The Pirates let the Diamondbacks keep Rule 5 pick Brett Lorin today in exchange for minor league pitcher Robby Rowland. Rowland’s got pretty ugly minor league stats since being a third round pick in 2010, but he’s a really tall guy, which fits Neal Huntington’s Theory of Giants Being Good Pitchers. It’s hard to say how much upside there really is in Rowland, but he’s very young (20), and the Pirates can probably find innings for him in the very low minors. Lorin, meanwhile, is 25 and hasn’t thrown an inning above Advanced-A due to a slew of injuries.
Lorin’s shown enough promise that I had hoped the Pirates would either not lose him in the draft or get him back, but it’s not hard to see why the Pirates probably don’t think there’s much upside and since there should be quite a bit of talent breathing down his neck for pitching time this year, depending on how he looks in Altoona and how the young guys at Bradenton look, I think this is an understandable move.
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