Around the minors

Every year, I say in April that I’m going to do a better job following the minor league system on the blog than I have in years past and every year, I falter as the summer goes on. I swear this year is the year that’s going to be different, though, because the longer removed we become from the Dave Littlefield era, the more interesting following the minor leagues becomes. Like I say every year, though, this is more my way of making myself pay closer attention. This site won’t ever be Pirates Prospects when it comes to following the minors, but what happens in the minors is a hugely important part of what happens to the Pirates in 2011. Since Minor League Opening Day was yesterday, let’s go around the system with some brief comments on rosters and last night’s games. 

Triple-A Indianapolis
I was a little disappointed to see that they’re starting the year with both Daniel McCutchen and Brian Burres in the rotation while Bryan Morris starts with Altoona, though I guess one of those two will be bumped out of the rotation in favor Brad Lincoln whenever he’s healthy (which should be soon). Still, with Karstens and Crotta in Pittsburgh and Lincoln presumably healthy in the near future, the Pirates shouldn’t need Burres or McCutchen to start this year. I hope. Rudy Owens and Justin Wilson will both open the year in Indy’s rotation, though Burres got the nod in last night’s opener. This club isn’t exactly packed to the gills with offensive prospects, either, though Andrew Lambo, Chase D’Arnaud, and Gorkys Hernandez will all open the year on the Indians’ roster. D’Arnaud doubled and Hernandez had a two-run triple last night, though Lambo went 0-for-4 with 2 Ks. These guys are coming to Durham May 10-12, so I’ll have plenty about them that week

Double-A Altoona 
Morris wasn’t hugely impressive in the Curve’s opener last night, walking five against three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He did get a bunch of groundballs, which is encouraging. Jeff Locke pitches for them tonight. On the offensive side, they’ve got the Pirates two best hitting prospects right now. Tony Sanchez picked up where he left off before his jaw injury last year with a single and a walk and Starling Marte drew a walk, but struck out twice. They’ve also got Brock Holt, who could push D’Arnaud for the shortstop spot in Pittsburgh down the road (at least in the happy universe I live in where all Pirate prospects work out), who drew a couple of walks last night and Quincy Latimore, who doubled twice. 

High-A Bradenton
Kyle McPherson, who was the surprising addition to the 40-man roster instead of Nathan Adcock, had a solid start in the Marauders Opener last night, striking out three and walking none over 5 2/3. I’ve read some good things about him, though he’s 23 and still in High-A, so hopefully he’ll perform well early in the year and get the call to Altoona when Morris or Locke gets promoted to Indianapolis. The Marauders also have several of the “interesting, but young and thus far flawed” position players in the Pirates’ system; Robby Grossman, Evan Chambers, and Jarek Cunningham will all play in McKechnie early this year. They’ve also got Nate Baker, Jeffrey Inman, Quinton Miller, Diego Moreno, and Victor Black (currently on the DL) all on the roster. 

Low-A West Virginia
Two of last year’s more interesting position player draft picks are on this team, in Drew Maggi and Mel Rojas. The pitchers here are what will really be worth watching; Zach Von Rosenberg, Zack Dodson, Colton Cain, Trent Stevenson, and Zach Fuesser are all pitching for them now, and Stetson Allie and Jameson Taillon will both join the club in presumably the pretty near future. I don’t know how they’re really going to handle all these guys; I’d guess that they do piggy-back starts with a few of the younger ones since there’s not really anywhere to promote them too at the moment. The pitching prospects make this club worth keeping an eye on, though. They’re coming through Greensboro twice this year, so hopefully I’ll be able to make it up there to see the young pitchers once or twice.