Baseball America released their midseason top 50 prospect list and even with the promotion of Gregory Polanco, the Pittsburgh Pirates placed five players on the list.
The Pirates on the list, along with their ranking are:
21. Tyler Glasnow
24. Jameson Taillon
35. Josh Bell
37. Nick Kingham
43. Austin Meadows
The pre-season top 100 from Baseball America had Taillon ranked #22, tops among this group of the players. Glasnow jumped all the way up from the 46th spot and Austin Meadows moved up six spots despite just beginning his season last week. Nick Kingham was 64th, so he also saw a big jump, while Josh Bell was the most improved, as he didn’t even place in the top 100.
A couple notes on the list. The Twins also placed five players in the top 50. This list doesn’t include any draft picks, so that is why a player like Meadows can move up. Promotions to the Majors have eliminated some of the better players.
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.
Great to see!
Aweseome. I can’t get enough of these lists. Any indication on how close McGuire and Hanson were to making the list? I would imagine they were in the 65-80 range………
Good to see Kingham getting his due. I know Keith Law likes him too if decides to do another list soon.
I doubt Hanson is even getting top 100 consideration. Not saying I don’t like him, but the sub 750 OPS and mountain of errors aren’t helping him.
By the way,Kevin Young,Francisco Lindor,the excellent Indians SS prospect, has an OPS of .754. Just a little reminder that sometimes seeing a prospect play is to be better able to judge them than by looking at Fangraph numbers alone.
Yes and Lindor is one of the smoothest defenders in all of baseball at SS. Also, regardless of how you feel about numbers, Lindor shows superior plate discipline compared to Hanson
You bet Kevin. Supposedly, the Paulino kid the Indians also have, may have an even higher ceiling than Lindor !
Young infielders for days over there in Cleveland
I wish more people realized this. There is no substitute for watching a player play. They are after all human. Some players exceed the projections and some fall way short.
If you think he can stick at SS……which……is iffy, then he’s clearly top 100. But when I saw Pedro airmail that ball in the first inning yesterday I thought there’s just no way in hell I can see an Alvarez/Hanson left side of the infield next year. No way unless Hanson magically cures his fielding or his hitting explodes to the next level.
This isn’t meant to be snarky deacs,but if you have ever seen Hanson hit a line drive double,or a flyball HR from the leadoff spot,you would understand why the organization will give him every opportunity to get to MLB. His bat speed is pretty incredible. And he is playing in AA during his 21yr age.
Ew, yea you’re probably looking at records coming from that side of the field, and not in a good way.