Moving on to look at the middle infielders in the Pirates' minor league organization:

Jorge Bishop --  R/R,  5' 10",  152 lb
Bishop is a Panamanian native who did very well at age 18 in the VSL, where he hit .308 with 9 homers and 41 RBI.  He made his US debut in 2010.  In the early part of the season he got 4 fill-in starts with A+ Bradenton, where he went 3-for-12, which was very nice for playing a few levels up.  He spent the rest of the season with the GCL Pirates, where he hit .257 in 50 games.  He had solid power, with 10 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homers, and the potential is there for his power to improve.  Bishop split his playing time between second base and shortstop and is thought to have good speed -- 12 stolen bases.  He'll turn 20 years old this week, and he should be ready to move up to State College for 2011.

Walker Gourley  --  R/R, 6' 0",  180 lb
Gourley was the Pirates' 13th round pick in the 2009 draft.  He missed a lot of playing time due to an ankle injury in 2009, but was slated to move to State College for 20100.  He also got in a few games as a fill-in at Bradenton in May of 2010, where he went 1-for-8 at the plate, before the State College season began.  Gourley did not hit well at State College, though, and he did not show much power either.  His best month was July, when he had a .204 average and 13 RBI.  He finished with a .168 average, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, and 23 RBI.  Strikeouts are a big problem for Walker --  76 in 61 games (32.8%).  Gourley's playing time was divided between second base (32 games), shortstop (21 games), and a little bit at third (9 games).  There is some question about whether he has the range to be an effective middle infielder, or whether he might be better moved to third base.  Gourley will turn 20 years old in June, so he still has time to figure it out, as long as he starts hitting soon and cuts back on the strikeouts.

Finishing up with the catchers in the Pirates' minor league organization:

Jason Jaramillo  --  Bats: Both / Throws Right;  6' 0",  210 lb
Jaramillo was chosen by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft, and he came to the Pirates in a trade in December 2008.  In 2009, Jaramillo spent the entire season in Pittsburgh, where he was the back-up to Ryan Doumit.  Sure enough, Doumit got injured, and Jaramillo got some steady playing time.  In 63 games, he hit .252 with 14 doubles, 3 homers, and 26 RBI.  Jaramillo returned to the back-up role in 2010.  Through the first half of the season, Jaramillo went 11-for-77 (.143) with one homer and 6 RBI.  He was also bouncing into a lot of double plays.  Doumit was staying healthy, and Jaramillo was just not getting into many games.  The lack of playing time was concerning enough that the Pirates elected to send Jaramillo to AAA Indianapolis in July so that he could get some at-bats and more time behind the plate.  In 25 games for the Indians, he hit .239 with one homer and 13 RBI.  When Doumit suffered a concussion, Jaramillo was back up to Pittsburgh.  Then Chris Snyder joined the team, and Jaramillo went back to Indy.  He again returned to the Pirates in September, but again got very little playing time.  He finished the season with a .149 average for the Pirates in a total of 33 games, with one homer and 6 RBI.  In an effort to get more playing time, Jaramillo played some winter ball with Los Toros del Este in the Dominican League (the team managed by Indy Indians' manager Dean Treanor).  He got into only 16 games, and hit .217 with 3 RBI.  In 2011, Jaramillo's fate is going to be dependent on what happens to Doumit.  If the Pirates can trade Doumit, then Jaramillo will likely be their back-up catcher.  If Doumit stays in Pittsburgh, then he will be the back-up and Jaramillo will go to Indianapolis, since he does have one option year left.  Keeping Jaramillo in Pittsburgh and sending Doumit to AAA seems unlikely, given Doumit's big contract.  

 

Two Pirates' minor league catchers, who apparently had some kind of magnetism for pitched baseballs in their heads last season:

Tony Sanchez  --  R/R, 6' 0",  220 lb
The top catching prospect in the Pirates' system, Sanchez was chosen in the first round of the 2009 draft.  He had a 4-game warm-up in State College, then reported to West Virginia to finish the 2009 season, where he hit .316 with 7 homers and 46 RBI in 41 games.  Sanchez stepped up to A+ Bradenton for the 2010 season, and got right back to business.  He began the season with a .348 average, 3 homers, and 18 RBI in April, then "slipped" to .314 with 12 RBI in May.  Sanchez was working around some shoulder stiffness, which may have been responsible for the drop in power in May, as well as trouble throwing.  He threw out only 9 of 61 (15%) potential base stealers.  Sanchez was named to the Florida State League All-Star team (mid-season), and the shoulder seemed to be getting better, when Sanchez was hit in the head by a pitch on May 26th.  He was back in the line-up the next day (as the DH), and seemed to be fine -- he had 8 hits over the next 4 days, and appeared to be just days away from a promotion to AA Altoona.  But on June 3rd, he was hit with a pitch again, and this time it broke his jaw, requiring surgery.  That was the end of Sanchez's season, and forced him to miss both the FSL All-Star Game and the Futures Game.  With his jaw was wired for several weeks, Sanchez worked to maintain his conditioning and keep his weight up on a liquid diet.  He was picked to play in the Arizona Fall League, to help make up for some of the time he lost.  No one gets tons of playing time in the AFL, though, and Sanchez had to share catching duties with the other catchers on the team.  He was still trying to regain his timing, and hit just .206 in 18 games.  Now in spring training, Sanchez is healthy, and he's with the major league club as a non-roster invitee, impressing the management with his work and his work ethic.  Look for Sanchez, who will turn 23 years old in May, to begin the 2011 season in AA Altoona, where he needs to work on his game-calling abilities.  With a healthy shoulder, he should have a better time against opposing base runners too.