The Pirates are calling up another of their top prospects, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter links) that right-hander Quinn Priester is expected to make his MLB debut on Monday in a start against the Guardians. The Bucs will need to make moves to both clear space on the active roster and open a spot for Priester on the 40-man roster.
The 22-year-old Priester was the 18th overall pick of the 2019 draft, and both MLB Pipeline and The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked him within their preseason top-100 prospects lists in each of the last three years. Pipeline currently has Priester rated 54th among all prospects in baseball, describing him as “super-athletic on the mound and at times has shown he can be a very efficient strike-thrower.”
Priester made his Triple-A debut in 2022, albeit tossing only 9 1/3 innings at the Pirates’ top affiliate. It was something of a compressed year overall for Priester since he missed the first two months of the 2022 campaign due to an oblique injury, and his 90 1/3 total innings last season were spread over four different minor league levels. The righty’s first full Triple-A season hasn’t exactly been dominant, as Priester has a 4.31 ERA over 87 2/3 innings, with a modest 22.4% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate. A grounder specialist, Priester has a 53.8% groundball rate and a .316 BABIP this year, which could lend itself to his only okay Triple-A numbers.
Priester has a four-pitch repertoire, headlined by a plus curveball and a good changeup. His fastball draws somewhat mixed reviews, as Law feels “he’ll probably have to emphasize his offspeed stuff over his 92-96 mph fastball, which plays down from its velocity.” On the flipside, Pipeline gives Priester’s fastball a 60-grade, and feels he can add more velocity over time.
Before Paul Skenes was drafted first overall last week, Priester had been the top pitching prospect in Pittsburgh’s farm system, and he’ll now become the latest member of the Pirates’ youth movement to make his debut in the Show. Given how injuries have thinned out the rotation, Priester will get plenty of chances to stick around if he pitches well, and more opportunity might emerge after the trade deadline if Rich Hill is dealt elsewhere.
It’s so weird how all these top prospects are always ready for the bigs in July.
Maybe one day they will change the rules so this stops. No an extra draft pick for ROY doesn’t cut it actually change the rules so teams don’t do this.
Proof?
Teams do what thr players union allows them to do. The MLBPA has continued to allow this sort of thing for decades and it’s a shame.
I won’t blame the teams when the players union can’t get this done.
The team owners owe a duty to their fans to put on the field the best team they can. The union should not have to make the team owners behave with integrity.
Oscar – While I agree teams have been known to manipulate service time in the past, this is not a good example of that type of behavior.
The dude had just 9 innings of AAA under his belt before this season, and a 4.50 ERA in AAA since May 27th of this year.
Does that sound like a pitcher that deserved to be called up before July?
You could argue the new agreement prevents manipulation for a select group of elite prospects. No, that’s not every rookie but it is progress.
IMO, MLB should lower the service time threshold for arbitration in light of the sudden contraction in career lengths
Progress isn’t helping the 1% of the 1%. That’s window dressing.
@dankyank: What contraction in career lengths? You present it as fact, but can you show any data?
I wouldn’t be happy with my union if I was a player. Now instead of waiting for super 2 to pass you also have to wait long enough to make sure player can’t win ROY. And if they have strong enough odds of doing so you might as well wait until final month of season. That extra year is worth much more than draft pick.
The super 2 date was in early July. In what world are rookies missing 65 games and still winning ROY? And please don’t mention EDLC since he still needs to overtake Corbin Carroll.
You lose a year if they finish 2nd. And not a Carroll every year. And super 2 is usually mid late June. And if they are that good of prospect you might as well wait until August September like they did with Carroll.
At last The Mighty Quinn
Let’s put this in context. That year of service time gives the team an additional competitive balance draft pick if the rookie finishes in the top 3 for ROY.
Top 2 Roy
@dankyank: And possibly Francisco Alvarez.
Though I think the union is light years away from the Fehr years and Tony the Tiger is a joke compared, they are still the strongest union of the 4 major sports. I wouldn’t be happy if I was a NFL player they get battered every single time both on the field and in negotiations. The NHL is second best but 4th popular national as far as audience which limits the unions pull and I can’t speak on the NBA cuz I stopped watching a long time ago. As soon as hand checking went out and players can take 4 steps and still get the and one, I was done. All these rule changes, not so much in baseball until now, across the 4 major sports are all offense, last time I checked defense still got payed to do a job, it just got so much harder
@Trumbo2.0: What an amazingly dumb comment.
