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Morning Report: The International Signing Period Begins

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Today is the start of the 2018-19 International Signing Period, which means the Pirates and every other team in baseball can start signing players from the new class. The focus is typically on the players who just turned 16, or who will turn 16 in a few months, although there can be older signings who eventually turn out to be better prospects. As far as bonuses go, the biggest ones will typically go to the youngest player.

The Pirates haven’t always gone after the highest rated players in the past, or the biggest bonus guys. There aren’t really true ratings on the international side of things like there are in the draft. John Dreker talked about this in the past week, with the following breakdown:

I’ve mentioned numerous times in the past that there is no such thing as a top prospects list for the July 2nd class. People can try to put it together, but numerous problems exist with trying to do it. First and foremost, we are talking about 15-16 year old kids. In the MLB draft, we see how much can change in just the spring, meaning April and May, for kids who are at least two years older. When you’re talking about kids who are equal to high school sophomores, think of how much progress can be made at that age alone.

The other problems are that you’re talking about kids from numerous countries, which means no one person is seeing even half of them. Finally, players who agree to deals early with teams, sometimes as early as age 14, aren’t competing in these showcases because they don’t have to anymore. They’re practicing and training away from cameras. That obviously doesn’t happen in the U.S. because of the draft.

Most of the top rated guys are just the guys projected to get top bonuses, and those bonuses can be inflated by bidding wars because the player is known to a lot of teams. The international side is different than the draft, in large part because of John’s point about how we’re focusing on kids from numerous countries. There are teams who don’t even see every player, and typically when a team finds a guy they like, they shield him away from everyone until it’s time to sign.

Baseball America does the best job of putting together a prospect list of the guys expected to receive bigger bonuses and having some of the best talent. I always view those lists as incomplete, as if you were only looking at a percentage of the signing class and evaluating and rating those guys. When you add the rest of the class in, you’re going to add a lot of guys who have the same or better talent. So the list BA has is best viewed as a temporary guide, and not a gospel.

Right now they have the Pirates going after Sergio Campana, who BA describes as an athletic center fielder with plus speed, and who is their number 35 prospect. They’re also linked to three other players, who John Dreker has information on from an earlier post.

We’ll have all of the signings as they become available, with John typically finding out about the large majority of the signings before anyone else. The international scene is much different from the draft, where you know all of the selections as they happen. On the international side, the Pirates can sign a player today and we won’t know until months from now. But there will be other signings that we hear about earlier, including some just shortly after they happen.

So expect that the Pirates will be busy today with a lot of signings. And while we might have some news today, we probably won’t know exactly how busy the Pirates were in opening this class until much later.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 7-5 over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. They will now play three more on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Pirates will send Nick Kingham to the mound for his seventh start today. He allowed two runs over 6.1 innings against the Chicago Cubs in his last start back on June 9th. The scheduled Dodgers starter is left-hander Alex Wood, who has a 4.00 ERA in 87.2 innings, with 81 strikeouts and a 1.16 WHIP. He allowed two runs over seven innings against the Chicago Cubs in his last outing.

The minor league schedule includes Cam Vieaux, who hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his Double-A starts. He has walked a total of two batters in his four starts with Altoona after walking at least two batters in each of his last five starts with Bradenton. Indianapolis starter Alex McRae tossed seven shutout innings and struck out eight batters in his last start. West Virginia’s Gavin Wallace has allowed four hits and two walks over six innings in each of his last two starts. Fourth round draft pick Aaron Shortridge should be making his fourth start for Morgantown today. Bradenton’s James Marvel tossed six shutout innings in his last start.

