else.
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