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Morning Report: How Good Has the Pirates’ International Scouting Been?

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Apparently, there’s been some poorly informed claims on the interwebs about the Pirates’ international program under former director of international scouting Rene Gayo.  As I’m sure everybody here knows, the Pirates dismissed Gayo, and MLB suspended him, for taking a kickback from a Mexican team.  Gayo ran the Pirates’ international amateur scouting throughout Neal Huntington’s tenure as general manager until he was fired in November 2017.

Scouting of amateur baseball players in Latin America, especially in the Dominican Republic, is widely known as something of a cesspool.  As Baseball America recently chronicled, teams routinely reach agreement with players a year or two before they become eligible to sign at age 16.  Apart from this, two teams — the Braves and Red Sox — got hit with significant penalties for engaging in under-the-table deals in attempts to circumvent MLB’s limitations on international bonuses.  None of this has anything to do with Gayo.  He ripped off his own employer by taking a kickback.  The tipoff that it wasn’t similar to the other incidents should be that the Pirates, unlike the Braves and Red Sox, weren’t penalized.

So how did the Pirates’ international scouting under Gayo compare with the team’s drafting during Huntington’s tenure?  It’s not a high bar.  I looked at Huntington’s drafting record earlier.  Just to recap, here are the bWAR totals resulting from all the drafts of the Pirates and their NL Central peers during Huntington’s tenure:

Cards — 134.7
Cubs — 101.6
Brewers — 82.4
Pirates — 68.3
Reds — 57.7

So has the team’s amateur international scouting done better during that period?  Definitely not.  Here are the bWAR totals of all the players the Pirates have signed during that time (year of signing is in parentheses):

Elias Diaz (2008): 1.4
Ramon Cabrera (2008): 0.5
Gift Ngoepe (2008): -0.2
Gregory Polanco (2009): 5.9
Yhonathan Barrios (2009): 0.3
Joely Rodriguez (2009): -0.7
Alen Hanson (2009): -1.0
Jose Osuna (2009): -0.7
Dovydas Neverauskas (2009): -1.0
Willy Garcia (2010): -0.3
Dilson Herrera (2010): 0.0
Harold Ramirez (2011): 0.7
Wei-Chung Wang (2011): -0.3
Luis Santos (2011): 0.2
Pablo Reyes (2012): -0.5
Dario Agrazal (2012): 0.5
Edgar Santana (2013): 1.2

If you total all this up, you get a whopping 6.0 bWAR, virtually all of which is accounted for by Gregory Polanco.  Stated otherwise, in all that time the Pirates have gotten one everyday player from their international amateur scouting.  Beyond that, there was a backup catcher and, hopefully, a solid reliever if Santana gets healthy.  In an entire decade, only one international signee started a game on the mound for the Pirates, and that didn’t happen until this year and still amounts to just three starts.

Things aren’t likely to change in the short term, either.  If you’re wondering about Harold Ramirez, after a good start in May, he’s come back to earth and now has a 93 OPS+ as a corner outfielder, which is bad.  The Pirates’ upper-level international prospects aren’t impressive, either.  They recently called up Luis Escobar, but it was because they needed a body and he was on the 40-man roster, not because he earned it.  He has major league stuff, but very poor command, which has led to recent struggles in AAA and a 5.0 BB/9.  He’s the only possibility in AAA.  In AA, there are a couple relievers, Yeudy Garcia and Joel Cesar.  Garcia has clearly topped out at the level.  Cesar is doing OK, but isn’t more than a marginal prospect.  The only remaining international prospect at the level is lefty starter Domingo Robles.  He could conceivably reach the majors, but he’s a finesse lefty whose ceiling is probably fifth starter.

It’s possible somebody from the lower levels — most likely Lolo Sanchez or Rodolfo Castro — could come through.  Of course, there are quite a few draftees in the system who could still come through, too.  But Gayo’s showing over a ten-year period was more of a drainage ditch than a pipeline.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates are on their All-Star break until Friday when they begin a three-game series on the road against the Chicago Cubs. Chris Archer will be on the mound in the first game back from the break.

The minor league schedule includes Aaron Shortridge returning to Bradenton. He has been on the injured list since June 26th after taking a line drive off his arm. Before he went on the IL, he was leading the Florida State League in innings pitched. Greensboro has a noon start time today and they are sending out Alex Manasa, who has made 15 starts this season without allowing more than three earned runs in a game. Bristol is sending out Luis Ortiz, who pitched five shutout innings in his debut, and allowed one run over five innings in his last outing. In his second outing, Ortiz gave up four runs over 3.2 innings. Morgantown doesn’t have a starter listed but they should be sending out Michael Burrows, who allowed one run over five innings in his last start.

Indianapolis is off until Thursday due to the International League All-Star break. Altoona is off until Thursday due to the Eastern League All-Star break.

