Comments on: First Pitch: Some Perspective on Prospect Rankings

By: Tim Williams

Tim Williams — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:44:00 +0000

Yes, it should. It’s going to take a while before I get used to typing State College. I was stopping myself from typing “Lynchburg” until about half way through the 2010 season, which was their first year in Bradenton.

By: derekbellstutu

derekbellstutu — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:32:00 +0000

“Some might not even make it past State College.”
This should read Jamestown, correct? My apologies if I’m wrong.
Here’s hoping the talent in the minors increases & pushes through to the parent club. GO BUCS!

By: Ian Rothermund

Ian Rothermund — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:05:00 +0000

Ultimately that’s what prospecting is. Whether its business or professional sports, anytime the word “prospect” gets thrown around it implies no guarantees. The job of the organization is to simply obtain a better average quality of the crap they’re throwing at the wall. If you had any other impressions of how this worked, then let me be the first to welcome you to reality.

By: TonyPenaforHOF

TonyPenaforHOF — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:31:00 +0000

Anyone else read Randy Linville’s post yesterday on this site?

http://www.piratesprospects.com/2012/09/pirates-place-four-in-gcl-top-20-prospects.html

While I am happy with the fact the Pirates are so well represented, the list in the above mentioned post tells us not to read too much into these rankings.

By: Tim Williams

Tim Williams — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Development definitely doesn’t stop when you are promoted to the majors. Players need to make the successful jump, then adjust to any adjustments made against them. A key example of this is Alvarez. He made the jump in 2010. Adjustments were made against him in 2011. He’s now adjusting back in 2012, and I wouldn’t say he’s done improving on his game.

By: Lee Young

Lee Young — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:13:00 +0000

Well said leadoff

By: Tim Williams

Tim Williams — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Taillon’s injury came pre-2011. I knew about it during Spring Training that year. But it was so minor that it wasn’t even worth mentioning.

By: leadoff

leadoff — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:21:00 +0000

Just pointing out the hand to hand drills was not part of the Navy Seal training and Huntington said Taillon did not participate in the Navy Seal training. He also said there are other organizations that do the same training.
The Pittsburgh Penquins did it and it was a great thing, I guess anything Mario okays is a great thing.

By: leadoff

leadoff — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:17:00 +0000

The Pirates development of minor league players IMO is going very well.
This column does not tell the whole story however, because it is only focused on minor league development.
There are two development processes for a player in every system.
1. Minor league development, 0-6 years on average
2. Major league development, 0-4 years on average
At this point in time the Pirates minor league talent that has gone to the major league level has not been there long enough to fully develop, not even McCutchen. This is why I can’t draw very many conclusions from anything they do. One day they look like world beaters, the next they look like trash, thats not uncommon with developing players.
Next year you should see a better Marte, Walker, Presley, Tabata, Locke, McPherson.
Some of these players will not develop at the major league level simply because they won’t get a chance, like an Alvarez did.
Mercer or Holt might never make it or might do well for someone else, because they just will not play enough, the Pirates have a manager that likes to use about 22 of his 25 players most of the time.

By: Lee Young

Lee Young — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:10:00 +0000

I thought NH said that JT was NOT hurt in the drills?? Thought I read that somewhere/

Other than that, I agree with you.