Pittsburgh Pirates Minor Primer: Bradenton Marauders & West Virginia Power

Here now is a quick look at two important levels of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league system

While Major League Baseball has already held its OPening Day festivities, Minor League Baseball will do the same tomorrow, April 6th. Today we are going to dive into the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system and give you a primer on each affiliate.

Who are going to be the standouts? Who has the best chance to gain ground on others they are competing with in the same organization? Let’s take a look at what each level has to offer! We are going to take a deep dive into the Class A Advanced Bradenton Marauders and the Low-A West Virginia Power.

Bradenton Marauders

Best Pitcher:

Out of all of the levels in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, this may be the easiest to pick.

Mitch Keller is far and away the best pitcher at this level of the Pirates. Keller features a dominant fastball for the hitters he is facing currently. His off-speed stuff is coming along, as well. Keller is one of the Pirates “can’t miss” prospects currently. The Pirates are a small market team, therefore they need prospects like Keller to pan out to help the organization with future success. Keller is a consensus top 100 prospect pick across the board.

 

Pirates Breakdown recently had a pre-season interview with Keller. You can hear that here:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/306768698″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

 

Best Hitter:

Ke’Bryan Hayes has been crowned the next third baseman of note for the Pittsburgh Pirates. There is some good reasoning surrounding this as Hayes has been impressive so far in the minors despite a run of bad health. Hayes hit .266 in 2016, but showed some solid power numbers with six HR’s. Hayes has a nice frame and it is starting to fill out nicely. He has a good glove over at third and could certainly develop into the player the Pirates are hoping over the next two seasons. For Hayes, 2017 needs to be all about health, as a full season of progress is sorely needed.

Most to Gain:

We wrote about Gage Hinsz this offseason, there are a lot of positives that go along with this kid. However, he needs to develop his secondary pitches. He leans on his fastball a little too much, which gets him in trouble with advanced hitters. Gage does have a lot to gain with the Pittsburgh Pirates, though. He has a great frame at 6’4” and has shown consistent growth in fastball velocity since joining the Pirates. He could prove to be a solid bullpen arm in the future.

Most to Lose:

This may come as a shock to some, but Cole Tucker is on the hot seat among some groups of Pirates fans. Tucker was the first round pick for the Pirates in 2014, he has been less than impressive, to some, during his time in the Pirates minor league system. While Cole’s defense is not a huge concern, he must start to produce at the plate. Last season he only hit .242 and had 71 strikeouts in 330 at bats. Tucker must solidify his role in the Pirates organization this season and show why he was worthy of a first round pick.

 

West Virginia Power

Best Pitcher:

Luis Escobar was originally an infielder. Scouts noted that he could throw the ball hard, so he gave pitching a try. That ended up working out great for Escobar, in fact, it got him a contract with the Pirates. Escobar came to the United States from Columbia, his home country. Escobar was rated the Pittsburgh Pirates’ #16 overall prospect in 2016, but needs to live up to that ranking. He needs to get better command of the strikezone in 2017 if we wishes to further his professional career.

Best Hitter:

It is not hard to see that the Power have somewhat of a talent gap compared to teams of the past. The nod for the best hitter goes to a guy that most have never heard of by the name of Victor Fernandez. Fernandez has steadily improved each year that he has been with the Pirates organization and broke out for a .314 average in 2016. Fernandez will be playing LF for the Power this year. It will be fun to watch him develop throughout the season as he tries to stay hot.

Most to Gain:

Matt Anderson, the young righty out of Morehead State University has a lot to gain this season. He was selected in the 10th round of the 2016 MLB amateur draft, but the Pirates have expectations for this kid. After an underwhelming 2016, which he had a 4.65 ERA in 31 innings, he will look to bounce back strong.

Most to Lose:

It was a tough pick, but we are going to go with Arden Pabst in this category. The young catcher (22 years of age) has to improve his offensive output this season. He had an extremely underwhelming season at the plate last year, hitting .225 with 0 HR’s in 120 at bats. The Pittsburgh Pirates need a catcher in the system to step up offensively. While Elias Diaz is a defensive wiz, there are no power hitting catchers in the Pirates system at this point.