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First Pitch: This Strong Pirates Farm System Will Keep the Window Open For Years

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I’ve believed for a long time that big market teams have an advantage in Major League Baseball. They have the advantage of a safety net, with the ability to make any move they want, knowing that if it doesn’t work out, they won’t be crippled for years, and will be able to recover from the move. The bigger budget the team has, the bigger the safety net gets.

As I noted earlier this week, small market teams have an advantage as well. Big market teams take chances, but they don’t have the luxury of giving those chances multiple years. Typically you’ll find big market teams looking for “sure things” by paying big on the free agent market, rather than taking the higher risk approach of finding value. Meanwhile, small market teams that are good at this can still contend, even when spending almost half of what the biggest markets spend per year.

The Pirates have been competitive for the last few years due to this approach. They’ve built from within (7 of their 8 Opening Day position players in 2015 were mostly developed in the Pirates’ farm system, and number eight — Francisco Cervelli — was acquired for a player developed in the system). They’ve added value on the trade and free agent markets to help support those home-grown players. And the end result is that you’ve got a team that won 98 games last year, and doesn’t look to be going anywhere any time soon.

That last statement isn’t held by every Pirates fan. There are concerns that the window is closing for the Pirates, with just a few more years to compete. There are also concerns that the Cubs and Cardinals will make it so that the Pirates won’t be able to contend in the future.

Those concerns seem to ignore that the Pirates will be returning most of the same team that won all of those games in 2015, with room in the budget to add some additional pieces to replace the guys that left. There’s also the fact that the farm system has a lot of top talent ready to jump to the majors, with Tyler Glasnow, Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, Alen Hanson, and Elias Diaz all projected to arrive as early as mid-season. Those guys are among the best prospects in baseball, and will not only boost the Pirates in the short-term, but extend any “window” they might currently have in place.

But the talent doesn’t stop there. As I noted last night, we’ve been working on our top 50 rankings this week, and what I’ve noticed early is that the amount of talent in the system is astounding. We grade on a 2-8 scale, with 2 being a career minor leaguer, 3 being an up-and-down player (“AAAA” player), and going all the way to 7 (All-Star) and 8 (Elite Talent). We’re pretty conservative with that last one. Very few get a ceiling of an 8, and to date, no one has gotten a likely upside of an 8 in our seven years of ranking players.

This year, when averaging all of the rankings together, we have over 75 players who have an average likely upside of 3 or greater. That means there are at least 75 players in the system right now who could reach the majors, even in a small role. That doesn’t include about 25 more players who have an average rating of 2.5-2.99, who are borderline career minor leaguers and Quad-A players.

That kind of depth is huge. And the best thing is that it’s very well mixed. Sure, you’ve got some guys who are actually Quad-A players, or strong bench players at best (4 rating), and they won’t see an increase over that. But you also have some guys in the lower levels who have ceilings much higher than their current 2.5-3+ likely upside.

That’s been the strength of the Pirates system the last few years — breakout candidates. We cover it a lot, and there’s a reason for that. The Pirates load up on high upside talent, and the numbers game usually results in a few players breaking through and becoming top prospects. Tyler Glasnow and Gregory Polanco are the biggest examples. Alen Hanson and Elias Diaz are two other examples of breakout prospects. There have been smaller scale stories, like JaCoby Jones, Yeudy Garcia, Max Moroff, and so on.

The system still has a lot of high upside talent in the lower levels, with a lot of guys who are still seeing their prospect status trend upward. But it’s not just a bunch of talent in the lower levels. The upper levels are starting to get full as well, and you can really see that with the pitching.

A quick look at the Indianapolis rotation next year shows a crowded rotation that will probably leave some prospects in Altoona. Glasnow and Taillon will definitely start in Indianapolis. If Casey Sadler is also healthy, then he will start at the level. If the Pirates don’t sign any minor league free agents, then they’ll have two spots for Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault, and Trevor Williams. At least one of those guys will be left in Double-A, along with talented starters like Tyler Eppler and Clay Holmes.

With that Indianapolis group, you’ve got six starting pitching prospects who could realistically pitch in the majors at some point next season, and that’s after a few others — Nick Kingham, Angel Sanchez, Brandon Cumpton — went down with injuries that will put them out for most or all of the 2016 season.

The position player situation is similar, as I noted in my breakdown of the infield last week. Aside from Bell, Hanson, and Diaz, the Pirates have guys like Max Moroff, Jose Osuna, Adam Frazier, and others who could make the majors from the top two levels. And the thing is, they won’t need all of this, because their Major League team is already strong. But for those of you who want to see more home-grown depth options coming up, like the Cardinals have seen, then you’re going to get your wish.

Why has it taken this long to get to this point? A wave of top prospects coming up, and a lot of depth building in the upper levels. Part of it was because of how the early drafts went down. The 2009 draft was a bust, and the 2008 draft produced talent, but most of that arrived several years ago and hasn’t lasted until this point, or hasn’t produced any star power (with Pedro Alvarez being the big culprit here). But after that, the Pirates stuck to their high upside approach and started loading up on prep players. That’s a process that takes time to play out, and it’s now getting to the point where the results will be reaching the majors.

If all goes well with this approach, then you can throw all of that talk about “windows” right out the…well, let’s just say that there won’t be any concerns about that. The Pirates will reload and get stronger going forward, leading to a very exciting team for a few years, and then hopefully a team that can maintain that excitement as more top guys follow the 2016 class.

**Would Byung-ho Park Make Sense For the Pirates? Speaking of talent, I looked at the situation with Byung-ho Park, who the Pirates have been connected to, and their internal option in Josh Bell. There’s no clear-cut answer to whether they should try to sign Park — mostly because it’s hard to say what he’ll get. I will say this: Josh Bell, like any other prospect, is no guarantee. But if the Pirates can’t trust Bell as their first baseman of the future, then there aren’t many prospects they can ever trust with a job. This isn’t “let’s finally see what Andrew Lambo can do in the majors” or “this platoon works on paper.” Bell is one of the best pure hitters in all of minor league baseball, and we haven’t even seen the end of his improvements at the plate, or on the field.

**Rick Sofield is One of Two Finalists For the Padres Manager Job. The decision could come tomorrow with an off-day in the World Series.

**Mark Melancon Wins NL Reliever of the Year. Not a surprise here, as he was one of the top relievers in baseball, continuing a trend since 2013.

**AFL: McGuire Triples, Eppler Struggles in Glendale Loss. John Dreker breaks down today’s AFL action.

**Winter Leagues: Alen Hanson Off to a Slow Start in the Dominican. A slow start for Hanson, which has been a bit of a trend for him in every league he joins.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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