MLB: Pittsburgh (40-43) @ Dodgers (44-39) 4:10 PM
Probable starter: Nick Kingham (3.82 ERA, 35:7 SO/BB, 35.1 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (43-37) @ Louisville (31-46) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (4.83 ERA, 75:37 SO/BB, 78.1 IP)

AA: Altoona (41-36) @ Akron (47-35) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (1.73 ERA, 22:2 SO/BB, 26.0 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (38-37) vs Palm Beach (44-30) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: James Marvel (4.21 ERA, 62:22 SO/BB, 87.2 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (44-32) @ Hagerstown (29-49) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gavin Wallace (3.54 ERA, 42:12 SO/BB, 68.2 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (6-10) @ Batavia (7-8) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Aaron Shortridge (5.00 ERA, 12:3 SO/BB, 9.0 IP)

Rookie: Bristol (6-6) @ Danville (6-6) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Oliver Garcia (10.80 ERA, 8:4 SO/BB, 5.0 IP)

GCL: Pirates (4-6) vs Braves 12:00 PM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates1 (11-14) vs Indians/Brewers 10:30 AM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates2 (12-13) vs Mariners 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

From his first game in Indianapolis, Jason Martin makes a nice catch on a sinking liner. Not show from Saturday night, he covered a lot of ground on a ball hit into the gap to help save a run or more.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

7/1: Calvin Mitchell activated from West Virginia disabled list.

6/30: Ryan Haug assigned to Bradenton.

6/30: Pirates sign Alec Rennard.

6/29: Chad Kuhl placed on disabled list. Max Moroff recalled from Indianapolis.

6/29: Brett Pope promoted to Bradenton. Matt Eckelman promoted to Altoona.

6/29: Evan Piechota activated from Bradenton disabled list.

6/28: Mitch Keller and Jason Martin promoted to Indianapolis. Alfredo Reyes promoted to Bradenton.

6/28: Eddie Muhl retired.

6/27: Sean Rodriguez placed on disabled list. Tanner Anderson called up to Pirates.

6/27: Jung Ho Kang and Christopher Bostick placed on disabled list. Eric Wood activated from Indianapolis DL.

6/27: Raul Siri promoted to West Virginia.

6/27: Pirates sign John O’Reilly.

6/26: Pirates sign Allen Montgomery.

6/26: Jason Delay placed on disabled list.

6/26: Ryan Haug assigned to GCL Pirates. Will Reed assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

6/25: Jackson Williams added to Indianapolis roster. Arden Pabst assigned to Bradenton.

6/25: Eric Wood assigned to Morgantown on rehab.

6/25: Pirates release Johnny Hellweg.

6/24: Pirates place Michael Feliz on disabled list. Clay Holmes recalled from Indianapolis

6/24: Jerrick Suiter activated from Indianapolis disabled list.

6/24: Pirates released Kyle Simmons and Cristopher Perez.

6/23: Corey Dickerson reinstated from Family Medical Emergency Leave list. Adam Frazier optioned to Indianapolis.

6/23: Evan Piechota placed on disabled list. Ryan Haug promoted to Bradenton.

6/22: Pirates sign Braxton Ashcraft and Connor Kaiser.

6/22: Francisco Cervelli placed on disabled list. Jacob Stallings recalled from Indianapolis.

6/22: Arden Pabst promoted to Indianapolis. Blake Cederlind promoted to Bradenton.

6/22: Travis MacGregor assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

6/22: Fernando Villegas activated from Morgantown restricted list. Assigned to GCL Pirates.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a transaction of note that could have gone much better if the Pirates were patient. Starting with the players, we have outfielder Nyjer Morgan (2007-09), first baseman Sean Casey (2006), outfielder Tony Armas (1976) and outfielder Ed Beecher of the 1887 Alleghenys. Armas is the father of Tony Armas Jr, who pitched for the Pirates in 2007.

Also born on this date, catcher/outfielder Fred Carroll, who played for the franchise from 1885-89 and then again in 1891. For nine years, he held the franchise’s record for career homers. Carroll batted .281 in 574 games for the Alleghenys/Pirates, scoring 405 times and driving in 295 runs.

On this date in 1892, the Pirates signed outfielder Joe Kelley, who was a 20-year-old minor leaguer at the time. He had 12 games of Major League experience the previous season, but he was still a raw rookie. He played 56 games for the Pirates in 1892 before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles. The deal ended up very bad for the Pirates, who got one half year out of their returning player, George Van Haltren. Kelley became a star almost immediately, despite hitting .239 for the Pirates. He averaged 127 runs scored and drove in an average of 108 runs per year from 1893-98. By the end of his career, he had stats strong enough to get him elected into the Hall of Fame.

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.

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