Two pitchers from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization retired this off-season, while the Pirates recently added two right-handed pitchers from the Dominican.
Lefty Thomas Harlan was a 13th round pick from the 2012 draft, who spent the last two seasons with the Altoona Curve. Harlan was a soft-tossing lefty, who put up decent results as a swing-man, filling in as a starter or long reliever when needed. The Pirates assigned him to the Arizona Fall League after the 2014 season, so they felt there was some potential. Harlan turned 26 yesterday, so he was on the old side for a prospect, and he was likely headed back to Altoona’s bullpen if he returned.
Nick Hibbing was drafted by the Pirates in the 16th round last year, four years after they drafted him out of high school. He pitched well in Morgantown’s bullpen, but he also turned 23 before the end of the season. He likely would have had a limited role in West Virginia’s bullpen this season.
The Pirates recently added two right-handed pitchers from the Dominican. Both pitchers are at Pirate City now for physicals, but they are only here for a short time. They will report to the Dominican academy and they are scheduled for the DSL this year.
Sergio Cubilete is 6’4″, 185 pounds and 20 years old, while Jose Delgado is 6’3″, 195 pounds and 21 years old. We will get reports on them after they report to the Dominican and begin Spring Training over there.
Lefty Luis Diaz is also at Pirate City, over from the DSL, but he is here due to a shoulder injury. Diaz is a 17-year-old, who was signed back in July after he started hitting 92 mph. That was a jump of nearly 15 mph over where he was the previous July. He received a $50,000 bonus.
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.
Did we ever find out why Never retired? He was actually having some success I thought?
Or maybe was told that he wouldn’t be moving up?
I assume you mean Sever and no I don’t know why. He likely would have moved up, as he was highly thought of.
Thx…and yes, I meant Sever. Thanks for interpreting Foospeak.
He may be back, Sever say Sever.
Again the pirates try to find magic in a bottle by taking two more international signings that are on the older side. Maybe they are both hitting 90+ with excellent control and a great change and breaking ball, but if that were true they would have been gobbled up long ago. John, are these guys just roster fill or do they have some prospect status? Need to know more about them.
It’s a little early to grab roster fillers for the DSL, and usually you wouldn’t see those guys come to the US due to the fact they need to get them visas. Roster fillers are usually signed after tryouts during Spring Training(late April-early May), except catchers of course, because you need extra catchers to catch all the pitchers in ST.
As for age, in the case of Yeudy Garcia, he signed later due to the fact he went to college. The Pirates have picked up some nice arms recently from older players. Junior Lopez, Edgar Santana and Julio Eusebio were all signed late and all have some potential.
You have all the info we have on those players. The hand they throw with, their age, their height, their weight, when they signed and where they are right now and why. I heard Cubilete threw hard, but it was just another player who saw him during his tryout telling me about it. That’s not enough to go on to report. Delgado is supposedly a switch-hitter, which is not really an important detail for someone who won’t pick up a bat until(if) he reaches AA
John……..It was probably written by you before, but I never knew Garcia was, in a sense, a “college draftee”. Kewl.
I’ve heard of a few players who didn’t sign until 20 or so because their parents wouldn’t let them sign. Pirates have one now in Huascar Fuentes, who will turn 24 in early June and he still has not played a game in the states yet.