No, because it wasn’t funny. Jokes are supposed to be, you know, humorous.
Blue Baron last smiled in November, 1983.
Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me) begins to play.
Mute looks at you and waves hello.
Hey, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but that Mute guy—he’s pretty friendly. Why don’t you go introduce yourself to him and say hello? He might be able to make your life 3754278x easier.
Was that a smile or a sneer?
Trumbo, now you see why so many good posters have departed.
Some folks are so toxic they turn grass brown when they walk on it.
> Was that a smile or a sneer?
No, no no. Mute takes no joy in offing people down dark allies for you. It shows no signs of emotion. It’s business for Mute, that’s all.
I don’t mute any longer, I like taking confrontational people on head to head. Many of them are keyboard cowboys, brave behind the computer, losers everywhere else. Don’t mute them Trumbo, confront them.
As for you Hemlock, there’s a reason your handle means poison.
Let’s say you don’t drive. You have to walk down your suburban street to get anywhere you want to go. All of your neighbors take their trash and dump it in the street instead of in garbage cans. So when you walk, you have to walk through all that trash. Every day. In 95° weather, walking through all that trash.
Mute is your garbage cleanup. (Sorry Mute, it’s an example. Put down that barbed wire choker) For every Mute, you get to walk cleanly and breathe easily for that stretch on your way to wherever you’re going.
That’s why I Mute. If you want to wade through the trash and see what you find, fine. You do you.
> change the rules so this stops
???
Stop promoting players when they are ready and instead promote them….when exactly?
His minor league stats this year don’t scream “I’m ready” to me.
You don’t get it Hemlock
The stats don’t matter. What matters is you call a guy up in July and you get free service time for the rest of the year. Are the Pirates actually trying to win? Of course not.
What free service time? If he lasts on the MLB roster for most of the rest of the year, he would be eligible for Super Two arbitration. That assumes he sticks for the next two seasons.
He wouldn’t be eligible for free agency until 6 full seasons, but he wouldn’t achieve that in 2028 regardless of whether he was called up in April, July, or September.
Are these what you are referring to, or are you making a different point?
> You don’t get it Hemlock
Agreed. This is one part of baseball I gladly know almost nothing about.
There’s a deadline in April so a player doesn’t get a full year of service time.
There’s a super 2 cut off.
I don’t understand what July has to do with any of that.
That is false. He will not qualify for Super 2 assuming he’s up for good and never goes back to the minors.
This stuff is complicating. Please don’t say something that is untrue it confuses everyone else.
Teams are also rewarded with a high draft pick if they carry a kid and they get first team, or something like that. This past draft one of the teams was rewarded with a pick for that reason, just can’t think of who that was off the top.
Julio Rodriguez
If it makes you feel better he’s not ready. This is likely a one start cameo.
I bet you are wrong Chico.
Again he doesn’t need to be ready. This is free on the job training for the Pirates.
Cards – Would you rather they go back to 10-man pitching staffs and September roster expansion for call-ups?
They are short a starter. He will stay unless he totally sucks and Ortiz lights it up again in AAA. Only other thing that could change it is a trade for a starter by the deadline. Not counting on that.
I don’t have any doubt that Hill has pitched himself out of town and Choi has done the same with his sudden hitting.
I think Shelton feels the same, given his “youth movement” comment a couple days ago
It’s going to be interesting where starting pitching is concerned. How many “reliever games” might there be ahead?
Wrong. Pirates have Keller, Hill, Oviedo, and Bido currently in rotation. They need another SP with Ortiz and Contreras in Indy trying to get sorted out.
Contrares was sent to their single A team in Florida and won’t be back this year
Bido is being used as a starter but only out of desperation. He never pitches into the 5th inning which results in the bullpen being overused
@King of Cards: “They” can’t just wave a magic wand and instantly change any rules.
There is a process called collective bargaining. Any rule change must be negotiated as part of the next agreement between owners and players.
Filthy little git. You are so bad in the sack sweety. Keep sucking hard weenie lovely
have you actually looked at these top prospects?
