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Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop prospect Kevin Newman came in just outside of MLB Pipeline’s Top Ten Shortstop prospects for 2017.
The list was an impressive one, headlined by such illustrious prospects as Gleybar Torres (#1 – Yankees), Dansby Swanson (#2 – Braves) and J.P. Crawford (#4 – Phillies) just to name a few.
Indeed, shortstop is a stacked position in the minors, but MLB Pipeline’s prospect watchers were still high on Newman judging from their comments:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”MLB Pipeline” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Few hitters in the 2015 Draft class were more accomplished than Kevin Newman, who, after winning back-to-back Cape Cod League batting titles and then hitting .370 as a junior at Arizona, became the 19th overall pick in June. He continued to rake while reaching Double-A in his first full season, showing the offensive tools to develop into a top-of-the-order hitter while also holding his own at shortstop.[/perfectpullquote]Even with all of his praise heaped upon him, some still underestimate just how far Newman has come as a prospect. After drafting Cole Tucker in 2014, picking Newman in the first-round in 2015 caused many to scratch their heads. Sure, Newman was a fantastic hitter in college, but there was no indication that he could be anything but a high-average hitter who would live and die by putting the ball in play. He was projected to have little power, and his penchant for putting the ball in play would mean little for his on-base percentage.
Though the power projections that many prospect-gauging sites had for him may be correct, Newman responded by slugging 21 combined doubles in 397 at-bats in 2016 between Bradenton and Altoona. His combined OBP of .389 also impressed, due to his 9.7 percent walk rate in Altoona, where he finished the year.
He won’t grow into any more power, but with his plate discipline and tools, there is no reason to think that Newman cannot live up to his current hype that has taken him from questionable pick to the #4 prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ system.
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Image Courtesy Bryan Green – Flickr Creative Commons
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