At Pirates Prospects, you will find the best and most in-depth coverage of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. However, the site is more than just covering prospects. To help you use Pirates Prospects, here is a rundown of what you can expect from the site, along with tips for navigating the home page:
Navigation
Pirates Prospects produces a lot of weekly articles, which can make it easy to miss something on the site. For that reason, we have the homepage of the site separated into categories to allow you to keep up. Here is a guide to navigate the site:
1. The navigation bar links to all of the big categories on the site. Any link with an “>>” is a drop down menu, with more links included. The navigation bar also includes links to the products page of the site, and the player pages.
2. The featured articles on the site. These are the top four articles on the site at the time, and not necessarily the most recent articles (more on that below).
3. All of the social media accounts for the site.
1. All of the recent articles on the site, located right below the featured section. At the bottom of this section is a drop down arrow with “Load More Posts”. Click that to load more recent articles.
2. The middle column of the home page includes the latest articles from the most popular categories on the site.
3. If you’re looking for something specific, try our search box, located in this same spot on every page.
1. Located below the recent articles section is another section with all of the latest articles from our most popular categories.
2. The daily minor league schedule, located on every page in the right sidebar.
3. All of the site resources, including our payroll charts.
In-Season Daily Articles
-Minor League schedules, with the daily probable pitchers, and lineups, when they’re announced.
-Prospect Watch, featuring all of the top performers in the farm system from that day.
-Daily news articles providing analysis on the major league team, the minor league teams, specific prospects, or topics such as the draft, payroll, trade rumors, etc.
-A “Week In Review” article each Sunday, recapping all of the biggest stories from the previous week.
Regular Features
-Analysis on the Major League team.
-Live scouting reports on the prospects, including updates on what each prospect is working on from a developmental standpoint.
-Video of the prospects in the system.
-Reports on the draft, including nightly updates on the top performers that could be options for the Pirates in the first round.
Site Resources
–Player pages: With extreme detail on every player in the system, plus profiles from Wilbur Miller.
–40-man roster/payroll tracker: Keeping track of the current 40-man roster, and the projected end of the year payroll, updated whenever a transaction takes place.
–25-man roster: A listing of all of the players on the 25-man roster (projected roster during the off-season), plus players on the disabled list and when they were added to the list, as well as an analysis on each player on the active roster.
–Future Payroll Commitments: A listing of every player on the 40-man roster, when they were added, how they were added, and their future payroll numbers. Plus, guaranteed salary numbers for the Pirates for every upcoming season a player is under contract.
–Organizational Probable Pitching Chart: Keeps track of all of the projected starters for every team in the system.
All of these resources are updated regularly, so bookmark them and check back often.
Live Prospect Reports
We don’t just write about the prospects, we go see them in action. Pirates Prospects has writers covering every team, so we see every minor leaguer live. In a lot of cases we have multiple writers who get a look at the same team, giving you a variety of opinions on each player in the system. We also receive input from opposing scouts, coaches in the Pirates’ system, and the players themselves.
Radio Interviews
Pirates Prospects has been on 93.7 The FAN, ESPN 970, TribLIVE Radio, and The Subway Nightly Sports Call in Pittsburgh; plus appearances on local radio in each minor league city.
Social Media
You can follow Pirates Prospects on Twitter and Facebook, to receive alerts whenever there is an update to the site.
Follow @pirateprospects on Twitter for alerts when there are new articles uploaded to the site. You can also follow our other writers below (we’re in the process of adding writers, so this list will be updated soon):
Tim Williams – @timwilliamsP2
John Dreker – @JohnDreker
Nate Barnes – @NateBarnes_TPN
David Hague – @DHPhoto11
You can follow the site on Facebook, and get alerts on your news feed whenever a new post is made.
Follow the site on Instagram to get pictures and videos from the games.
Products
Pirates Prospects releases an annual book covering the Pirates and their farm system. The 2014 Prospect Guide is already out, featuring reports on every player in the minor league system, including our top 50 prospects. The book can be purchased on the Products Page. The book is not only one of the best products covering the Pittsburgh Pirates system, but you will also be helping to support the site, allowing for all of the above features and coverage to remain free on the site.