Davis had a handful of games in AAA and promoted fast
Quinn’s 2023 was pretty rough
Gonzales wasn’t having a very good run in AAA
endy has been pretty horrible based on expectations going into 2023 but has stepped it up since june and will probably be here before the deadline
You can make a case that these players and others could’ve been here anyway but there is also a strong case that they needed more work or maybe recover.
Service time manipulation happens but gets over blown more. Bae Bednar came up with team out of spring training. Endy hasn’t done anything this year until recently. Wasn’t a good catcher in April. Now he looks better.
“The righty’s first full Triple-A season hasn’t exactly been dominant, as Priester has a 4.31 ERA over 87 2/3 innings, with a modest 22.4% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate.” He’s not great Bob
Why is it top prospects are always being called up in late June or July? It’s not a coincidence. Yes he’s not pitching that great. But if they think he’s going to be ready sometime between now and opening day next year they might as well promote him now because the time from now until the end of the year doesn’t count. That’s how this works.
Macbeth I don’t totally blame the team. Just like giant corporations who don’t pay taxes. They are working the system to their benefit. The system needs to change to prevent this from happening. You would think that’s what a union is for.
Agreed, it’s the old “root cause” issue. You hit the nail on the head with corporations and such. I think with the minor leaguers unionizing the MLBPA might finally get this done.
There are good unions and bad ones. The MLBPA I think is one of the worst in sports for certain.
The things they fight for. Draft lottery to prevent tanking lol. Oh no we aren’t eligible for a lottery pick! Guess we will just have to spend a ton of money on free agents and try to contend! Yeah right.
@Macbeth: Actually, the MLBPA is the strongest and best union in sports. MLB is the only major sport in which the players aren’t subject to the onerous salary cap creating a fixed pie and zero-sum game for compensation.
Can’t say that about the NBA, NFL, or NHL.
No salary cap means no salary floor. Owners can spend whatever they choose. Fortunately many choose to spend. I’d rather be partners and have every team spend and get my guaranteed share of revenue.
That’s a bold statement given what we saw on the NBA’s first day of free agency, when $1B in salary was signed in one day
Even bench players are signing for well over $1M a year
I get your point, of course, but would add that the financial arrangements of MLB, which are closed books initiatives to the stinking masses, doom small market teams into conforming to the TB method of competing year in and year out
I’d much rather play nba nfl. Until this year the highest signing bonus was 8 million and change. You had to play 2 3 4 years making 10 20 30 grand a year. Play another 4 seasons at 700 grand. Another 3 determined by a owner friendly arbitration. Then finally around age 30 you get to be a free agent. The owners don’t open their books and teams aren’t forced to spend a determined amount. The owners that do spend are very generous but I would hate to go through all that and depend on generosity.
@YourDreamGM — How is there not a league floor? There is a Major League minimum. The last CBA just raised the league minimums, thanks to the Union.
26 players times the league minimum is your floor.
Are you saying that the floor should be higher?
I used the term salary floor in reference to other leagues having a minimum amount teams are required to spend that goes above and beyond the leagues minimum wage per player times number of players. But yeah if your definition of a salary floor is paying players the absolute lowest possible amount then yes there is a floor. I actually like your view point on it. Salary floor sounds much better than minimum wage.
@YourDreamGM: Believe me, those leagues’ players, especially in the NHL, are not viewed or treated by owners as anything like partners.
Comparing minimum wage to guys making 700k a year is laughable.
Equating the term minimum wage with league minimum is even more laughable and absurd.
Maybe you really should turn off the TV.
NHL doesn’t have the revenue. Don’t know how nba nfl are treated but I’d rather be employees in their company. Unless i was a running back or something.
Why it’s their minimum wage.
SuperMax salaries are $30m/yr+
Average NBA player salary is $9.5m/yr
If any players union is in lockstep with ownership, it’s the NBA, whether it’s playing a redundant in season tournament or punishment for a superstar like Ja Morant
And why shouldn’t they be?
The incredible windfall for owners and players alike makes “playing nice” much easier
It’s funny to me that my generation—the dinosaurs—are sickened by player salaries and owner profits, as both continue to rise.
Our priorities are so out of whack
I don’t have the time or crayons to explain it to you.
@corn
I am disgusted that MLB has become more of business than the game. Baseball owners should be Baseball people. As a pirate fan that is the major thing that bothers me about the Nuttings and NOT the Pirates payroll.
