After posting his top 100 prospects list and his top ten for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Keith Law posted his top prospects by position(subscription required) on Wednesday afternoon. Six Pirates players made the lists, which were different lengths based on the strength/depth of the position.
For catchers, Reese McGuire grabbed the tenth spot. Eight catchers were listed in his top 100, though it is interesting to note that no other catcher in his top ten for the position, ranked lower than fourth on his own team. McGuire was ranked seventh in the Pirates top ten.
Alen Hanson actually made two lists, as Law ranked him(on purpose) as both a shortstop and a second baseman. The shortstop list went 15 prospects deep and Hanson ranked 14th on the list. For second baseman, he is the second best prospect at the position.
Josh Bell was listed as an outfielder by Law, but he is considered a first baseman at the current time. He was ranked higher in Law’s top 100 than any other first baseman, but for outfielders, he ranked 13th overall. That put him six spots behind Austin Meadows, who Law ranked as the second best prospect for the Pirates.
Finally, we get to right-handed pitchers and the Pirates had Tyler Glasnow second overall and Jameson Taillon ranked 11 spots lower. That might sound low for Taillon, but the right-handed pitching group is the deepest group of prospects in the minors.
The Pirates didn’t have any representatives for third base or left-handed pitchers.
You can compare Law’s list to MLB.com’s top ten by position.
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.
Beware of prospects lists. At one time Brandon Wood was considered a better prospect than Cutch.
krinks: Yep, it’s a crap shoot – remember the Angels also had a kid by the name of Dallas McPherson – lots of hype, little return. Then you have the Pirates who will have 3 guys in the MLB lineup in the very near future and their signing bonus’s – Gregory Polanco $150K; Alen Hanson $90K; and Starling Marte $85K. Elias Diaz could be next up, and I am not sure the Pirates even gave him a signing bonus.
John: Watching and listening to all of the traffic regarding Yoan Moncado and the possibility of someone giving $60 to $80 mil to sign him, and cannot help but think that the Pirates have Alen Hanson going into AAA in 2015 with many of the same traits. No, not the exact same projections on the 20-80 scale, and 3 years older, but close enough to feel real good about his comparative value.
Not. Even. Close.
First time I’ve seen the new web site layout…first impression is positive, especially think I will like the previous story link. I started with the latest story so I’m going to assume that when I go back I will see that there are links in both directions, which I also think is a good idea.