Monthly Archives: March, 2011

Continuing to look at the middle infielders in the Pirates' minor league organization:

Kelson Brown  --  R/R,  6' 3",  170 lb
Brown was the Pirates' 34th round draft pick in 2010, coming off some surprising success as a senior at Linfield College (.443 average, 9 homers).  Brown reported to State College, where he was a little "old" for the level.  He jumped out to a big start, hitting .348 with 6 RBI in June.  That dropped to .247 in July, though his RBI bumped up to 12.  He settled out to .298 with 7 RBI in August.  The overall average for the season was .293, with 12 doubles  and 26 RBI.  Despite being listed as a shortstop, Brown played most of his games (40) at third base, where he did well -- just 3 errors.  He also played 11 games at second base and 3 at short.  He's said to have a strong arm, and that's probably why he played so much at third.  the 23-year-old Brown should be moved up to West Virginia for 2011.  It will be interesting to see if his hitting continues.

Drew Maggi  -- R/R,  6' 0",  175 lb
Maggi was chosen in the 15th round of the 2010 draft.  He signed late, so did not get to State College until August, and got into only 18 games for the Spikes.  All of those games were played at shortstop, where Maggi made 8 errors.  He struggled at the plate, too, hitting just .156, with 3 doubles and 2 RBI.  He struck out 15 times in 18 games (23.4%), though he also walked 8 times (11.8%).  He stole 5 bases, and has good speed.  The tough start to his pro career could be just a fluke, or just getting used to the pro life (and wooden bats) and a layoff after finishing the college season.  The Pirates think highly of him, and it's likely that he'll be promoted to West Virginia anyway.  Maggi will turn 22 years old in May.

Moving on to look at the middle infielders in the Pirates' minor league organization:

Jorge Bishop --  R/R,  5' 10",  152 lb
Bishop is a Panamanian native who did very well at age 18 in the VSL, where he hit .308 with 9 homers and 41 RBI.  He made his US debut in 2010.  In the early part of the season he got 4 fill-in starts with A+ Bradenton, where he went 3-for-12, which was very nice for playing a few levels up.  He spent the rest of the season with the GCL Pirates, where he hit .257 in 50 games.  He had solid power, with 10 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homers, and the potential is there for his power to improve.  Bishop split his playing time between second base and shortstop and is thought to have good speed -- 12 stolen bases.  He'll turn 20 years old this week, and he should be ready to move up to State College for 2011.

Walker Gourley  --  R/R, 6' 0",  180 lb
Gourley was the Pirates' 13th round pick in the 2009 draft.  He missed a lot of playing time due to an ankle injury in 2009, but was slated to move to State College for 20100.  He also got in a few games as a fill-in at Bradenton in May of 2010, where he went 1-for-8 at the plate, before the State College season began.  Gourley did not hit well at State College, though, and he did not show much power either.  His best month was July, when he had a .204 average and 13 RBI.  He finished with a .168 average, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, and 23 RBI.  Strikeouts are a big problem for Walker --  76 in 61 games (32.8%).  Gourley's playing time was divided between second base (32 games), shortstop (21 games), and a little bit at third (9 games).  There is some question about whether he has the range to be an effective middle infielder, or whether he might be better moved to third base.  Gourley will turn 20 years old in June, so he still has time to figure it out, as long as he starts hitting soon and cuts back on the strikeouts.

Finishing up with the catchers in the Pirates' minor league organization:

Jason Jaramillo  --  Bats: Both / Throws Right;  6' 0",  210 lb
Jaramillo was chosen by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft, and he came to the Pirates in a trade in December 2008.  In 2009, Jaramillo spent the entire season in Pittsburgh, where he was the back-up to Ryan Doumit.  Sure enough, Doumit got injured, and Jaramillo got some steady playing time.  In 63 games, he hit .252 with 14 doubles, 3 homers, and 26 RBI.  Jaramillo returned to the back-up role in 2010.  Through the first half of the season, Jaramillo went 11-for-77 (.143) with one homer and 6 RBI.  He was also bouncing into a lot of double plays.  Doumit was staying healthy, and Jaramillo was just not getting into many games.  The lack of playing time was concerning enough that the Pirates elected to send Jaramillo to AAA Indianapolis in July so that he could get some at-bats and more time behind the plate.  In 25 games for the Indians, he hit .239 with one homer and 13 RBI.  When Doumit suffered a concussion, Jaramillo was back up to Pittsburgh.  Then Chris Snyder joined the team, and Jaramillo went back to Indy.  He again returned to the Pirates in September, but again got very little playing time.  He finished the season with a .149 average for the Pirates in a total of 33 games, with one homer and 6 RBI.  In an effort to get more playing time, Jaramillo played some winter ball with Los Toros del Este in the Dominican League (the team managed by Indy Indians' manager Dean Treanor).  He got into only 16 games, and hit .217 with 3 RBI.  In 2011, Jaramillo's fate is going to be dependent on what happens to Doumit.  If the Pirates can trade Doumit, then Jaramillo will likely be their back-up catcher.  If Doumit stays in Pittsburgh, then he will be the back-up and Jaramillo will go to Indianapolis, since he does have one option year left.  Keeping Jaramillo in Pittsburgh and sending Doumit to AAA seems unlikely, given Doumit's big contract.