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Three Pirates Named to Baseball America’s Classification All-Stars

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Baseball America posted their list of the All-Star teams by levels in the minors. Unlike the lists we have seen from Minor League Baseball recently, these lists are a combination of multiple leagues at the same level, and they take prospect status into account. Since the lists are 15 deep and cover seven levels, then the average MLB team should have 3-4 players. That’s right where the Pirates are on the list, with right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller receiving recognition at the Triple-A level, first baseman Mason Martin getting it for Low-A players, and third baseman Alexander Mojica making it on the DSL list.

The immediate way to tell the difference between BA’s list and MiLB’s lists is that outfielder Randy Romero didn’t make the DSL list for BA, despite being named as the league’s MVP (called the Player of the Year award). He was the best player in the league, but with three outfield spots and a DH slot, he didn’t make BA’s list. That’s not an error/oversight on their part, it just shows the difference in the how the lists are created.

Keller was one of the best pitchers in the International League, so he didn’t need any help from his prospect status. His 3.56 ERA and 1.24 WHIP were second best in the league when he came up to the majors last month. He was also leading the league with 123 strikeouts at the time.

Martin is somewhat surprising, since he spent nearly two months in High-A. During his time with Greensboro, he hit .262/.361/.575 in 82 games, with 23 homers, 86 RBIs and 46 walks.

Mojica, who played most of the season before his 17th birthday, led the league with a 1.048 OPS. He hit .351/.468/.580 in 55 games, with eight homers and a 37:34 BB/SO ratio.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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