Toolsy Pirates outfield prospect Gregory Polanco ought to be the next top prospect to win a promotion, MLB.com's Jim Callis writes. MLB.com ranked Polanco the No. 13 prospect in baseball heading into the season, and he's done nothing to diminish his reputation since then, hitting .439/.475/.667 in 61 plate appearances so far for Triple-A Indianapolis. "He's done a little bit of everything," says Pirates assistant GM Kyle Stark. "It's been fun to watch. The exciting thing about him is he's extremely driven and has very good feel for making adjustments, so it allows him to keep getting better." Here are more notes from around the National League.
- MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo, meanwhile, argues for Archie Bradley of the Diamondbacks to be the next top prospect to reach the big leagues. Bradley, who raced through the Class A+ and Double-A levels last season, has a 3.31 ERA with 12 strikeouts and six walks in 16 1/3 innings for Triple-A Reno. Mayo suggests that it's not impossible that Bradley's impact on the Diamondbacks could be similar to Jose Fernandez's impact on the Marlins last year.
- With Ike Davis heading to the Pirates veteran Bobby Abreu could be making his way back to the big leagues with the Mets, Tim Rohan of the New York Times writes. In March, the Mets signed Abreu to a minor-league deal, suggesting to him that they might promote him to serve as a lefty pinch-hitter once they figured out what they would do with Davis and Lucas Duda. For now, Abreu is hitting .412/.487/.529 in his first 39 plate appearances for Triple-A Las Vegas.
Gregory Polanco probably won’t arrive in Pittsburgh until mid-June at the earliest. So far, Travis Snider is holding his own in RF, so there’s no need to promote Polanco just yet. That being said, I can’t wait to see what he’s capable of in the bigs. Polanco will probably bat leadoff to start his big league career but could move into the heart of the order as time goes on.
They should trade tabata somewhere
Been wondering where Polanco will bat myself. I like the idea of him batting in the two-hole and giving the Bucs a R-L-R-L top of the order.
Just like the pirates did with cutch when they had mclouth in center. They called cutch up before super two and moved Nate. There’s no guarantee. And don’t say its a different situation because if anything you expect polanco to bring more to the table
The longer these has-beens keep holding out for a major league job, the more likely they’ll be playing golf for the rest of season.
Are you referring to Bobby Abreu, whom the article clearly states should be getting promoted to take Ike Davis’ spot?
Mets have the 3rd worst OPS in baseball and Abreu has an out at the end of the month. Might as well being him up and see if there’s anything there.
Pirates lineup? Marte/Polanco/McCutchen/Alvarez/Walker/Martin/Davis/Mercer is how I’d go.
Marte should not be leading off. Too many K’s, not enough BB’s. I’d like to see what Polanco can do leading off. Why bat him 2nd and ask him to have to move runners along? Here’s my idea:
Polanco/Walker/McCutchen/Alvarez/Marte/Davis/Martin/Mercer.
Yes, there are drawbacks: is Neil a #2 hitter? Is batting Alvarez, Marte and Davis back-to-back-to-back inviting pitchers to strike out the side? Martin could possibly be the #2, move Walker to 5th or 6th to split up the K brigade. But I think it’s high time Marte gets moved out of the leadoff spot.
polanco has to much pop to put in leadoff want him driving in runs with guys on something this team cannot do
You may be right about Polanco. The bigger problem this team has than driving in runs is getting runners on base in the first place.
alls im saying is bat him second, that way if marte gets on awesome if not then he is leading off.
Polanco won’t be leading off. I bet you weren’t saying that last year when Marte was hitting? Geez.. Its a long season therefore slumps are bound to happen. Give the dude a chance to break out of the slump. Garrett Cole leading off and starting in center? Is that what you propose next?
Err… no, I said pretty much the same thing last year. Marte’s high OBP is from being hit by pitches, not walking, and he strikes out way too much to be a leadoff guy. He also has power that would be nice to use with guys on base. The Pirates don’t have a better option, that’s why he’s leading off.
Polanco won’t be leading off. I bet you weren’t saying that last year when Marte was hitting? Geez.. Its a long season therefore slumps are bound to happen. Give the dude a chance to break out of the slump. Garrett Cole leading off and starting in center? Is that what you propose next?