A single player making 40M a year I do find outrageous but in the current climate of professional sports it is what it is. I do not fault the players, take what you can get.
IMO: MLB should setup a soft floor/cap similar to the current ‘tax’ and a hard floor/cap after a certain threshold. the cap won’t make MLBPA happy, Floor would make the MLBPA happy. Grandfathering current contracts would take some math 🙂
Very well stated, Joe
I’m from the era where players had to find work in the off season and retirement to simply survive. I agree about player salaries and can only guess what owners must rake in
But in thinking that the overall picture tells me our priorities are out of whack on a worldwide level, no matter the sport, it’s getting harder to watch or care.
Incredible levels of money have done what it always does: corrupted the integrity of an institution. It’s hard to believe in the sanctity of contests as it is to feel any concern for the athletes who compete or the owners of franchises. I root for the guys with “Pittsburgh” on their jerseys and that’s where my fandom ends
I grew up with this game. My earliest memories are of my dad taking me and my brother to Forbes Field and then Three Rivers. I watch because I enjoy the game. But anymore, I’m finding myself looking for other things to do
I’m so sick of hearing about giant corps not paying taxes, there are so many other factors than just saying they don’t pay. for most of it, the money not paid in taxes was redistributed in other ways or was to cover previous losses. there are exceptions but saying as a blanket statement is disingenuous.
Except the Union prioritizes the top players and their agents before the rank and file members.
In order for MLBPA to convince MLB to drop the Super 2 rule, which would mean all players are eligible for arbitration after 2 seasons, it would require the Union to budge on something big like the Luxury Tax thresholds. And there’s no way the top players and their agents will allow that to happen.
Maybe they should release the manager in a corresponding move.
His lineups and handling of game decisions is putrid
And take the worthless hitting coach with him as a bonus
Yes – Manager is horrible.
Pirates tried for the old men stop gap. Worked for a couple of months. Now in the tank.
Priester the real deal. Sign the LSU guy and make them 1-2.
Good bye Rich Hill.
You forgot Keller in that scenario, but I get your sarcasm
The old men stopgap did what it was supposed to do by getting them out of the gate beyond expectations after another 100 loss season. But after that and the Cruz injury, no one stepped up to pick up the slack
I had to laugh at the article posted here about KC’s most disturbing aspect of their season: young prospects getting injured. Here, it has been young prospects turning to mush
I’m no fan of Shelton as he apparently hears mysterious voices in his head that talk to him in assembling line up cards, during critical game moments and in reliever and pinch hitter usage. But this is where I disagree with TheMan3. No manager could win with the hand he’s been dealt
They have a core here now. That’s good. There are some good minor league prospects on the cusp. That’s good, too. And they drafted Skenes and numerous college pitchers. Even better
But they’re still two years away from being two years away
Looking forward to seeing Priester at this level
Maybe Shelton couldn’t win with the hand he’s been dealt but maybe he could make more of an effort to score runs
Changing the lineup would be a good start
Bunt as a means to get on base. Play small ball on occasion
It’s always the same player in the same position of the lineup
Use a different lead off hitter. Suwinski has yet to get on base batting 1st
Move Reynolds to his original spot, batting 3rd.
Shelton’s predictable, as are the losses under his leadership
True that -probably- no manager could put a winning team out there, but Shelty’s Dartboard(tm) lineups don’t allow them to get any consistency, frex batting Tank 5th, 1st, 3rd in the week leading up to the ASB.
Shelton is playing the hand he’s dealt, but he could be playing it better.
Tonight’s lineup is exactly the same as last night’s game
I hope for a win but probably won’t be shocked if they lose
agreed and a small market team can’t afford to lose 2 SP to LT injury
There’s one problem I’m disappointed in the Pirates fans for…you haven’t booed Hedges hard enough.
I mean seriously. Once you do that, he’ll decide to stop screwing around and hit so much better than his career numbers.
That’s how it works right?
I’ve been a faithful bucco fan since I was 11 years old in 1966. I’ve lived the good times with them, and the bad times. But, I am starting to fade with them. AS LONG AS SHELTON IS MANAGER, this team will never reach it’s potential with the core players they have and the ones who will be called up.
