“Firstbase prospect” isn’t a concept that’s highly popular with scouts. They tend to dislike players who are limited to first for a several reasons. One is that such a player has to hit extremely well to advance. Another is that athleticism does matter for hitters, so in many cases a player lacking it may not hit as well as needed at higher levels. A player with any athleticism at all will usually play a more challenging position in high school or even college. In fact, most major league firstbasemen started off at other positions. As a result, teams may not specifically look for firstbasemen in stocking their minor league rosters, instead figuring they’ll shift somebody there.
Still, the Pirates right now have an unusual number of firstbasemen in their system who may have the hitting p...
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