Every year I get an early look at who will be on each full-season roster by seeing where players are playing during Spring Training. The Pirates divide the entire minor league camp up into work groups, usually broken up into the four big-league squad teams, along with one or two groups for the extended Spring Training guys (and most of those guys aren’t in camp yet).
The first list of work groups has been posted, giving the initial idea of where guys will play. The upper levels are up in the air, and only listed as one group. My guess is that most of these guys will either go to Altoona, or will get traded or released. The guys who will be cut from MLB camp will make up the Indianapolis roster. As for the lower levels, those are pretty set, and with a lot of the key roster spots I have confirmed that certain players will be playing where they are projected to play in camp. Here is a look at each group, with some thoughts.
Upper Levels
Position Players
Jacob Stallings
Kawika Emsley-Pai
Dylan Childs
Josh Bell
Kelson Brown
Raul Fortunato
Adam Frazier
Dan Gamache
Justin Howard
Taylor Lewis
Max Moroff
Edward Salcedo
Jon Schwind
Junior Sosa
Jordan Steranka
Andy Vasquez
Eric Wood
Pitchers
Nate Baker
Yhonathan Barrios
Ryan Beckman
Matt Benedict
Jason Creasy
Zack Dodson
Ryan Hafner
Tom Harlan
Jeff Inman
John Kuchno
Chad Kuhl
Pat Ludwig
Jhondaniel Medina
Adam Miller
Joan Montero
A.J. Morris
Matt Nevarez
Tyler Sample
Josh Smith
Chris Volstad
Orlando Castro
Like I said, most of these guys will be going to Altoona, although there is certainly room for some of them to end up with Indianapolis. It’s also possible that some of these guys could stay back in extended Spring Training until a spot opens up, or get traded or released to give them an opportunity elsewhere. The key prospects at this level will be Josh Bell and Tyler Glasnow, when he eventually gets cut from big league camp.
Bradenton
Position Players
Reese McGuire
Jin-De Jhang
Francisco Diaz
Barrett Barnes
Chris Diaz
Michael Fransoso
Wes Freeman
JaCoby Jones
Justin Maffei
Wyatt Mathisen
Austin Meadows
Jose Osuna
Ashley Ponce
Harold Ramirez
Jeff Roy
Erich Weiss
Pitchers
Steven Brault
Cody Dickson
Frank Duncan
Tyler Eppler
Felipe Gonzalez
Luis Heredia
Henry Hirsch
Clay Holmes
Will Kendall
Brett McKinney
Jerry Mulderig
Andy Otamendi
Chris Peacock
Clario Perez
Isaac Sanchez
Sam Street
Justin Topa
Zack Von Rosenberg
Rinku Singh
I’m really looking forward to this team. I posted the projected lineup and pitching staff on Tuesday, and every spot features someone who has a real chance to make the majors. This is going to be the best team in the system this year. The one position I haven’t confirmed has been first base, with Jose Osuna listed at the start of the year. There is obviously no room at first base for him in Altoona. I thought he might move up anyway, with Edwin Espinal projected to move up. But as you can see in the next list, Espinal is working with the guys who will be going to West Virginia. Right now it looks like Osuna will return to Bradenton for at least the start of another season.
West Virginia
Position Players
Taylor Gushue
Kevin Krause
Danny Arribas
Chris Harvey
Andrew Dennis
Elvis Escobar
Edwin Espinal
Tyler Filliben
Erik Forgione
Connor Joe
Erik Lunde
Jordan Luplow
Tito Polo
Pablo Reyes
Chase Simpson
Michael Suchy
Trace Tam Sing
Cole Tucker
Carl Anderson
Pitchers
Omar Basulto
Colten Brewer
Jake Burnette
Austin Coley
Eric Dorsch
Montana DuRapau
Yeudy Garcia
Junior Lopez
Alex McRae
Marek Minarik
Nick Neumann
Dovydas Neverauskas
Miguel Rosario
Jon Sandfort
John Sever
Stephen Tarpley
Jared Lakind
Eric Karch
There will be two themes in West Virginia. On the position player side, it will be a game of “Who’s on third?” As I reported last week, Connor Joe has been taking grounders at third base. Jordan Luplow and Jerrick Suiter — both drafted as outfielders in the 2014 draft — are joining him as potential options at the position. I talked to Luplow today, who said that he played the position in high school, and was moved there by Gary Green and Larry Broadway after they found out this information. The move is simply a trial to see how he handles the position. It looks like the Pirates will go with the best option out of the Chase Simpson/Joe/Luplow/Suiter group, unless they add another candidate.
On the pitching side, there aren’t many top pitchers. Stephen Tarpley is the best of the bunch, and there are some interesting names (I’ve always been higher on Jon Sandfort than most, although he was disappointing last year). The pitching staff looks primed for a lot of piggyback situations, with about nine guys who could be starting pitching candidates.
**Pirates Are Giving Cole Tucker An Aggressive Promotion To West Virginia. I took a look at the Tucker promotion, and talked with the 2014 first round pick about what he has been working on this off-season.
**Pirates Release The Maggi Brothers. There were about 150 players competing for 100 spots on the full-season squads coming into this year. I’d expect plenty of other moves like this in the next few weeks.
**We have less than 100 paperback books of the 2015 Prospect Guide remaining from the final shipment. I don’t anticipate ordering another shipment this year. That means once the current batch is gone, the paperback version will be sold out. You can order your copy of the book on the products page of the site.
**Every day I upload content on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and the video features on YouTube. Be sure that you’re subscribed to all of those sites to follow everything we upload throughout Spring Training (there is different content for each social media site).
