Comments on: Prospect Notebook: Pirates Successful in the International Market

By: Alleghenys

Alleghenys — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:41:00 +0000

Great article, Tim. Reading about Hanson got me thinking about Cubs SS Starlin Castro, who was signed in 2006 as a 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic and made his way to the majors in 2010, at age 20. I’m not saying that the Pirates should promote Hanson that aggressively, but it made me wonder whether the Pirates FO would even consider something like that.

If Castro — who has been a good hitter but mostly below average defensively for the Cubs — had been in the Pirates’ system, when would he have arrived in the majors (irrespective of the player displaced)? While the Cubs aren’t a winning team, it’s hard to say that Castro’s promotion was a mistake, given his MLB production to date.

Again, I’m not advocating that Hanson be the Pirates’ starting SS any time soon. Rather, I’m posing the question of whether the front office would consider that type of aggressive promotion, in general. (Of course, the club hasn’t had many/any players that would make this an exercise in reality the last few years.)

By: Ian Rothermund

Ian Rothermund — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:23:00 +0000

They also don’t really play any other sports either. There are tons of different options for Americans, whereas in latin america, it’s either baseball or soccer. If all the United States participated in were those two sports, there would be a noticeable difference in the level of talent in both of those sports. I’m a fan of an example I used where I said; if there was no baseball, football, or basketball in this country, don’t you think our national or Olympic soccer teams would be better if we had guys like Andrew McCutchen and Maurice Jones-Drew as attackers and someone like Lebron James as goalie; being 6’8 and super athletic? Due to genetic variation, there are always going to be athletes capable of playing these sports, it’s just a matter of how many options there are. The more options, then obviously the less concentrated the talent will be in any given sport.

By: Kirk Weaver

Kirk Weaver — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:57:00 +0000

Latin America seems to be a hot bed for talent and strides ahead of its american counterparts

By: Lee Young

Lee Young — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:37:00 +0000

I’m rooting for Jin-De Jhang. I LOVE the name!

Great writeup and makes me kinda overlook the somewhat (but not total) disappointment of the American drafts.

Now all we gotta hope is that some of these guys do this in the MLB.