Baseball America posted their list of the top third base prospects in the minors, putting two Pittsburgh Pirates in their top 20. Ke’Bryan Hayes just missed out on some top 100 prospect lists this year, so he is well-liked around the industry. That got him ranked fifth among all third baseman by Baseball America. Jordan Luplow hasn’t got any mention as a top prospect yet, but he ranks 20th among all third basemen on this list.
Hayes was ranked as the fourth best third basemen by Keith Law, who was one of the people who had Hayes just outside of their top 100 prospects. Hayes nearly won the GCL batting title at the age of 18 after the Pirates took him 32nd overall in the draft last year. He actually lost it on the last day of the season while he was in Morgantown, getting promoted two levels to finish the season and help the Black Bears in the playoffs. He gets praised for outstanding defense and an advanced approach at the plate.
Baseball America rated Luplow as their 14th best prospect in the Pirates’ system, so they are higher on him than most. After a slow start, he had a strong season with West Virginia in 2015, posting a .264/.366/.464 slash line in 106 games. He led all Pirates’ minor leaguers with 36 doubles and finished with a strong 59:67 BB/SO ratio.
The timing of this list goes great with the First Pitch article from this morning, where we posted video of Luplow and Hayes doing fielding drills and in the batting cages. You can read more on each player in that link, as well as video of Connor Joe, who was taking grounders at third base yesterday.