I don’t understand how the hell they can employ this clueless clown as a manager. He’s incompetent, can’t set a lineup, and can’t manage a pitching staff. The pirates fired harry walker mid season in 1967. And this was after two successful seasons in 65 and 66. They fired bill virdon after a bad year. Is nutting afraid to pay another manager to not manager, aka Clint hurdle. I like the young talent in the team and the young talent coming up. They need someone to allow these kids to mature and develope. SHELTON cannot accomplish this. Here’s hoping they show this clown the door.
the Shelton extension was terrible.
with all the young talent up , next year would’ve been perfect timing to bring in a seasoned manager
The old men aren’t the problem. Problem is they have been the best players.
Losing 3 of your best pitchers should have been the problem. But it’s not. It’s lack of scoring runs.
I think it’s interesting that no one is talking about the decline in Reynolds. Last season his numbers dipped but he homered more and drove in runs. Really he was the only bright spot on a horrid team
This year, he’s moved to a more natural outfield spot and signed a hefty contract. But for whatever reason, he just hasn’t looked the same.
Yeah Dream, pitching has had ups and downs but the anemic offense has been the problem, no doubt
I’m going to defend Reynolds but only to a certain degree
Yes he hit more homers and drove in more runs than any single player on the team, yet he only hit 19 doubles and didn’t even drive in 70 runs
Two years ago when he was in the #3 hole he had an all around good season including leading the league in triples
I believe he puts more pressure on himself because it’s not often there’s a man on base batting first
Between being injured and the death of a family member, I agree with you as being a factor. After last season, why would you move him to being a “set up man” at number two?
Drafted in 2019 out of high school. No 2020 season. Averaging just under 5 innings a start. I do not think or believe he is MLB ready now.
It’s the Pirates. He’s good enough to pitch in their rotation today and tomorrow.
But the fans who watch the Pirates just to kill time before football season say he’s ready. So there you go.
They’ll also be the first ones to scream about how the bum needs to go down after one rough start.
No, njbirdsfan, we say that about the manager who needs to go
Unfortunately he is probably as ready as he will be.
He’ll probably replace Bido who was thrown into the rotation once Contrares was sent to the bullpen
Bido has only pitched into the 5th inning once, it’s time to give another prospect a chance
He’s replacing Ortiz who was sent down week or 2 ago.
The rotation now is Keller Oviedo, Hill, Bido, and now Priester. Bido is not going anywhere.
Bido is a busto
Bido should be sent back to the minors, he’s yet to make it into the 5th inning and today didn’t last even 3 innings
He’s a bum
Only problem is, who do you call up besides Priester? If Bido goes down you need another starter besides Priester.
Alt of people said the same thing about Bobby Miller and so far he’s holding his own this year. The minors aren’t always about showing you are dominant before getting the call up. A lot of times they are working on things for development purposes and those can result in bad surface stats. But when they get the call up that goes away and they go with their best stuff. Picking back up the development in the off season.
Take note John Mozaliak. You bring up your best players when they are better then any of your current MLB options rather than letting them hang out in the minors until they are 26
So, who gets DFA’d? Castro or Delay or (upon Hayes’ return) both?
Gonzales and Triolo have shown they belong here. Let’s hope it’s neither of them. But on this team, anything’s possible
I am thinking it will be Castro. Even against lefties recently he hasn’t seen any time facing pitchers
And Delay still has options, he’ll go to Indy
If they truly believe in Swaggerty, I could see them promoting him to put him on the mlb roster and then instantly putting him on the 60 Day. If they do not believe in him, release him. Has been having vertigo issues for some time.
Getting Priester’s feet wet will only help Pittsburgh hit the ground running next season. Looks like they’ve promoted him fairly aggressively so perhaps he rises to the challenge.
He’s a high school kid who was drafted 4 years ago. I wouldn’t really call that aggressively promoted.
He was in high A to start 2022. Three levels of competition in a season and half looks plenty aggressive to me
Maybe he didn’t belong in high A to start 2022?
Again 4 years for a high school kid isn’t aggressive it’s average. 3 years or less is aggressive.
it’s not like he’s pitched great
definitely wouldn’t be getting called up if they didn’t need him to eat innings
Welcome to The Bigs Quinnie the Pooh!
pirates fans will turn on him fast
just like Keller they’ll call him a bust and want him out of town prematurely.. until he does great 3 years later , then they’ll say Bob will just dump all the good players
rinse repeat
in case you missed it, Hayes and Reynolds, considered cornerstones of the franchise each received a hefty-long term contract
Apparently you don’t know as much as your handle indicates
their track record is Reynolds and Reynolds alone as far as market value extensions.
