A few weeks ago, Pete Ellis was down in Bradenton providing extra Spring Training coverage for the site. During the process of discussing article ideas, Pete and I kept having the same exchange.
Pete: Have you done an article on [Insert Prospect Here]?
Me: Yes.
We’ve averaged between four and five articles per day on the site during Spring Training, with coverage between the minors and the majors. Pete and I eventually found some topics for him to cover that I hadn’t gotten to yet. But the situation had me wondering if there was anyone else who might have missed a few articles along the way.
To this point, we have written about every single prospect in our pre-season top 20 list. In most cases, we’ve written about these prospects multiple times. That’s no surprise, since writing about prospects is what we do best. In case you might have missed any of the coverage, here is a list of all the articles we’ve written on that top 20 list.
1. Tyler Glasnow
What the Stats Don’t Tell You About Tyler Glasnow
Tyler Glasnow Picks Up Where He Left Off in First Game of Minor League Camp
Can Tyler Glasnow Make it to Indy by End of 2015?
The Change That Will Help Tyler Glasnow Reach His Upside
2. Jameson Taillon
Jameson Taillon’s Tommy John Recovery
Jameson Taillon Feels Good After His First Time Facing Hitters in a Year
The Evolution of Jameson Taillon’s Delivery
Looking Beyond the Numbers to Find Jameson Taillon’s Upside
3. Austin Meadows
Austin Meadows Lowered His Hand Position to Add More Power
The Reason for the Adjustments With Austin Meadows and Reese McGuire
4. Josh Bell
See How Josh Bell is Doing in His Move to First Base
How Josh Bell’s Move to First Could Solve His Late-Season Drop in Power
5. Reese McGuire
The Change Reese McGuire Made to Improve His Hitting
The Reasons For the Adjustments With Austin Meadows and Reese McGuire
Reese McGuire will start the 2015 Season in Bradenton
6. Nick Kingham
Improving His Two-Seam Fastball Will Make Nick Kingham a More Effective Pitcher
What Happened to Nick Kingham’s Command in 2014
Kingham Will be a Mid-Season Depth Option for Pirates in 2015
7. Alen Hanson
The Key For Alen Hanson to Help the Pirates in the Majors This Year
8. Mitch Keller
Even With The New Draft Rules, The Pirates Are Still Loading Up On Projectable Pitchers
9. Cole Tucker
Pirates are Giving Cole Tucker an Aggressive Promotion to West Virginia
10. Elias Diaz
Diaz Continues to Impress Hurdle
How Elias Diaz Quickly Became the Catcher of the Future
11. Harold Ramirez
Another Seven Figure Bonus Player Missing Time Due to Conditioning
12. Adrian Sampson
Don’t Forget About This Pitcher When Creating Your Pirates Dream Rotation
13. John Holdzkom
Has John Holdzkom Totally Shed His Command Issues
14. Cody Dickson
The Mental Adjustment That Led to Cody Dickson’s Dominant 2014 Second Half
15. Trey Supak
Even With The New Draft Rules, The Pirates Are Still Loading Up On Projectable Pitchers
16. Gage Hinsz
Even With The New Draft Rules, The Pirates Are Still Loading Up On Projectable Pitchers
17. Clay Holmes
No Tommy John Setbacks For Holmes
An Update on the Tommy John Rehab for Clay Holmes
The Other Tall, Hard-Throwing Pirates Pitcher Returning From Tommy John Surgery
18. Willy Garcia
Is There a Future For Willy Garcia and Mel Rojas
Willy Garcia Has Some of the Best Power in the System, But One Thing Holds Him Back
19. JaCoby Jones
JaCoby Jones Did Fine With the Move to Shortstop, But He Needs to Cut Down on Strikeouts
20. Luis Heredia
Luis Heredia Hasn’t Pitched in Two Weeks, While the Pirates Get Him in Better Shape
Luis Heredia’s Goal is to Finish 2015 in Altoona
Bonus Prospects
Here are some guys who were either just outside the top 20, or who weren’t in the system when we made our pre-season rankings.
Mel Rojas Jr.
Is There a Future For Mel Rojas and Willy Garcia
What is the Difference Between Mel Rojas and Keon Broxton
Jason Creasy
Another Pitcher to Watch From the 2011 Draft
Jordan Luplow
Who’s on Third? In the Pirates System it Could be Anyone
Connor Joe
Who’s on Third? In the Pirates System it Could be Anyone
Connor Joe Will Likely Start the 2015 Season in Extended Spring Training
Meet Connor Joe, the First Round Pick You Know Nothing About
Stephen Tarpley
How Stephen Tarpley is Following the Successful Adjustments He Made With Orioles
Will the Snider Trade Result in Pirates Finally Having a Left-Handed Starting Prospect
Steven Brault
Will the Snider Trade Result in Pirates Finally Having a Left-Handed Starting Prospect
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.
Rum,
Thanks for the update/links…
Any chance you will be updating this for the end of Spring Training – some sort of grade for how they did and where each will start the year in a single spreadsheet of page [or 2]
We will have our usual season previews for each team, noting where everyone is going, along with the prospects to watch at each level.
Thanks Tim….all those articles would be found on no other site, but here.
I remember as a kid listening to the Joe L Brown show once a week. He would talk about all the youngsters coming up like Al Oliver, Richie Hebner, Bob Robertson, etc. It was so exciting, but very limited.
Your site fills in the gaps and goes behind the scenes.
The Pirates are loaded with MLB Prospect RHSP’s for the foreseeable future based on the 2013 and 2014 drafts, and I will definitely be wanting to get as much early feedback as possible on guys like LHSP’s Cody Dickson, Stephen Tarpley, Steven Brault, John Sever, Orlando Castro, and others. There are a few LHSP’s in the draft, and one that may bob around the #19 area could be Andrew Suarez of Miami, who could possibly start out as a LHRP very quickly – he is a RS Junior and already in his age 23 season, so he would have to move fast.
Personally, I think Castro’s best chance to make it to the majors, if at all, is as a LH RP.