41.5 F
Pittsburgh

Prospect Links: Gregory Polanco, Austin Meadows, ZiPS

Published:

There has been a lot of prospect discussion today on Twitter involving the Pittsburgh Pirates and their prospects. Most of this is a result of the top 100 lists that were released last week. Here are some of the highlights.

**First, over at U Gotta Believe, Imokemp posts a series of GIFs with highlights of Gregory Polanco’s speed and hitting. There are several GIFs where Polanco beats out infield hits using bunts, and also one where he steals a base. It’s probably going to be frustrating for Pirates fans to see Polanco attempting to bunt. However, I feel that adds a new dimension to his game. His speed makes the bunt a weapon, and makes that something for the infield defense to respect. Meanwhile, he’s got the power and the hit tool to line one through a drawn in infield. Basically this is a way of saying that Polanco can beat you in many ways with his bat.

**Baseball Prospectus was lower on some of the Pirates prospects than most, at least in terms of where they fell in the top 100. But that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily low on the system. Jason Parks says that they’re his #3 minor league system.

https://twitter.com/ProfessorParks/status/430726327918809088

**Parks also gave his reason for being lower on Austin Meadows than most:

https://twitter.com/ProfessorParks/status/430723794731167744

https://twitter.com/ProfessorParks/status/430724351944450049

https://twitter.com/ProfessorParks/status/430725616111849473

One of the things I like about this time of year is that you get various opinions on prospects. It would be boring if everyone felt the same way. And I don’t think that a different opinion is necessarily wrong, just like I don’t think that a consensus opinion is right. In fact, opinions aren’t right or wrong in general. They’re just opinions. I always highlight the opinions from BP, among other outlets, because I respect their work. The 2014 season will give us a better indication of how well Meadows can hit, since he should be playing in low-A, rather than the lowest levels of the minors.

**Jim Callis says that Polanco has a higher ceiling than Meadows.

I’d agree with that, especially when you consider that Polanco has a ton of speed and profiles as a guy who could be a plus center fielder. Meadows can play center field, but profiles more as a corner guy in the long-run. I think they’ll both be very good players.

**Dan Szymborski has an article over at ESPN, projecting Keith Law’s top 100 prospects using ZiPS projections. The number two prospect on the list is Polanco, who rated number 13 in Law’s list.

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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles