Pirates Kyle McPherson and Starling Marte Make Top 20 EL List

The Pittsburgh Pirates have two of the top twenty players in the Eastern League according to  Baseball America with Starling Marte and our  recent podcast guest Kyle McPherson making the cut. 

Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals are riding the rewards of being awful with the top pick in the Baseball America Top 20 EL prospects list.  Nats phenom Bryce Harper brought down the number one spot and their comeback pitcher of the year Brad Peacock  was ranked fourth.

It’s interesting that Kyle McPherson was a 14th rounder, while Peacock skyrocketed this season after being taken in the  41st round in 2006.  Peacock had a complete breakthrough year in becoming the top pitcher in the poll.  His 10.9K/9 innings (including AAA) certainly helped the Nats right hander.

McPherson was impressive for high-A Bradenton and pitched very well when he made the jump to Altoona.  The rightie was named the Pirates organization Pitcher of the Year after allowing just 7.6 hits per nine innings while striking out 8.3 per nine. 

Marte improved in just about every statistical measurement.  The speedy outfielder had a power surge which appears to have him poised to make his move toward becoming a big leaguer in 2012. 

The top 20 of the AA Eastern League is linked below.