The 2014 season has been the year of the injury for the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. Here are the latest updates on four notable prospects who have gone down this month with injuries.
**Harold Ramirez has been out with a stress reaction in his shin. He has been out since July 1st. Earlier in the year he missed a little over a month with a hamstring injury.
**Connor Joe, who was taken with the number 39 pick this year, has yet to play a game. He went to Jamestown, then suffered a back strain, and has been rehabbing in the mornings in Bradenton.
**Barrett Barnes has dealt with a lot of hamstring injuries over the last few years, and returned from his most recent one on July 12th. He last played on July 21st for Bradenton, and is now out with an oblique strain. The good news is that it’s not another leg injury, but the bad news is that he’ll miss more time.
**Austin Coley, drafted in the ninth round this year, is out with a shoulder strain. Coley only made two starts with Jamestown. The first outing saw him give up six runs on four hits and two walks in 1.2 innings. The next start he gave up one run on four hits in three innings.
There is currently no ETA on when these four will return.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
When he is released, we will say: “Barret Barnes, we hardly knew ye.”
I knew Barett Barnes and he is no John Kennedy !
Conner Joe – a mystery when drafted and the mystery continues.
How has our other 2012 draft picks been? Guys like Mathisen, sandfort and Sampson? They may be the top picks form that year if Barnes don’t turn it around soon and stay healthy.
Sandfort was awful in his first few starts but was decent in his last. Mathisen is hurt too but played decently this year after moving to 3B. Sampson has had a breakthrough season. No catastrophic injuries for Barnes but so many pains and strains. He’s a muscled up guy. Is he too bulked up maybe? Sometimes these kids need to find a regimen that works for them and then they learn how to keep from breaking down as much. I don’t know. You can only hope. Barnes is just looking like one of those guys that will always be banged up…obviously.
Well, they did get Meadows the next year for not signing Appel (which looks like a God-send BTW) and he’s looked pretty good so far too.