While four of the Pirates’ top five prospects are infielders -- Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero -- there is an encouraging group of pitchers as well.
Quinn Priester leads the pack of pitchers, but there are plenty of others. Brennan Malone and Eddy Yean are two high-upside, albeit young, arms who came over in the Starling Marte and Josh Bell trades. Five of the Pirates’ six picks in the amateur draft last June were pitchers. They picked up Jose Soriano and Luis Oviedo in the Rule 5 draft, both of whom hit the upper-90s with their fastball and could play a role in the bullpen going forward.
That’s just some the players they have acquired over the past 13 months, not counting others who were already in the system.
“If you look at the group of pitchers who we’re starting to assemble more at the A ball level and Short Season level, we’re starting to get into numbers where we have conversations about who’s going to be in the rotation in Greensboro, and it’s a tough conversation, and that’s a good signal,” Ben Cherington said in a Zoom call from Pirate City Sunday. “It doesn’t mean it’s enough, for sure. We’ve got to continue to add and really, we’ve got to continue to develop. And that’s probably what we’re most excited about right now in 2021, is just more reps with our guys -- pitchers in the case of this question -- throughout the organization to see how we can help them take the next steps.”
All of those pitchers listed above also have something else in common: They didn’t pitch in a competitive game last year. How exactly does one manage dozens of pitchers who haven't played in a game in almost 18 months?
Pitchers were able to throw bullpens and sim games at home and receive virtual coaching, but outside of the instructional league in October, the team has not not been able to see these young pitchers in-person for about a year.
That wave of pitching in a couple years will determine if the team’s rebuild is successful or not, and almost all of the top pitching prospects are a couple years from the Majors. The 2021 season is going to be pivotal for their development, but workloads are going to have to be managed.
“What we want to do is with each pitcher we want to look at every piece of information we have, which includes the history and where they're coming from, what their health history is, what their workload history is, what their offseason looked like, etcetera, everything that's happened to this point,” Cherington said. “Then we want to track everything that happens from this point moving forward. Throwing volume. Daily throwing volume. Game outings, game pitches, velocity, spin, what our travel looks like, how much they're sleeping. As much as we can reasonably learn about each guy and then just use that to make informed decisions. We'd rather not put sort of arbitrary innings numbers on guys right now.”
Things are going to be fluid in the majors as well. While Derek Shelton has said the Pirates will start the season with a five-man rotation, they might need to adapt midseason and have their starters piggyback or shorten their outings to manage workloads. The coaching staff wants players to be honest about how they are feeling, and if they are, they will make any adjustments from there. The Pirates need innings out of those guys, but they can’t push them to the point that they break.
The same goes for the prospects. During the call, Cherington told the story of a pitching coach he knew that had a surefire way of making sure pitchers don’t get hurt. “We'll just keep them on the couch all year! They won't throw a ball.”
“We're not going to do that,” Cherington said. “We've got to keep getting better, which means they're going to be out there practicing and pitching in games and we'll be as thoughtful as we can about helping them stay healthy, but we're not going to stop the process of getting better."
MORE FROM CHERINGTON
• Some quick injury notes on the eve of the Pirates' first full-team workout Monday: Gregory Polanco has "no issues" in his left wrist after fracturing it in winter ball. Left-hander Austin Davis had some elbow soreness over the offseason but will be in games early this spring. Soriano is on track with his recovery from Tommy John surgery last February. He's on the 60-day injured list now but should be ready to pitch in the Majors midseason.
• After the additions of Todd Frazier and Hunter Owen, the Pirates now have 72 players in Pirate City. The league permits up to 75, per the health and safety protocols, but 72 might be enough for the Pirates. At least for now.
"That will just give us a little room if there are additions during spring training — free agent, waiver, trade opportunities," Cherington said. "Give us a little room to consider those. We’ll keep looking, but we’re about where we wanted to be to start camp."
Cherington reiterated later in the call that the Pirates are still in conversations with free agents and are open to other ways of adding pitching depth.
As for the possibility of the Pirates perhaps subtracting to that group -- i.e. trading a player -- Cherington said he will "continue to keep the phone on and see if there’s opportunities," but that there is nothing on the horizon right now.
• Cruz is in Bradenton, Fla. and will be a full participant in camp.
His position going forward is still a question. Cherington once again affirmed that he believes Cruz could play shortstop in the Majors. Scouts and publications that track prospects are skeptical of that.
And for the first time with the Pirates, Cruz could be seeing some work at a position other than shortstop this spring training.
"We also know that players need to be exposed to other positions," Cherington said. "I don't know if many, or any players at the Major League level, didn't at least get some exposure to another position, some reps at another position as they get closer to the big leagues, and then often when they get to the big leagues. So we just want to make sure we cover that with Oneil and with every player here, really. You'll see other players moving around too."
Most project Cruz to either be a third baseman or outfielder, which the latter seeming far more practical since Ke'Bryan Hayes is at third.
• DK has more in his Grind.