MLB: Pittsburgh (44-45) @ Chicago Cubs (47-43) 2:20 PM 7/12
Probable starter: Chris Archer (5.49 ERA, 88:41 SO/BB, 78.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (44-44) @ Columbus (55-33) 7:05 PM 7/11 (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

AA: Altoona (46-38) @ Erie (44-39) 7:05 PM 7/11 (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

High-A: Bradenton (47-40) @ Lakeland (38-48) 5:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Aaron Shortridge (3.86 ERA, 66:14 SO/BB, 84.0 IP)

Low-A: Greensboro (54-33) @ Kannapolis (39-48) 12:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex Manasa (3.15 ERA, 74:19 SO/BB, 88.2 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (13-10) vs Aberdeen (12-12) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Michael Burrows (4.60 ERA, 18:10 SO/BB, 15.2 IP)

Rookie: Bristol (11-9) vs Johnson City (11-8) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Luis Ortiz (3.29 ERA, 10:4 SO/BB, 13.2 IP)

GCL: Pirates (6-6) vs Rays (5-7) 12:00 PM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates1 (17-16) vs Indians/Brewers (9-24) 10:30 AM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates2 (27-6) vs Tigers2 (13-20) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

From the Home Run Derby, Josh Bell

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

7/9: Pirates sign Tsung-Che Cheng

7/9: Pirates sign Deion Walker

7/9: Brendt Citta promoted to Morgantown. Luke Mangieri promoted to Greensboro. Ryan Peurifoy released.

7/8: Trevor Williams reinstated from paternity list. Kevin Kramer optioned to Indianapolis.

7/8: Pirates release Nick Garland and Mason Fishback

7/7: Mason Martin promoted to Bradenton.

7/7: Braeden Ogle and Logan Stoelke placed on injured list. Matt Eardensohn added to Bradenton roster.

7/7: Pirates recall Kevin Kramer. Montana DuRapau optioned to Indianapolis.

7/6: Pirates recall Dario Agrazal, Luis Escobar and Montana DuRapau. Steven Brault place on injured list. Trevor Williams placed on paternity leave. Dovydas Neverauskas optioned to Indianapolis.

7/6: Jake Brentz added to Indianapolis roster.

7/5: Bralin Jackson placed on Altoona injured list.

7/4: Ke’Bryan Hayes and Pablo Reyes activated off Indianapolis injured list. Yefry Ramirez placed on temporary inactive list. Logan Hill assigned to Altoona.

7/4: Gregory Polanco assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

7/3: Pirates sign Jake Wright and Jasiah Dixon

7/3: Jake Brentz placed on temporary inactive list

7/3: Yandy Vega and Hai-Cheng Gong assigned to GCL Pirates

7/2: Pirates sign a ton of international players

7/2: Mario Garcia promoted to GCL Pirates

7/1: James Marvel promoted to Indianapolis. Blake Cederlind added back to Altoona roster

7/1: Pirates sign JC Flowers, Ethan Paul, Jake Snider and Marshall Gilbert.

6/30: Hunter Owen placed on Indianapolis injured list (retroactive to 6/27).

6/30: Oneil Cruz activated from Bradenton injured list. Chase Lambert placed on injured list.

6/30: Yandy Vega and Hai-Cheng Gong assigned to Morgantown.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, and both were pretty good infielders. Starting with the oldest one first, because his career with the Pirates was very brief. Bobby Lowe pinch-hit for the Pirates on April 17, 1904 and struck out in his only at-bat. He never actually signed a deal with the Pirates, and after making the team as a utility player out of Spring Training, he was quickly let go so he could sign with the Tigers. Lowe played 18 seasons in the majors and put together a solid career, but he is known for just one game. On May 30, 1894, he became the first player in Major League history to hit four home runs in one game. Over 1,821 career games, he hit .273, scoring 1,135 times, while driving in 988 runs and stealing 303 bases.

The second player actually made his name with the Pirates, shortstop Gene Alley. He signed with the Pirates out of high school in 1959 and played for the team from 1963 until 1973, which was also his entire big league career. Alley was the double play combo partner of Bill Mazeroski, and while Maz was getting all the defensive attention, Alley won the NL Gold Glove in both 1966 and 1967. He made two All-Star teams and twice received NL MVP votes. He ended his career with 999 base hits, though if you count his playoff stats, he had exactly 1,000. Unfortunately for Alley, he was 1-for-27 during the postseason. He turns 79 today.

Wilbur Miller
Wilbur Miller
Having followed the Pirates fanatically since 1965, Wilbur Miller is one of the fast-dwindling number of fans who’ve actually seen good Pirate teams. He’s even seen Hall-of-Fame Pirates who didn’t get traded mid-career, if you can imagine such a thing. His first in-person game was a 5-4, 11-inning win at Forbes Field over Milwaukee (no, not that one). He’s been writing about the Pirates at various locations online for over 20 years. It has its frustrations, but it’s certainly more cathartic than writing legal stuff. Wilbur is retired and now lives in Bradenton with his wife and three temperamental cats.

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