Hayes took to safe money. the safe money is always on the table for young pirates.
if u want to cost yourself about 80 million like prime McCutchen then take the safe money. Plenty of guys like Tabata, Polanco and now Hayes are proving why the early under market deals are usually not smart
Hayes is arguably one of the best fielding 3rd baseman in the league.
Polanco and Tabata are from the previous regime and their contracts have no bearing on this current one
There’s no argument about Hayes. He’s clearly the best fielding 3rd baseman in MLB and possibly the best defensive player overall.
clearly one of the worst batting 3B too, and has a bad back at age of 26.
we’re in year 2 of an 9-year extension.. yikes!
but the main point is that he took 7mil per year for his whole career. these offers are nothing new from Nutting. sometimes young players accept it . doesn’t mean they’re doing anything different.
if they sign Keller I’ll change my pov , but for now they’re just moving money around.
not like they’re going to replace Hill & Hedges 13 mil next offseason.. that money will just go to Reynolds, and they’ll be replaced by league min Priester and Endy.
still going to be 80-90 mil payroll
Why on Earth still not bringing up ENDY RODRIGUEZ??? My goodness Austin Hedges sucks – period.His defense sucks as well.Everyone knows he can’t hit at all.For goodness sake let Henry Davis & Endy Rodriguez catch their bats alone will win you games + plus you can rotate them out later in the game if the situation calls for it and still let the other one play a position cuz they’re both catchers plus first base plus RF although they should both be catching – Period !!get rid of Hedges and delay and move on for goodness sake
Funny, Davis’ play in the outfield in last night’s game cost us a win
You almost have to expect that, though. The kid has been a catcher and is still relatively new at the position. He’s been a ray of sunshine and plays hard. Can’t find fault given the alternatives. And hey, he already plays better than Polanco did out there
No it didn’t. The crappy middle relief pitching cost Pirates both games. The crappy defense at end of both games just made them losses by 2 runs instead of 1.
He allowed a ball to go through his legs and was charged with an error. That combined with a lousy pitching and lackluster offense is why we lost 6-4
Davis is young and still learning especially as an outfielder but there’s still no excuse for how awful this offense is
They knew Hedges couldn’t hit yet still gave him 5 million. They are very pleased with him. Looks like the gave up on Davis as a catcher and probably rightfully so. Rodriguez however looks like he can catch. So develop him to do so. He hasn’t been screaming mlb ready until maybe recently. Even so no use wasting him this year. Call him up late April next year or late June if you want to avoid year of arb.
I think that Endy will replace Delay in the near future. Davis is getting on the job training in RF. I don’t believe he will be a ML catcher, unless he fails to hit. If he becomes a good hitter they benefit with him playing a less demanding position in RF. Pirate management values defense in their catchers, which is why they signed Hedges. I don’t think that Davis will ever achieve good defense. By next year he will be a decent RF. Endy on the other hand can be a good defensive catcher and hit a little above league average.
They probably keep Delay until another prospect knocks him out. Hedges might get traded or dfa. Or lots of Endy at 1b if when Santana Choi traded. Wouldn’t be worse thing for Endy to take part in game prep but do little catching. Catch a game or 2 a week. Endy is catcher of the future though. Will be given the opportunity. Davis bat better play in rf or 1b. No reason to think it can’t at this point.
Your earlier comment about the possibility of Andujar getting time at 1st is intriguing. That is, if they trade Santana and/or Choi.
It’s humorous to me that King of Cards has discussed prospects coming up to the majors but no one has chimed in about what is a truly suspect pair of essential elements where the Pirates are concerned: scouting and player development.
I like to think Cherington has refined both areas in his time here but player after player who have come up over the past 3-4 years has left fans scratching their heads
What did the scouts see?
Why was this kid never developed?
And the true mystery: just why this fascination with drafting or trading for middle infielders at the sake of outfielders, 1st basemen and pitchers?
