The upcoming week has always been one of the biggest weeks on the site, and that’s all due to the MLB draft. In our first year, it was what originally got a lot of attention for the site, and gave it a boost from an outlet getting 200 page views per day, down the path to where it is now. In future years, I could always count on the draft setting a new record for the most traffic in a day, and leading to June being the biggest month in site history, year after year. Even as the Pirates have been winning, picking lower, and with so much focus on the big league club, the draft attention has been big.
We treat it like a big event as well. We’ve been following this since before Spring Training, posting every update we can find, subscribing to the best sites for coverage and information, and relaying all of that to you. During the draft, we will have several writers dedicated to finding out everything they can on the new players in the system. The Pirates will be adding up to 41 new players to the system, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know about those guys. We’ll also have input from Neal Huntington, Greg Smith, and Joe DelliCarri on each of the draft picks at the end of each day.
If you’re not a subscriber already, this is the best time to sign up. You can get the best Pirates draft coverage there is, plus all of our regular features and analysis for just $2.99 per month, or cheaper on a longer plan. And even if you sign up for one month, you’ll not only get the draft coverage, but our mid-season top 30 prospect list, which comes out shortly after the draft. You can subscribe to the site here.
Oh, and you’ll also get access to these great features from the last week:
10. Logan Sendelbach is having a good season in the West Virginia rotation this year, after struggling last year in Bristol. Abigail Miskowiec looks at why Sendelbach is having so much success, with changes to his sinkerball consistency playing a big factor.
9. Clay Holmes has had an up and down year so far for Altoona, in his first full year since Tommy John. He’s shown some good signs, and has also shown some bad signs in his return. The Pirates are still playing it cautious with him, skipping him for his next start. They did the same thing with Jameson Taillon last week.
8. The DSL season started yesterday. I can’t think of any games that are less meaningful than the games down there. They’re as far away from the big leagues as you can get, and the fundamentals can look worse than prep ball. But the DSL has been an important avenue for so much talent in this organization, which is why covering the early stages of the careers of the international players is so important. John Dreker previewed the 2016 team, noting the prospects to watch for.
7. Adam Frazier has expanded his versatility in the last year. That, plus his good hitting skills could get him to the majors in Pittsburgh at some point in the next year, with the chance to be a Josh Harrison type. Brian Peloza looks at how the versatility will help him get to that point.
6. This week marked the end of another month, which means we had our monthly awards. Chad Kuhl was our Pitcher of the Month, while Tito Polo was the Player of the Month.
5. Speaking of Polo, he is in the middle of a breakout season, which I wrote about last Tuesday. The very next day, he was named our Player of the Month, and continued his breakout year with two homers and two doubles in the same day.
4. Gage Hinsz made his 2016 debut this week, pitching a gem for the West Virginia Power. On Friday, I wrote about why Hinsz is a prospect to watch. He’s got a fastball that hits 95 MPH now, along with a plus curveball, making him yet another breakout prospect to watch in Charleston.
3. Yeudy Garcia is not having the same success this year as he showed last year in West Virginia. I’ve seen him a few times this year, and wrote about the mystery surrounding his lack of command.
2. Austin Meadows is starting to heat up, having a big week this week that continues from a strong second half of May. Sean McCool writes about how Meadows is starting to show why he’s one of the best prospects in baseball.
1. Finally, with the draft approaching, there were so many stories this week dealing with updated rankings, mock drafts, and more news. You can expect a lot more of that in the upcoming week, along with our full draft coverage. For all of the draft info, check out our 2016 draft page.
