On MLB.com, they continued on today with their top ten prospects at each position, going with catchers today. The Pittsburgh Pirates Reese McGuire was named their seventh best catching prospect, giving the Pirates three straight positions with one representative. On Tuesday, Alen Hanson was named the eighth best shortstop prospect, while yesterday it was Jameson Taillon coming in fifth for right-handed pitchers and Tyler Glasnow just missing out on the list.
Reese McGuire was the Pirates second first round pick in 2013, going 14th overall. He signed right away and went to the Gulf Coast League, where he had a .330/.388/.392 slash line in 46 games. McGuire received a late promotion to Jamestown and ended up catching two playoff games. He threw out 44% of base runners between both stops, gunning down runners on 18 of 41 attempted steals.
He is known for his advanced defense and it shows in their ratings. On the 20-80 scouting scale, McGuire was given a 65 for his arm and 60 for his fielding, putting him as the second best defensive catcher on the list. His bat ranks behind his glove, but it still received solid average ratings of 55 for hitting and 50 for power. McGuire also rates as one of the better running catchers on the list.
The Pirates have some depth at the catching position, with Tony Sanchez likely to take over full-time duties in Pittsburgh in 2015 and three low-level catchers, McGuire, Wyatt Mathisen and Jin-De-Jhang all highly rated. They also have some solid defensive catchers in Elias Diaz, Carlos Paulino and Jacob Stallings that work well with the young pitchers in the system. McGuire is the highest rated of them all and while Tony Sanchez right now has the best chance to be a solid regular in the majors, McGuire has the highest ceiling. Most project him to be a Gold Glove caliber defender, that can hit for a decent average and add 10-15 homers a season.
The top ten prospects continue tomorrow with first baseman, which is a weak spot in the Pirates farm system. It then starts back up on Monday with second baseman, Tuesday with third baseman and wraps up Wednesday with the outfielders.