Battling Bucs : Minors Review - Right Handed Relief Pitchers

Let me start by saying that my preference is to follow hitting prospects rather than pitching prospects so my knowledge of the pitchers is somewhat lacking. Due to this the pitching groups are going to see a few changes as compared to the hitting groups. The primary change is I am not going to be naming a top 5 list but rather a top 3 list. The other significant change is that the write ups on the depth players will for the most part be shorter.
Now as for how I have decided to split the pitchers up I opted to first start with a left handed and right handed distinction. Well as some of you probably know the Pirates are not all that deep in left handed pitching prospects so they will all be covered in the same post. As for the right handed pitchers I opted to split them up into four groups. The first group as you can probably tell by the title was relief pitchers. The rest of the divisions I based upon experience with the starters who could have an MLB impact this season forming the upper level group, those who project to be somewhere in full season ball forming the middle level group and those who appear destined for short season ball rounding things out with the lower level group. We start though with the relief pitchers. I will note that for the most part players pitching in low to mid levels in relief are not usually considered to be prospects so with that in mind keep your expectations tempered with this group.
Top 3 Prospects
1. Duke Welker: Welker was originally drafted by the Pirates in 2007 making him and Kyle McPherson the last two remaining true prospects (a few guys like Andy Vasquez and Jhonathan Ramos are also still in the system) from the Littlefield regime. This past season Welker was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with Alex Presley for Justin Morneau but this offseason he was sent back to the Pirates in exchange for Kris Johnson. Welker at 6' 7" and possessing a high 90s fastball passes the eye test as an intimidating closer and that is exactly what his upside is. Welker's professional career started out as a struggling starter but in 2010 after parts of three professional seasons the Pirates moved Welker to relief and he started positing better results. During the offseason following the 2011 season the Pirates opinion of Welker was high enough than in a somewhat surprising move they added him to the 40 man roster. Welker had a very strong 2012 campaign in AA and even posted decent numbers while in AAA (though his walk rate was quite high). He started 2013 back in AAA and was sensational for the first two months not allowing a single run. The Pirates then brought him to the majors for a few games (in which he didn't pitch) and upon going back to AAA he struggled. Welker did get himself back on track and eventually made it back to Pittsburgh for his major league debut. Overall it was an up and down season for Welker. The stuff is certainly there for Welker to become a good back end bullpen option but he still needs to refine his control and get a little better feel for his none fastball pitches. For the 2014 season Welker will likely serve alongside Jared Hughes as the top depth options for the major league bullpen meaning he'll start the year in AAA but will likely see a fair amount of time in the majors.
2. Zach Thornton: There was a lot of talk this offseason about Thornton. First the talk about Thornton was whether the Pirates should add him to the 40 man roster and then when they didn't the talk turned to would he be selected in the Rule V draft. Well it turns out he wasn't so he remains in the Pirates system. Thornton was originally acquired by the Pirates prior to this past season in exchange for Chris Resop. He was coming off a good 2012 campaign but that was as a 24 year old in A+ ball so expectations were rightfully very low. In 2013 Thornton pitched at A+, AA and AAA and did well at every stop. Thornton has always had good strike out stuff and his control has always been decent but in 2013 he combined his good strike out stuff with excellent control and posted combined rates of 10.8 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9. Now the odd thing with Thornton is that it’s not immediately clear why he is getting all these strike outs. His fastball usually stays right around and his best secondary pitch is an average slider. The most likely cause of his high strike out totals is his unusual low 3/4 arm slot. The unusual delivery likely adds some deception to his pitches keeping hitters off guard. Thornton will start the 2014 season in AAA with hopes to climb up the bullpen totem pole where he probably currently sits as the #12 man.
3. Ryan Hafner: It is not always clear who is a relief pitcher and who is a starter when you get below the AA level but last year Hafner pitched in 40 games and started only 1 of them so it’s probably fair to call him a reliever even if most of his appearances ended up being for 2 or 3 innings. Hafner is one of the many tall projectable right handed high school pitchers the Pirates have drafted since Neal Huntington has taken over. To be specific Hafner was selected in the 17th round of the 2010 draft and given a 450K bonus to choose the Pirates over Missouri State. Hafner pitched only 2 innings in rookie ball in 2010 so his real first taste of professional ball came in 2011. He had a fairly solid year in A- inducing a lot of weak contact and not walking many hitters (on the downside he didn't strike out many either). Hafner entered 2010 as an interesting starter to watch in A ball but things went horribly wrong. For starters his season started with a hamstring injury but that was probably actually the highlight. Over 60.2 innings at the A ball level Hafner walked 68 batters and hit 11 more. Almost 1 out of every 4 batters he faced ended up getting some sort of free pass. His 8.31 ERA obviously reflects his struggles. The Pirates eventually moved him back to A- where he pitched sporadically only logging 13.1 innings. His control was slightly better there but he still walked as many as he struck out. The Pirates sent Hafner back to A ball to begin 2013 and he showed significant improvement cutting his walk rate down to 4.1 BB/9 (compared to 10.1 BB/9) and also showing an improved slider which lead to a big jump in strike outs (up from 4.3 K/9 to 10.6 K/9). Hafner may return to starting but more likely he'll work long relief in A+ and try to continue harnessing his control.
