Battling Bucs : Checking In On The 2012 Draft Class

The Pirates failed to sign their top draft choice of the 2012 draft but that doesn’t they didn’t bring in a lot of talent from the draft. In all the Pirates signed a total of 21 players and while a lot of them haven’t seen their season begin yet this year there are plenty who already have their years underway. Let’s take a look and see how the group is performing in their first full professional season.
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In Extended Spring Training
Jonathan Sandfort, Kevin Ross, Chris Diaz, Dalton Friend, Thomas Harlan, Hayden Hurst, Jordan Steranka, Jimmy Rider
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These players have yet to play an inning of professional baseball this season and are in extended spring training either waiting for an opening in A ball or waiting for the short season leagues to begin. The most interesting players in this group are Sandfort, Ross and Hurst. Sandfort (3^rd) and Ross(8^th) were taken in the first ten rounds and were seen as deserving of those selections. Hurst wasn’t drafted to the 17^th round but he is one of three players the Pirates went overslot for when the Appel signing feel through. Sandfort and Hurst are pitchers and Ross is a middle infielder who the Pirates could use at 2B, 3B or SS. The other interesting name in the group is Dalton Friend as he is more polished than a typical pitching prospect and is a potential sleeper relief prospect. Also worth a mention is Tyler Gaffney who was drafted and signed by the Pirates but returned to Stanford to graduate and play football.
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Non-Prospect Pitchers
Pat Ludwig, Kyle Haynes, Lance Breedlove, Josh Smith
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These four players were drafted and signed by the Pirates last season but they look more like organizational players than actual prospects. Of the 4 my favorite is Ludwig who posted good results last season in short season ball and during a brief stint in A ball. He has returned to A ball this season and has continued to pitch well holding batters to a .200 average and posting a 4 K/BB ratio. Haynes has also pitched surprisingly well in A ball so far this season but Breedlove and Smith have been hit around fairly hard.
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Non-Prospect Hitters
Jacob Stallings, DJ Crumlich
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Neither of those 2 players appears to be much of a prospect but there is something to like about both of them. Stallings is a light bat, great glove catcher who set an NCAA record for runners caught stealing his junior season. The Pirates drafted him in the 7^th round last season which was a cap saving move but his god defensive skills can be and have been a great asset to have around the young pitchers. Down in short season ball the coaches were always complimenting him calling him another pitching coach. He actually started off 2013 hitting fairly decently but has cooled off although with a .200 ISO he is still showing some surprising power. Stallings is my favorite of the bunch but Crumlich is interesting too. Crumlich can play all over the infield and last season he posted good numbers down in short season ball. He hasn’t played much yet this season but is off to a solid start with a .767 OPS (including a robust .459 OBP, fueled by a 24.3% walk rate) in 37 PA.
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Prospects
Barrett Barnes, Wyatt Mathisen, Adrian Sampson, Eric Wood, Max Moroff, John Kuchno
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Barnes was the supplemental pick the Pirates got for Ryan Doumit last season. He was held back to begin the 2012 season due to a minor injury but is now in A ball. As an advanced college hitter it was surprising the Pirates didn’t push him to A+ but the thought is they wanted to keep in CF and pairing him with Polanco wouldn’t have allowed for that. He is off to a slow start but due to the injury he has only had 23 PA. Mathisen was selected in the 2^nd round and was widely considered the 2^nd best catching prospect in the draft, behind only Zunio. Despite being ranked so high catcher is actually a relatively new position for Mathisen as he spent most of his high school career as a shortstop due to his athleticism. Mathisen is practically the only usual starter down in A ball who has gotten off to a slow start but he showed a lot of promise in rookie ball last year.
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Samspon and Wood were taken in rounds 5 and 6 respectively. Sampson had very good results including a high strike out rate in short season ball last year and because of that the Pirates aggressively promoted him to A+ to begin the 2013 season. Samspon has a bad looking ERA of 6.00 at the level but has actually pitched fairly well as evident by his 3.28 FIP. Wood was a little know draft choice by the Pirates out of Binn college last season. The thought process was the Pirates were selecting him to save pool money but he signed for a reasonably high sum of 100K. Since being drafted Wood has shown plus power and is off to a good start in A ball and is now the Pirates top 3B prospect in the system.
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Moroff and Kuchno were the other players the Pirates went over slot to sign (in addition to Hurst) when the Appel deal fell through. The Pirates did not go far over slot for Kuchno but paid 700K for the services of Moroff and Hurst, Kuchno profiles as a power reliever prospect but the Pirates like to keep players like that starting for as long as possible so he is currently in the rotation at the A ball level. Kuchno got off to a fairly rough start in his first two starts but his last two outings have been very good. Moroff is a shortstop who displayed good power for the Pirates last season in rookie ball and because of that he was pushed to A ball to begin the season. He hasn’t started off on fire but he has a respectable .703 OPS to date.