As expected, Stetson Allie has joined the Altoona Curve, now that he’s recovered from him oblique injury. Earlier in the week I reported that Allie had one more rehab game left in extended Spring Training before heading out to Altoona. As it turns out, he didn’t actually miss any time with Altoona, since last night’s game was postponed. Allie will be the starting first baseman, and is a big breakout candidate this year.
To make room on the roster for Allie, outfielder Junior Sosa was assigned to the Jamestown roster.
Also a couple other roster moves for Altoona. Pitchers Kenn Kasparek and Quinton Miller were placed on the disabled list. Right-handed pitcher Brandon Mann was added to the roster.
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.
Another guy who went from pitcher to hitter was Mark Trumbo. His development was fairly quick. The fastest development I think was Rick Ankiel with the Cardinals.
Hopefully Allie shares his secrets for quick healing with the top prospects in the system.
Are they thinking that Allie might be the first baseman of the future and that’s why they don’t want to do a long term deal for a free agent? If he’s in AA, he might be able to come up next summer if all breaks the right way, correct?
They did offer James Loney a comparable multi-year deal to the one he signed. Also, from the sound of things, Ike Davis and Mike Carp each had high price tags, which is why many teams were interested and they are still on their old team. Allie is just being challenged in AA. He has a good approach at the plate, but some pitch recognition issues, which led to a very high strikeout rate. He has slimmed down a little, went to a quiet batting stance and they’re hoping he hits for enough power/average to make up for the strikeouts. Good test for him and it will be interesting to see how he handles the jump. It’s doubtful at this stage that he would be fast-tracked to the majors, even if he does well the first few months at AA and goes to AAA. He’s still raw due to his pro experience as a batter.
Thanks for replying! That make sense. I know enough to know that the change from pitcher to position player delayed him developmentally, but I’m not as familiar with the development trail as I know you guys are. It will be interesting to see how he does.
He did great in West Virginia last year, then moved up to Bradenton and looked lost at times, low average, now power and lots of strikeouts. So it is pushing him a little, but it’s good to see what you have with him and he could always repeat the level if necessary. It allows him to play first base full-time and also Jose Osuna, another pitcher-turned-hitter, can play full-time at first base for Bradenton. Osuna is younger than Allie and also didn’t hit well last year, but he is still very young for high-A ball and could use the extra year at the level.