Gregory Polanco will make his much-anticipated Major League debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight. He is one of the most exciting prospects in baseball because he offers all five tools, leading to a .347/.405/.540 slash line in AAA this year and numerous defensive highlights to his credit. Here is video proof that Gregory Polanco can do it all, field, run, throw, hit for average and hit for power. This is a top ten list of his best highlights from just this season, two for each of the five tools.
The Fielder
This catch going back to the wall.
This shoestring catch.
The Runner
This steal of second, followed by advancing to third on the throw
This uncontested steal of second base
The Thrower
This throw to cut down a runner at home plate
This throw to second base for the 9-6 putout
The Hitter
This two-run triple down the line
This RBI double to the gap
The Power
This three-run homer to right field
This two-run bomb off a lefty
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Beautiful post. Let the moving pictures tell the story. I look forward to good hi-def MLB cameras on this guy.
John…my favorite was when he beat out a routine groundball to second. Even Bill Bratzky wouldn’t have done that!
I almost used that for speed, plus he had a triple where they showed him running the bases most of the time. Except for the throwing, there were plenty of choices for each group. A few of his good throws were in game highlight reels instead of individual
I would like to see a comparison of minor league experience of Dave Parker, Barry Bonds, Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and compare it to major league success.
that’s what baseball reference is for. compare away! 🙂
Great idea John, thanks for putting this together. Looks like GP loves the low ball, like so many LH hitters do.
Thanks for doing this, I enjoyed watching all of these videos. I’m excited!