Upper Level Depth
Ryan Beckman: Beckman is another tall projectable high school right handed pitcher drafted by the Pirates under Neal Huntington. He was drafted in the 18th round of the 2009 draft but must have not received too significant of a bonus as it went unreported. His first two and half seasons of pro ball went ok but he appeared to be settling in as just an organizational player but then in the second half of 2011 he appeared to turn a corner as he started showing improved command and the ability to actually miss a few bats. Headed into 2012 he was a bit of a sleeper prospect in the AA rotation but that changed quickly as in his first outing of the year he injured his elbow after recording only 1 out and missed the rest of 2012 and part of 2013 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Beckman returned in June of this past season and pitched 37 innings split between A+ and AA. Beckman doesn't have a high ceiling but he is a solid pitcher and could develop into a Jared Hughes type middle reliever. He'll likely start 2014 in the AA bullpen.
Quinton Miller: Miller was drafted by the Pirates in the 20th round of the 2008 draft. At 6' 1" he doesn't really fit the profile of the tall projectable right handed but at the time he was drafted Miller might have been one of the more highly touted high school pitchers selected by Huntington in his first two years. The Pirates signed Miller for 900K showing they were really high on him. In 2009 the Pirates aggressively moved him to A ball after just 2 starts in short season ball and while his numbers weren't great he held his own which was impressive for a raw pitcher like Miller right out of high school. Things were looking good for Miller but the next two seasons Miller struggled with injuries. He tried to pitch through some of the injuries totaling 136 innings between the seasons but the results were not good. In 2012 Miller stayed healthy and showed some swing and miss stuff but he really struggled with his control. In 2013 he started off in A+ and pitched well there albeit in a short amount of time. He was moved up to AA early in the season and had a slightly better but still similar season to what he had in 2012. Miller is a project pitcher who just doesn't seem to be improving all that quickly. The Pirates removed him from starting after the injuries so it’s just bullpen duty for him now. There is still time for Miller though as he has two years before minor league free agency and should start 2014 in AA.
Emmanuel De Leon: De Leon has been in the Pirates organization a long long time. He signed with the Pirates back in 2007 (making him another Littlefield holdover). De Leon was signed as a project who had big control problems and the Pirates took things very slow with him. In fact after 4 years in the system he found himself eligible for the Rule V draft having pitched no higher than short season ball and with less than 90 professional innings. The Pirates have taken things a bit faster with De Leon these last two years and his control appears to be vastly improved. It’s been a long road for De Leon but he finds himself entering just his age 23 season and ready for AA as a relief pitcher with a mid 90s fastball and a swing and a miss slider.
Low Level Projects
Pat Ludwig: The Pirates drafted Ludwig as a senior out of Yale in 2012 in an attempt to save money for first round selection Mark Appel. Despite slot amount being 125K Ludwig signed for $5,000. Ludwig pitched most of 2012 out of the bullpen in short season ball and did outstanding work limiting opponents to a .196 average and showing excellent command waling only 1.1 batters per nine innings. In 2013 Ludwig split his time between A and A+ and pitched well at both levels both as a starter and in relief. Ludwig still looks like an organizational player but another decent year between A+ and AA could get him on the radar.
Justin Topa: Topa was drafted in the 17^th round of this past draft by the Pirates. Topa had a year of college eligibility left due to having to redshirt 2012 after Tommy John surgery but he nonetheless signed quickly for a low bonus. These type of selections usually aren’t really prospects but Topa has a good arsenal of pitches included a plus changeup, a mid 90s fastball and what was before his surgery a solid breaking pitch. Topa pitched out of A- bullpen last season and had a very good pro debut. As his arm recovers he has the potential to turn into an interesting prospect and is definitely worth watching this season as he’ll likely pitch out of the A ball bullpen.
Jhondaniel Medina: The Pirates acquired Medina before last season in exchange for Yamaico Navarro. Originally Medina was signed by the Orioles in 2009 out of Venezuela. He spent two seasons in the DSL and then spent the 2012 season pitching mainly rookie ball. At each level he showed good swing and miss stuff but also had ample problems with control. The Pirates originally sent him to A+ and his results in a limited time was actually rather impressive considering his walk rate (2.53 ERA, 9.3 BB/9). The Pirates demoted him to A ball presumably to work on his control and the results improved but were still far from ideal (5.3 BB/9). Overall though Medina was impressive striking out 14 batters per nine innings in A ball and 11 batters per nine innings at A+ ball. Medina will likely start 2014 at the A+ level and he will need to show improvement with his control to be taken as a more legitimate prospect.