The Pittsburgh Pirates are a team that must live and die by its prospects. In a new series, PBD will project each of the team’s Top 20 prospects in 2017.
Welcome to a new recurring series here at Pirates Breakdown in which we count down and project the 2017 seasons for each of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Top 20 prospects, ranked as per MLB Pipeline.
Today we take a look at right-handed pitcher Gage Hinsz.
Prospect Primer
Gage Hinsz was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirate sin the 11th round of the MLB Amateur Draft in 2014. Hinsz was drafted out of high school, which should come as no shock. The Pirates have been known to go after prep arms in the past, with notable recent examples being Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon. In fact, Hinsz was drafted in the same class alongside other prep hurlers in Trey Supak and Mitch Keller.
Throughout this series you will notice that every once in a while a player is drafted based on his ceiling, not his floor. That would certainly be the case with Hinsz. The right-hander was drafted so high and paid above slot value based on his intangibles. A big man, measuring at 6’4” and nearly 210 lbs, Hinsz possesses a fastball that could become dominant if he would become more consistent in his delivery to home plate. Let’s dive into what the Pittsburgh Pirates likely see in this workhorse.
Strengths
Hinsz looks the part when he is on the mound, with his large body and downhill aggression in his delivery.
Hinsz currently possess an average fastball that sits in the low 90’s, but he there is room to grow. Every once in a while he can crank his fastball up to the mid 90’s and with the frame he has, there is certainly potential for more. Perhaps more importnatly, he does a nice job of using his fastball to get ahead in counts.
Last season he did an adequate job of generating strikeouts, 67 in 93.1 innings (6.62 per nine innings) pitched to be exact. Another positive when looking at Hinsz is that he is only 20 years old. It appears that there is much more to come with this youngster as far as development concerns. It will be interesting to see how he pitches this year now that he is starting to get some expectations placed on his shoulders.
Areas of Improvement
A couple of areas that Hinsz needs to improve upon are his control and off speed pitches.
If he would fall behind in counts, it was often a struggle for Hinsz to get back into the at-bat with regularity. It was not unaccustomed to see 4-1 walks or even a 4-0 count. Last season with the West Virginia Power, Hinsz gave up 25 walks in 93.1 innings.
Another area that Hinsz will need to focus on is the process of repeating his delivery on a regular basis. The generous upside that goes along with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ #17 prospect is founded in the idea that he will eventually be able to replicate his delivery on an every pitch basis. If Hinsz is able to repeat that delivery along with developing a MLB average off-speed pitch, he could be successful.
Where He Starts 2017
It would be safe to say that Hinsz will probably start with the West Virginia Power this season. It will be interesting to see if he has been able to replicate his delivery at a higher rate over offseason training. If he is able to do so, he will increase his confidence as a young pitcher. Next in the process could potentially be the addition of a few MPH’s on his fastball. This could create the deception that Hinsz is looking for on his off-speed pitches, keeping batters uneasy in the box.
Where He Ends 2017
Hinsz has an incredibly high ceiling, but a low floor. If he is able to figure out his control issues and get one of his off-speed pitches to click, he could see time in Altoona this season. If Hinsz continues to struggle, he will most likely continue to spend time with the West Virginia Power. There may be not be another pitcher in the Pirates system right now that could be this difficult to predict his future success. Time will tell what Gage Hinsz will mean to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
[catposts]Photo Courtesy Billings Gazette
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