The Pittsburgh Pirates will have a lot of new international players in minor league camp this year, with 39 guys making the jump to the US for Spring Training. Not all of these players are guaranteed to stay in the US. There have been several cases where a player spends time in Spring Training, only to return to the DSL for the start of the season. However, it seems that in this case, the Pirates will have a lot of guys coming up, mostly due to the addition of the Bristol Pirates.
With one additional farm team to fill, the Pirates will need plenty of extra players, and not all of those players will be coming from the 2014 draft. So it makes sense that they will basically be bringing up enough players from the DSL for one and a half teams, since those guys will now be needed for two short season teams at the rookie ball level.
Here is a list of the players who are already in camp, or who are expected to be in camp this year. The notable players are highlighted below the list.
Dario Agrazal
Alexis Bastardo
Omar Basulto
Jose Batista
Marcus Beltrez
Luis Benitez
Reggie Cerda
Bealyn Chourio
Remy DeAza
Michael De La Cruz
Christopher DeLeon
Edgar Figueroa
Miguel Ferreras
Deybi Garcia
Hector Garcia
Rudy Guzman
Cristian Henriquez
Nick Hutchings
Sam Kennelly
Jen-Lei Liao
Junior Lopez
Arquimedes Lorenzo
Carlos Marquez
Andres Mendoza
Jonathan Minier
Carlos Munoz
Edgard Munoz
Gerardo Navarro
Jesus Paredes
Tito Polo
Horelbin Ramos
Jose Regalado
Pablo Reyes
Ramon Rodriguez
Carlos Ruiz
Jose Salazar
Dan Urbina
Jandy Vasquez
Eduardo Vera
The Guys to Watch
Michael De La Cruz – He’s the top prospect coming out of the DSL this year, and our 20th best prospect in the system. Read about him here.
Alexis Bastardo, Tito Polo, Jose Regalado, Pablo Reyes, Dario Agrazal – All made John Dreker’s top ten prospects from the 2013 DSL Pirates. You can read their scouting reports at that link.
Jose Batista, Eduardo Figueroa, Rudy Guzman, Christian Henriquez, Carlos Munoz, Ramon Rodriguez, Dan Urbina, Eduardo Vera – All of these guys were on the “ten more to watch” list from the above 2013 DSL link.
Jen-Lei Liao – A 6′ 6″ pitcher who was recently signed out of Taiwan. Read about him here and here.
Sam Kennelly and Nick Hutchings – Both players were signed out of Australia during the 2012-13 signing period. Kennelly, a shortstop, received a $225,000 bonus, and has three brothers in pro ball, all playing in the minors. John Dreker profiled Kennelly over the off-season.
