The Pittsburgh Pirates were snakebit once again

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had some bad luck injuries to their top level prospects this season.  Add Gregory Polanco to the list of talented players bit by the injury bug.  Polanco was placed on the DL today with an ankle injury.

The toolsy outfielder leads the West Virginia Power in average and is second to Alen Hanson in homers with fifteen.

The low-A prospect has played in 109 games, but has been out of the lineup since the injury happened on August 9th.  The outfielder is hitting .328 with 15 home runs, 81 RBIs and a .913 OPS, with a healthy .393 on-base percentage.

The 20-year old has also stolen 40 bases in 55 attempts.

Last week Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus had some particularly strong words of praise.

There’s absolutely nothing not to like about Polanco. A lean and wiry  six-foot-four, the 20-year-old Dominican is the kind of player who  catches your eye the second he gets off the bus, and then he shows a  good approach, the potential for plus power, plenty of speed (40 stolen  bases), and good defense in center. This is a five-tool guy actualizing,  and rapidly, into an elite-level prospect.

Polanco was having a breakout season until he hit a base and rolled up his ankle putting him in a walking boot.  If we hear anything further on the extent of the injury we will be sure to get an update for you.  It was cool to see his spike in production this season after he didn’t hit with much pop last year when he played in the Gulf Coast League– .237 with three bombs, a .333OBP and a .694 OPS in 48 games.

So it goes with Pirates talent in the minors…

Clipped from: baseballprospectus.com (share this clip)

Seriously, wouldn’t it would be tough to be looking at this list today and see another teams names beside one of those right handers?  Cole has been bumped from his preseason spot in the top ten, at number nine.  The Altoona Curve right hander is now ranked number twelve despite a number of prospects no longer being on the list.

The biggest drop was for Jameson Taillon who checked in at number thirteen in the preseason.  Taillon is now ranked number thirty-two.

But the teenager has moved up the list.  We thought Luis Heredia surely would have made a bigger jump especially when one considers the amount of fastballs he has thrown this season.  The Little Horse has moved up five spots to number thirty-seven in Goldstein’s poll.

The interesting news is the emergence of even more Pittsburgh Pirates prospects playing their way up the rankings.  Those players are shortstop Alen Hanson and outfielder Gregory Polanco.  If you check out the tweet below, you can see Goldstein will be ranking ahead of Hanson.

Some solid video of Hanson and Polanco are now up in our Hub section.

And finally KG’s reasoning….

LA Sports Mgmt tweeted this pic from the SAL HR Derby

It’s really hard to even remember the last time a Pirates slugger played in an All-Star game let alone in the Home Run Derby.  

The Bucs have two prospects in the South Atlantic League HR Derby today. Alen Hanson and Gregory Polanco of the West Virginia Power are participating in the Miller High Life Home Run Derby from the deck of the USS Yorktown, which is stationed at Patriots Point in South Carolina.  

The championship round will be held before the SAL All-Star Game at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park tonight beginning at 5:15 p.m.

Hanson and Polanco have each hit ten homers in the first half of the season.

The photos were tweeted by WV Power.

Of the two prospects, the switch-hitting Hanson is really intriguing to us. He boots balls around the infield at an alarming pace–27 errors in 66 games, but just keeps on slugging (.561) and his OPS stands at .938.

In fact, check out what Baseball America said about him a few weeks ago when they called him the biggest breakout prospect of the year.

Baseball America: 

Hot Sheet for June 1:  Say hello to the biggest breakout prospect of the year so far. Hanson has always intrigued scouts with his speed and flashes of ability to hit in games, but this year he has shown more power and a well-rounded skill set. He’s hitting .345/.404/.597 on the year, good for a 1.001 OPS that ranks third in the SAL. With a 58 percent success rate stealing bases (14-for-24), he’s going to have to become more efficient, but there’s plenty of time for Hanson to add polish.