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First Pitch: It’s an Exciting Time to Be Following the Pirates’ Prospects

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BRADENTON, Fl. – Normally my day begins with a trip to McKechnie Field around 7-7:30 in the morning, in order to get morning interviews. That is followed by some writing, and then a drive over to Pirate City around 9:00 AM, getting there when they take the field. I eventually make my way back to McKechnie when minor league practice is over, and the MLB game is starting.

Today I decided to skip McKechnie in the morning and go right to Pirate City where I could write, and then watch live BP. That all changed when I got an e-mail around 9:30, letting me know that Neal Huntington was speaking to the media later in the morning at McKechnie. The minor league coverage for the day would have to wait.

Or would it?

I went to the interview with a few prospect-related questions, but I typically wait for a few MLB questions to pass before I start with the minor league stuff. This time around, the minor league stuff started right away, and it really didn’t stop.

The first few questions were about Alen Hanson. Then Max Moroff and Adam Frazier. Then Yeudy Garcia! And it wasn’t me that asked about him. I was going to ask my “is this the most prospect-laden camp like Clint Hurdle said yesterday?” question, but someone beat me to it. I did follow up on last night’s First Pitch, but that was after a very prospect heavy interview. If there were ten questions, nine of them were prospect related.

Later in the day, Clint Hurdle’s post game press conference started with a question about Jeff Locke, and then the prospect trend quickly started again. Willy Garcia talk was followed by more Alen Hanson talk. Then Trey Haley, who was a free agent signing, but is still prospect eligible.

This is the seventh Spring Training I’ve covered, and the fifth one I’ve covered from start to finish. I can’t think of a single year that has been this prospect focused from the media side, at least outside of this site.

The questions to Huntington are normal, not just in Spring Training, but during the season. That’s mostly how the other outlets get their quoted information for prospects, especially during the season when they’re not covering them live. But the frequency of questions this year have been huge. The same goes with Hurdle. He will be asked about the prospects in camp, but once again, not as frequently.

There are two big reasons for the increased attention on the prospects this year. First of all, there are a lot more of them in camp. More importantly, there are a lot more of them ready to jump to the majors in the next year. For all of the complaints about how the Pirates can’t draft, they’ve got a ton of draft picks in camp right now, performing well and knocking on the door to the majors.

When I wrote the 2016 Prospect Guide, the main article was about “The Next Wave” of prospects. The article focuses on the top guys — Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Josh Bell, Alen Hanson, and Elias Diaz — but also mentioned the guys like Moroff and others behind them.

The Pirates put a huge focus on the draft and international markets when they took over. Some of that approach paid some early dividends (2008, trades, Gregory Polanco), and some of that early approach hasn’t worked out at all (2009 draft). But for the most part, the Pirates were focused on the long-term prospects, adding a lot of prep players and young international players who wouldn’t arrive right away. You’re now starting to see those guys ready to arrive in the majors, along with a few of the college guys taken in recent years.

Overall, it’s a great time to be running a site about the prospects in the system. And it’s a great time to be following those prospects, as this group could not only help in 2016, but could give the Pirates a big boost for years, beyond the upcoming season. No prospect is guaranteed to reach their upside, and I wouldn’t say that about anyone from this group. But the success of this group will be the biggest determination of the Pirates’ prospect evaluation skills, which in turn should give us an idea of their chances of long-term success in the majors, with prospects in the wings waiting to take over for any player who leaves.

**Shameless plug time: the best place to follow the prospects is obviously here. We’re the only outlet who covers all of these guys live from the day they are drafted through the day they arrive in the majors. And we don’t stop our coverage there, detailing what they’re working on after arriving in the majors. You can get free information on the prospects anywhere, but it’s going to be from someone who may have seen the prospect once, has little idea of the player’s skills and development history, and is writing an article that we wrote months earlier. You get what you paid for with the free coverage of the system. Here? We make sure you get way more than you paid for. If you do want to follow the prospects as they make their way up to the majors this year, the best way to do that is by subscribing to Pirates Prospects.

And now, here are the five articles we put up today, ranging from the draft to the majors.

**Pirates Notes: Better Results From Locke, Garcia Showing Off His Cannon. Jeff Locke had a much better outing in his second start with his new delivery. Plus, breaking down Willy Garcia’s arm and his overall prospect status.

**Neal Huntington on Moroff, Frazier, Brault, Williams, and Other Prospects. The very prospect heavy Huntington interview.

**Gerrit Cole Throws Live BP, Getting Close to Starting. Good news here as Cole could be making his way into games shortly.

**Adam Frazier Carrying Momentum From 2015 Season Into Spring Training. Sean McCool writes about how Adam Frazier is trying to carry the momentum of his 2015 season and strong off-season into 2016.

**Draft Prospect Watch: Robinson is Off to a Slow Start, Krook Pitches Brilliantly. John Dreker breaks down the latest news on the draft prospects projected near the Pirates.

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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