P2Daily: Finding A Place In The System For Sammy Siani

You could have made a good case at the beginning of the year to have Sammy Siani at least start the season back at Bradenton. He hit .215/.376/.390 in 258 plate appearances last year in Single-A, while missing time to injury. The Pirates promoted him up a level to High-A Greensboro in 2022.

Although he showed a little bit of a flash in June (.284/.352/.347), it’s been mostly a disappointing season for the 37th overall pick from 2019. Siani was sent to the Florida Complex League after going 6-for-38 in July, and hasn’t played in a live game since the 22nd of that month.

Granted, the Pirates have put an emphasis on the back field work, but it still does seem surprising that Siani hasn’t gotten into any games since being sent down to the FCL.

Yesterday I mentioned about how crowded the Bradenton outfield is getting, but that isn’t exclusive to just the Marauders. Their FCL also has a very deep and intriguing collection of outfielders, including Braylon Bishop, Shalin Polanco, and Solomon Maguire. They extend out to others playing well this year — Jauri Custodio, Enmanuel Terrero, and the currently injured Lonnie White Jr.

I picked Siani as a player who may have to repeat a level in 2023, and will it seems like a safe bet he won’t move up to Altoona next season. It’s also becoming harder to see where he fits in the puzzle going forward.

Alexander Mojica In Similar Position

Siani isn’t the only player from last year’s Bradenton team that looks like they are stuck in limbo right now. Alexander Mojica did start the season back in Single-A, and struggled before getting sent down to the FCL. That was at the beginning of June, he played in a handful of games after getting sent down before not playing the last part of the month and all of July.

He made just his seventh appearance in the FCL this past Monday, and is still struggling to find his footing.

Aaron Shortridge Continues Altoona’s Rotation Strong Week

If there was any player in the Altoona rotation that needed a strong outing, it was Aaron Shortridge. He had allowed 12 earned runs in his last three starts (9 2/3 innings pitched), picking up the loss in each game.

Saturday, the righty threw a season high five innings, allowing just an unearned run while striking out four batters. It kept up an excellent week for the Altoona rotation, in which each starter allowed two earned runs or less and pitched at least three innings (five if you count Carmen Mlodzinski, who came in to pitch after opener Jeffrey Passantino). In a collective 25 innings (counting Passnatino), Altoona starters have allowed just four earned runs while walking nine and striking out 27.

Altoona won four of the first five games of the series.

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Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.

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joesolo6181

Triple-A

1 year ago

#379467

What about the scouting of Siani that made him such a high pick. Was it a mistake to take him that high? At this point it looks like it was. Was he picked because his brother was picked in a prior draft or was it that he was a local prospect. The scouting leaves a lot to be desired at this point. Perhaps it is time to change the scouts if this continues. The Pirates have a long history of terrible draft choices, especially those at the top of the draft, where the Pirates usually pick. Why do the Pirates continually pick at the top of the draft is because the players they draft mostly fail terribly.

TNBucs

Stargell Star

#379466

Head and Siani were drafted out of HS in 2019, signed for similar bonuses, and had similar seasons in Bradenton in ’21 (.756 OPS vs. .766 OPS, for example) with the main difference being that Head got about 150 more PAs due to Siani’s injury. This year, though, they seem to have diverged where Head looks to be the better prospect, but hopefully Siani is just lagging behind a bit due to so many fewer reps in A ball (it wasn’t until July when Head started hitting well).