Greg Picart

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2004
R:  256/333/291, 86 AB, 3 2B, 7 BB, 16 K, 0-3 SB

Spent the season in the GCL, playing about half the time, mainly at second and short.

2005
R:  301/363/466, 103 AB, 10 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 9 BB, 14 K, 6-8 SB 

Returning to the GCL, Picart hit very well, showing good gap power.

2006
A-:  228/248/301, 123 AB, 7 2B, 1 3B, 3 BB, 24 K, 1-7 SB 

Played at Williamsport and probably lost whatever chance he had to get on the prospect track by hitting 228/248/301.  His plate discipline was bad, with three walks and 24 Ks.  He more or less divided his time among second, short and third.

2007
A+:  236/280/380, 258 AB, 14 2B, 4 3B, 5 HR, 13 BB, 41 K 1-5 SB 

Picart ended up at Lynchburg, playing semi-regularly due to injuries to Shelby Ford, Angel Gonzalez, and Cameron Blair, and Dan Schwartzbauer’s sudden retirement.  He played both middle infield positions and a little outfield.  His hitting line wasn’t good, but considering that he was skipping low A it wasn’t that bad.  He showed some power and had career highs in HRs and extra base hits.  His strike zone judgment was still poor.

2008
A:  253/313/343, 178 AB, 10 2B, 2 HR, 12 BB, 31 K, 4-8 SB
A+:  148/167/198, 81 AB, 4 2B, 1 BB, 12 K 

Returned to Lynchburg as a utility player and didn’t hit at all there.  He moved down to Hickory and was the Crawdads’ primary secondbaseman in July and August, partly because Matt Cavagnaro moved up to Lynchburg.  His hitting improved somewhat.

2009
R:  300/300/350, 20 AB, 1 2B, 3 K, 0-1 SB
A:  308/399/409, 237 AB, 10 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 31 BB, 27 K, 6-13 SB 

Picart missed time at various points in the season due to injury.  In between injuries, he became a starter in the middle infield at West Virginia, alternating between second and short.  He had a very good year offensively, showing dramatically improved plate discipline and decent gap power.  He finished very strongly, posting an OPS of 1.075 in August until a mid-month injury ended his season.

2010
R:  429/429/571, 7 AB, 1 2B, 1 K
A+:  245/302/277, 282 AB, 5 2B, 2 3B, 22 BB, 26 K, 14-17 SB 

Opened as a utility player at Bradenton.  Thanks to an epidemic of injuries there, he got a fair amount of playing time and would have gotten more had he not missed time himself.  He played semi-regularly in April and June and hit .311 and .280, respectively.  In May, July and August, he played much less and hit well below the Mendoza line in each month.  His plate discipline remained good.  Picart saw some time at second, but mainly played short with Brock Holt out for much of the year.

2011
AA:  218/286/259, 170 AB, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 15 BB, 35 K, 3-5 SB
AAA:  000/000/000, 5 AB 

Picart spent the first two months of the season in extended spring training, then joined Altoona when the usual openings occurred.  With Jeremy Farrell hurt, he played a lot at third from late June until mid-August, eventually sharing the position with Yunesky Sanchez.

Picart was be eligible for minor league free agency for the second time, but again re-signed.  He’s been a very helpful player for the Pirates to have in the system.  As in 2011, he’ll open the 2012 season in extended spring training and will no doubt fill in somewhere when a need arises.