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First Pitch: Pirates Prospects is FREE Today and Here are the Best Articles to Read

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When I decided to do a Free Pirates Prospects day for today (Monday, February 29th), it was just about celebrating the first game of Spring Training. I had no clue that the Black and Gold game would feature Tyler Glasnow vs Jameson Taillon, or that the lineup would include all of the top hitting prospects currently in camp.

Sean McCool arrives in Bradenton tomorrow morning, and we will have triple coverage of the game. Wilbur Miller will have some photos posted shortly after the game, followed by videos and analysis from myself and Sean. We will also have a draft prospects update posting tomorrow morning, and notes from Neal Huntington before the Black and Gold game.

Since Pirates Prospects will be free all day, this gives you non-subscribers a chance to catch up on what you may have missed from us so far during Spring Training and dating back to mini-camp. As a refresher, here are some of our best articles recently. You can browse all of the Spring Training content on our Spring Training Coverage page.

**My favorite article that I’ve written so far has been my analysis this week of what has changed with Josh Bell’s swing. This article incorporated years of coverage and background on Bell, along with video clips breaking down the changes in his swing from both sides. If you only had time to read one article to see what we can do, this would be the one I’d pick. You’re not going to find this analysis anywhere else.

**The Pirates made a big change at first base, going from the high power/high strikeout Pedro Alvarez to the better hitting/high OBP/low power John Jaso. That’s part of an overall change they’re going for this year, as they focus on cutting down strikeouts and transitioning from power to OBP.

**Speaking of Jaso, he went in-depth about his transition to first base. The interview was so good that I just left his responses uncut. The defense still needs work, but you can tell he’s fully invested in getting better, and the work he describes in making the switch is very detailed.

**Elias Diaz has no shortage of mentors during Spring Training, getting daily advice from Manny Sanguillen and Francisco Cervelli. I talked to Diaz and Cervelli about their relationship, while also getting information from Clint Hurdle on what the Pirates hoped to accomplish with Diaz last year by calling him up and getting him work with Cervelli and the pitching staff.

**Indianapolis will have some solid pitchers in the rotation this year. You know about Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon. The other three guys you might not know as much about, although all three are pitching today, so you’ll get to see video of each. To prepare for this, check out the articles we’ve written recently. Chad Kuhl has become a pitcher to watch with a sinker that hits upper 90s. Steven Brault’s breakout season last year has him in the Pirates’ future rotation plans. Sinkerball pitcher Trevor Williams is working to develop his slider into a strikeout pitch.

**As for Glasnow and Taillon, I’ve written about them and have posted a lot of video. Here’s an article from mini-camp on the workout that might fix Glasnow’s control. As for Taillon, he’s hoping that the third time is the charm for his jump to the majors.

**The rotation at the start of the season looks questionable, especially at the back-end of the group. The prospects should eventually help that problem, but the Pirates have taken the approach to build a strong bullpen in order to help boost their rotation.

**This was before Spring Training, but I did a detailed evaluation of the Pirates’ amateur scouts. As a follow-up, here are all of the changes to the scouting department.

**And finally, here is a link to our top 20 prospects this year. It’s actually a link to our number one guy, Tyler Glasnow, but includes a list of the other 19 players, with links to their full reports.

We’ve been posting 3-5 articles per day so far this Spring, and that’s without any game action, any minor league camp, and with just me down here. We’ve got other writers who will be in the mix in March, MLB games will start up, and minor league camp will also start. We’ve been producing more content down here than anyone, and the amount of content is about to go way up. If you like what you’ve read so far, we’d love to have you as a subscriber.

Our subscription options include a monthly plan, an Annual plan, and a Top Prospect Plan which spans three years (and would have you under contract longer than Andrew McCutchen). The latter is $79.99 and comes with a free copy of the 2016 Prospect Guide, which has reports on every prospect in the system, and our exclusive top 50 prospect reports. The Annual plan is $29.99 and gets you $10 off the book. Both plans allow you to buy the eBook for just $5. If you’re not a subscriber, and just want the book, you can order that on the products page.

We also offer gift subscriptions and gift packages which combine a subscription and a book. If you know someone who might like the site, this is a great gift for them, as they’ll have tons of original Pirates coverage all year round to follow. These can be found on the products page as well.

Two final notes. First, if you haven’t already, you should download our Android app (iOS version is on the way soon). The app gives push notifications anytime we post a new article, and is the best and fastest way to browse the site on a mobile device. If you’re not a subscriber, you will need to sign up for a free account to access the app (this won’t get you access to content, although it will get you access to First Pitch each day, which is now a free article). The second note is that we will be having a Pirates Prospects meetup on March 22nd. We will be watching some minor league games at Pirate City, followed by beers and baseball talk at Darwin Brewing Company. More information can be found here, along with other site updates.

I hope you enjoy Free Pirates Prospects day. If this is your only day reading the site, then I’m glad you joined us, but we would love to have you for a much longer period of time. Just subscribe to our very low rates, and you’ll start getting the best and most expansive Pirates coverage there is, along with access to the only site which follows the Pirates’ minor league system live on a daily basis, all throughout the season.

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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