By Chuck Finder | 4:47 p.m.
In yet another edition of The Future Is Coming, The Future Is Coming, the franchise with the advanced-Class A champion in Lynchburg also has three of the Top 15 prospects in Class AA's Eastern League according to Baseball America today -- and Pedro Alvarez is No. 1.
Look at it this way: The Pirates don't get many No. 1s, outside of the All-Time North American Record for Consecutive Losing Seasons.
The Eastern League MVP (Carlos Santana of Akron), the son of a member of the last bunch of Pirates winners (Reading's Kyle Drabek, Doug's boy) and the next-great Giants pitcher (Madison Bumgarner) all were ranked by the sport's prospect bible as less than promising than Alvarez. Although, as BA's John Manuel wrote in a story posted today, Bowie left-hander Brian Matusz, who went 5-3 with parent-club Baltimore including victories in his final three starts with a 2.57 ERA, would've finished No. 1 except that on his way through the EL to the bigs he fell one inning short of the magazine's criteria of 20 appearances.
BA's summation of Alvarez, only for registered subscribers, begins thusly: "Alvarez had an eventful calendar year, signing late last September. . ., [starting] slowly at high Class A Lynchburg, striking out in 25 percent of his at-bats." It quotes one anonymous manager as citing this third baseman's "serious raw power" and others referring to his "plus arm" and deft hands, making up for his "modest range and agility." Portland manager Arnie Beyelor called him "a monster. He reminded me a little bit of [Boston's Kevin] Youkilis in that he's a better athlete than he looks." Alvarez hit .333 with 13 home runs, 40 RBIs, 34 walks, 59 strikeouts and a .590 slugging percentage in 222 EL at-bats.
* Of No. 10 Brad Lincoln, Alvarez's teammate and the gold-winning pitcher on the World Cup champion USA club, BA noted: "Lincoln threw more strikes this year and stood out with command of a fastball that touched 95 mph and sat at 90-93 mph." It also mentioned his fastball and curveball caused swings and misses with late movement, and his changeup has made improvement as a third pitch. Lincoln went 1-5 in 13 starts, but crafted a 2.28 ERA and allowed batters just a .228 average before he ascended to Class AAA. There, with Indianapolis, he went 6-2 with a 4.70 ERA, but 42 strikeouts against 10 walks in 61 1/3 innings.
* Of No. 15 Jose Tabata, BA wrote: "Tabata has been a fixture on prospect lists since he was a 17-year-old in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2005." Despite being traded, having his effort publicly questioned and going through the arrest last spring of his wife on charges of child abduction, among others, this outfielder has continued to carry "impressive tools" such as an "above-average bat" and a "strong arm." The question with Tabata: power. He had two homers in 228 at-bats with Altoona, three more in 134 at-bats with Class AAA Indianapolis -- where his .276 batting average was a slight dip from his .303 with the Curve. He compiled 22 doubles in 362 total at-bats.
The magazine earlier in the week named Alvarez No. 3 -- behind Matusz and BA's Minor League Player of the Year Jason Heyward of Myrtle Beach -- and infielder Chase D'Arnaud No. 13 among prospects in the Carolina League that Lynchburg won. It also had pitcher Rudy Owens No. 11 and 2009 fourth-overall pick Tony Sanchez,
a catcher, at No. 12 among South Atlantic League prospects. Compensatory-round
pick Victor Black, a pitcher, was ranked No. 6 in the New York-Penn League.
Interesting to note, BA looked back five years. . . when the Mets' David Wright was their No. 1 EL prospect, the Giants' Matt Cain was No. 3 and No. 6 -- just ahead of Detroit's Curtis Granderson and Philadelphia's Ryan Howard -- was Zach Duke.
Alvarez's total 95 RBIs topped all Pirates teams, minors and majors; his 27 homers were second only to Garrett Jones' 33 Indy-Pirates combo platter/Photo: MLB
Posted
Oct 09 2009, 04:56 PM
by
Chuck Finder