The Pirates have promoted Barrett Barnes to West Virginia. Barnes was previously in extended Spring Training getting extra at-bats and recovering from an oblique injury that he had at the end of Spring Training. The at-bats were meant to make up for the lost time from the end of camp, and get him ready for the season.
Barnes will make West Virginia an even more interesting offense to follow. Currently the best lineup looks like:
C – Wyatt Mathisen
1B – Stetson Allie
2B – Dilson Herrera
SS – Max Moroff
3B – Eric Wood
LF – Raul Fortunato
CF – Barrett Barnes
RF – Josh Bell
DH – Walker Gourley
To make room for Barnes, the Pirates sent Junior Sosa to Bradenton. There’s no corresponding move from Bradenton until Sosa arrives tomorrow.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
My question is this. With Stetson having an absolute cannon for an arm then why waste it at 1b? I’m sure he might not be that mobile but 3rd base or right field would be a good fit. Wasting that arm in a place where it will never be fully utilized seems to be a waste of a gift.
i thought he moved to 3rd base after the switch from pitching. On top of his arm, as I understand it, he is fairly athletic. Based on his athleticism and strong arm he should be able to handle RF or 3rd base.
He has a cannon arm but let’s not forget why he isn’t pitching anymore. He has no accuracy. I was at a Power game and he was on first and he fielded a ball to throw to second and threw it at least 10 feet wide of the bag into the outfield.
Junior Sosa goes to Bradenton, then someone goes up to Altuna, then someone goes up to Indy, the somebody hits the BIG PARK! WHO? WHO??
Good news!