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Kevin Newman Ranks Among Best Prospects in the NYPL

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Baseball America released their list of the top 20 prospects from the NYPL on Friday morning. Shortstop Kevin Newman was the only player from Morgantown to make the list, ranking seventh overall. The list was called top-heavy due to the amount of first round picks, but overall, it was a down year for talent and depth in the league.

Newman did not hit well during his time in the NYPL, putting up a .226/.281/.340 slash line in 38 games. He did much better after being promoted to West Virginia, where he hit .306 and had a 9:8 BB/SO ratio, to go along with his .743 OPS. Newman won two Cape Cod League  batting titles and hit .337 as a junior, so the potential is there for a high average in the pros, but there are questions.

In the write-up from BA, scouts and opposing managers questioned whether he would hit for any power and if he could actually stick at shortstop. One manager said that he thought he would either be a future utility player or a second baseman.

Baseball America ranked the GCL prospects on Thursday and the Appalachian League on Wednesday. So far, the Pirates have had one player on each league’s list, with the full-season leagues coming up next week.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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