We’re a little less than a week away from the start of the 2018 minor league season. The Pirates still have a few decisions left to be made for each of their full-season rosters, although the most important positions and playing time have been decided at this point. I discussed the minor league rosters today with Pirates’ Director of Minor League Operations Larry Broadway, getting a feel for that playing time breakdown.
Here are the lineups and rotations for each Pirates’ minor league club, along with analysis on the playing time and roster makeup for each club. We will have individual club previews coming next week, with the top ten prospects at each level.
Indianapolis
C – Jacob Stallings/Ryan Lavarnway
1B – Eric Wood/Erich Weiss
2B – Kevin Kramer
SS – Kevin Newman
3B – Jose Osuna
LF – Austin Meadows
CF – Chris Bostick
RF – Jordan Luplow
DH – Max Moroff
Rotation – Austin Coley, Tyler Eppler, Clay Holmes, Nick Kingham, Alex McRae
Other Notable Players – Todd Cunningham (OF), Tanner Anderson (RHP), Kyle Crick (RHP), Casey Sadler (RHP), Kevin Siegrist (LHP)
Analysis – Indianapolis will start the year with 12 position players and 13 pitchers, just like in Pittsburgh. That will be interesting when the Pirates get back to 13 and 12, as one of these position players will come up. I’d expect a position player to be called up from Altoona at that point.
Indianapolis will have Kevin Kramer primarily playing second base, while getting some work at shortstop. Kevin Newman will be in the opposite situation, primarily at shortstop, but getting some work at second.
Max Moroff will get work at second, short, and third. Jose Osuna will get a lot of work at third base early in the year, then will bounce around, adding first base and the outfield. The DH spot will help keep all four guys in the lineup on a regular basis. I wouldn’t be surprised if Moroff is the guy who gets called up when the Pirates need a position player.
Eric Wood and Erich Weiss will split time at first base. Jacob Stallings and Ryan Lavarnway will split time behind the plate, with Stallings getting more time.
Austin Meadows will bounce around the outfield, while Jordan Luplow will play both corners. Todd Cunningham will also factor into the outfield mix.
Casey Sadler and Tanner Anderson will get innings out of the bullpen, and could start if one of the regular starters goes down with an injury or gets called up to Pittsburgh at some point. Kevin Siegrist is also expected to be with Indianapolis, as no team has added him to their 25-man roster.
Altoona
C – Christian Kelley
1B – Will Craig
2B – Stephen Alemais
SS – Cole Tucker
3B – Ke’Bryan Hayes
LF – Jason Martin
CF – Elvis Escobar
RF – Bryan Reynolds
DH – Logan Hill
Rotation – Dario Agrazal, JT Brubaker, Taylor Hearn, Mitch Keller, Brandon Waddell
Other Notable Players – Wyatt Mathisen (3B), Pablo Reyes (UTIL), Jerrick Suiter (1B/OF), Jake Brentz (LHP), Yeudy Garcia (RHP), Bret Helton (RHP), Logan Sendelbach (RHP)
Analysis – The Altoona lineup is pretty set from day-to-day. The one area of variance would be the outfield, where Logan Hill will mix in with the other three starters.
They have a lot of options on the bench, with five bench players (Jackson Williams, Kevin Krause, Wyatt Mathisen, Pablo Reyes, and Jerrick Suiter) traveling with the team, and only four spots available. My guess is that one of those bench guys would go to Indianapolis when players start moving up.
Bret Helton and Logan Sendelbach would be the guys to get innings if a starter gets injured or moves up early in the year.
The Altoona roster looks strong across the board, with a very promising infield prospect group, along with interesting outfielders from the Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen trades, and good pitching led by top prospect Mitch Keller.
Bradenton
C – Jason Delay
1B – Albert Baur/Lucas Tancas
2B – Trae Arbet
SS – Adrian Valerio
3B – Hunter Owen
LF – Tyler Gaffney
CF – Jared Oliva
RF – Bligh Madris
DH – Clark Eagan
Rotation – Luis Escobar, Gage Hinsz, James Marvel, Oddy Nunez, Eduardo Vera, Cam Vieaux
Other Notable Players – Casey Hughston (OF), John Bormann (C), Angel German (RHP), Bo Schultz (RHP), Mike Wallace (RHP)
Analysis – Bradenton won’t exactly have a six man rotation, but they’ll have six guys making enough starts that all of the above listed players should be considered starters. Mike Wallace could also enter the mix in the event of injuries or promotions.
Hunter Owen will play third base, but will also get some time behind the plate. Albert Baur and Lucas Tancas will split time at first base. The Pirates will also be giving Tyler Gaffney a lot of opportunity early in the season to see what he can do in the outfield. They’ll have Casey Hughston and Clark Eagan in the outfield mix as well.
The bench here isn’t nearly set, with seven players listed on the travel roster. Of course, the travel involved is about a five to 30 minute drive across town, depending on traffic and whether the snowbirds have gone home. I’d expect some of these guys to remain in extended Spring Training.
West Virginia
C – Deon Stafford
1B – Mason Martin
2B – Rodolfo Castro
SS – Oneil Cruz
3B – Dylan Busby
LF – Calvin Mitchell
CF – Lolo Sanchez
RF – Fabricio Macias
DH – Ben Bengtson
Rotation – Sergio Cubilete, Travis MacGregor, Braeden Ogle, Domingo Robles, Gavin Wallace
Analysis – The West Virginia team will be very promising this year, with a lot of young talent in their lineup and rotation, led by Lolo Sanchez and Braeden Ogle.
One surprise was that Sergio Cubilete will be in the rotation at the start of the year. He was an older international signing who made his US debut in Morgantown last year, and now is getting an even more aggressive push to the rotation in West Virginia.
“He had a nice summer last year in short-season,” Broadway said. “Time to bring him up and see what he’s got.”
Ike Schlabach should also get some innings and a few starts throughout the year. One of the interesting relievers is Blake Cederlind, who will go back to West Virginia to work on a few things, with a chance to move up to Bradenton this year.
The West Virginia team will have 12 position players and 13 pitchers early. Broadway said that the 13th pitcher gets more playing time early in the season than the 13th position player at that level. They also have a group of starters who will play daily. In order to get the young players rest, they will use the DH spot to give everyone a day off from the field throughout the year, with guys like Ben Bengtson, Kyle Watson, and Chris Peurifoy working into the mix on the field.
The position players are unlikely to move up this year, but there could be some promotion opportunities with the older pitchers out of college.