Probably because it’s easier to teach an infielder to play in the outfield than the other way around
Bae is a perfect example. I imagine if Castro wasn’t such a defensive liability he’d have been playing in the outfield by now
Andujar has been playing a lot of 1b and the few times I seen him have to make any kind of play he looked fine. I only watch minor league for a hour or 2 a day and usually lower levels. I think he is at mainly 1b if when Santana Choi are traded.
I feel scouting and development should take time to improve. Where are these good scouts and developer at? Anyone who can do it is already taken. So you have to wait for new blood, have the resources to find them and hope other teams with deeper pockets some how missed them. And anyone coming forward seeking out employment likely isn’t a Pirates fan. So you end up with the hitting coach Milwaukee fired. Maybe they should replace him him with the hitting coach NY fired?
I think pitching development has improved significantly. Hitting tbd.
Teams don’t want to trade good arms. Pirates have drafted arms heavy after 1st round. With position players you take best bat available. Doesn’t matter where they play. To break a tie you take most valuable position. Trades you take whatever you can get. Draft they have done ok. You pretty much had to take Skenes and Johnson. They were obviously the best player available. Gonzales was ok and probably safest option. The 2nd 3rd round picks all made sense. Only ? was Davis Lawlar Mayer. Was getting Bubba worth passing on ss? Have to see how they turn out but it’s certainly up in the air.
Solid reply and rational answer. Again, there’s more hope here than there was a year ago or two years, when I would have been happy to help them pack the moving vans. Thanks
You don’t draft a guy 1-1 to play right field. Never heard a peep about Davis’ “lack of defense” until he came up.
You become proficient at a position by…..playing that position. Just like you don’t draft a first round SS like Cole Tucker and play him in the outfield.
Until the Pirates can finally work out the lack of player development in the minor leagues I’m afraid we must always be happy with a top 5 Baseball America farm team that yields very few major league results.
Majority of teams didn’t think he would stick as starting catcher or catcher. Last year scouts couldn’t believe how bad he looked. Optimistic people said well maybe its the hit by pitches taking toll. I never thought he would be good but if developed long enough and hit enough could be passable time share back up.
Neil Walker was drafted as a catcher and ended up becoming a versatile second baseman with some power
not sure they ever saw Davis as a catcher even on draft day.
Of course – that’s why they played him at catcher 90% of his games in the minors to get him ready to play right field in the majors
Genius!
and zero games so far in MLB.. possibly zero ever.
I don’t think playing him at catcher in the minors has any impact on anything. I mean clearly, right?
The position played in the minors doesn’t really matter for a future DH
Nothing to get excited about. His 97 98 mph awesome fastball that apparently as the tale says he had during 2020 camp is nowhere to be found. You will see sinker and a ton of curves. A young right handed Rich Hill. Should be a MLB arm and better than what you were getting from Ortiz Contreras but won’t be counted on to dominate playoff games unless that fastball comes back.
I haven’t given up on Oviedo or Ortiz yet
I think both have upside but are having great difficulty with consistency
I don’t think you’ll ever see Contreras again and Bido is a middle reliever, at best
Who knows when Brubaker and Burrows will be back
Now this note about Priester. Sheesh
Aside from Skenes, are there any other Pirates pitching prospects on the cusp for ‘24? Solometo?
It sure isn’t pretty
Solometo is a legit top 100 prospect and no reason he can’t be part of a contending rotation. Jared Jones could be and looks good but not as likely as Solometo. Nicholas has great stuff but inconsistent and control issues. More likely bullpen but can’t rule him out. Burrows after tj could be something.
Hope for Keller extension and Skenes Solometo are as good as any pitching prospects. Those 3 are a nice start. At least 1 other should emerge out of Jones Burrows Priester or a Oviedo Ortiz Bido Contreras defies the odds. Add in the veteran reclamation project and you have a rotation. Lower levels have promising arms. Just keep drafting arms to keep the replacements coming.
