Keith Law came out with his mid-season top 50 prospects list (subscription required) on Thursday morning and he has three players from the Pittsburgh Pirates. I’ll point out that the list would have had four, as he specifically pointed out that Josh Bell wasn’t eligible for the list because he is in the majors right now.
Law has Tyler Glasnow ranked eighth overall and he mentions that he doesn’t believe Glasnow will be much help to the Pirates this year due to his control and his changeup needing work. He’s rated that high due to the upside, not his current progress.
Kevin Newman comes in next at #17 and no surprise there since Law is his biggest fan. He thinks Newman will be a solid big league regular with average or better defense at shortstop. That will take some work on the defensive end to reach that goal, but that’s why Newman was down in Bradenton longer than most people thought he should have been. He was working on his defense at an easier level.
Newman is followed closely by Austin Meadows in the 19th spot. Law was down on him early in the year, but has returned him to about the same level he had him at during his preseason rankings. The early season drop was based on Meadows struggling after an injury. That makes it a bit odd then that he returned high up on the list, as he went through an 0-for-21 stretch just days before coming up with a hamstring injury that has him out the last two weeks and currently on the disabled list for Indianapolis. Whatever his reasons, Meadows fits well in this area of the prospect list, though I wouldn’t rank Newman ahead of him.