Oviedo’s start last night exemplifies why he’s a process. I think he’ll be alright as he matures and learns to get out of his own way. Out of that foursome-he, Ortiz, Bido and Contreras—he appears to have the most upside. I’d hope Marin is working on his mental approach, too, that wins and losses don’t mean much on a team that can’t hit and often can’t field behind him. His poor starts usually find him laboring when he gives up a walk or two or a play isn’t made behind him
He’s not alone in this, of course. Watching the Mariners play last night, you saw a young pitcher who threw a few dead red fastballs that got whacked after his outfielders failed to make plays on a couple of deep fly balls
I don’t know, but in the age of emphasizing heat, I’d wonder how many modern pitching coaches work on the mental aspect of pitching
I remember a time when
Cole
Taillon
Glasnow
Heredia
Kingham
was going to be an immaculate rotation
but the only reason that rotation succeeded ended up being because money was spent on AJ and Frankie (outside of Cole)
You’re forgetting Charlie Morton but that’s understandable. He learned how to pitch in Houston (as did Cole)
Your comment points to the failure of Ray Searage. Great at resurrecting careers and did wonders for AJ, Frankie, Grilli, Melancon, Hanrahan, Volquez et al but somehow could not produce or communicate with the younger guys
true on Searage, however the point is pitching prospects are a shot in the dark
The interview he did for fangraphs with David Laurilla should be mandatory listening for home pirates fans.
Best thing I took from it is that he knows how young he is and how his body still could add 25 pounds of muscle but right now he’s just trying to command all his pitches and go deep into games
It’s about time they called him up. I liked the drafting of pitching. Trilio and Gonzalez look like keepers. I agree with the man 3 about clueless Shelton.
As far as contrares is concerned. A talent like him doesn’t see a drop off unless there are physical problems I think the pirates Are keeping QUIET ou This
Or unless it’s mental. And having heard him talk (through a translator, at least) it sure sounds like he’s completely lost confidence.
my beef with Suwinski batting lead off came to fruition in the first inning of tonight’s game
He struck out looking on a pitch in the strike zone
He leads the national league in striking out while looking
Mlbtr bumping this to the top. Slow news day. Don’t be tricked by the activity. Just us same handful of pirates followers talking too much.
The Suwinski batting lead off experiment has failed and miserably
Shelton once again ruined a beautifully pitched performance by inserting Delay into the game. It’s time to shake things up by promoting Endy, sending Delay to Indy and change the lineup completely
leadoff has been a major issue for them all year
The Pirates have brought up a lot of highly ranked prospects in the last 2 seasons but it seems like they were more brought up because they were due and not because they were forcing their way up.
Priester was pretty mediocre in the minors as was nick gonzales and peguero last year. Both their hitters and pitchers coming up nearly all have bad strikeout to walk ratios.
Only contreras and cruz had really performed before being called up.
I think their player dev is an issue.
Other teams like the rangers, rays or orioles have their prospects raking in the minors and still being blocked and the Pirates top prospects are doing just OK or even worse in the minors and still get called up because “it’s time”.
it’s “ time “ because management wants to see if these prospects can make an impact on an anemic offense and lackluster pitching staff
The current offense is pathetic and something needs to change, whether it’s bringing up prospects or sending the hitting coach and manager packing
Hard to fathom an entire offense being in perpetual slump
Unlike many organizations, the Pirates seem to bring up a lot of players before their time due to necessity. That is, not because of injuries per se, but because the guys manning positions at the MLB level have continually shown they just can’t cut it here
Castro is in that conversation as have the revolving door of outfield prospects they’ve brought up
Pretty clear that when you have Bido in a rotation it speaks to the void between this level and AAA. There simply was no one else
I think Davis is a cut above but he’s the exception and not the rule. He’s able to learn and play pretty well when really, he’s likely still be down at AAA in many organizations. Gonzales and Triolo seem to alternate between showing outstanding potential and having some ugly at bats
And the most glaring example would be Suwinski. Lots of potential and a good glove but likely here because of that occasional power when he’d be learning and adjusting at AAA in other organizations
The Pirates aren’t the Braves or Dodgers, but it’s interesting to watch prospects come up through their chains “when they are ready” and developed as opposed to what we see here
You’re right, Cornwhisperer, they aren’t the Braves or Dodgers, but for a team that consistently drafts high in the order, the Bucs prospects should have more upside than they do
The Dodgers and Braves, even without free agents, have farm systems that know how to develop players drafted later in the order
Castro was demoted as Cutch was activated from the IL
(thankfully)
Let’s see if this helps the offense in today’s game
Let’s hope Bido goes back to Indy when Priester gets promoted tomorrow.
I can see a four man rotation with a bullpen day for the next few weeks.
“ I think their player development is an issue “
understatement of the year!
You hit the nail on the head!