Minor League Primer: West Virginia Power

The Minor League season has officially kicked off. I will be doing primers for each level over the next week. This should be a very exciting year for the Pirate’s minor leagues affiliates as they start to see many of their top prospects reach the upper levels.  This is the true test to see if these top prospects really deserve to be considered in that category.  I have always said that the biggest jump in the minors for hitters is from High-A to AA and for pitchers from AA to AAA.  The Pirates will see many prospects do that this year.  I have already done my Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A Advanced Primers, see the link at the bottom of the page.

West Virginia Power: Low-A

The West Virginia Power most likely have the weakest team out of all the minor league affiliates.  With that being said, they still have some decent prospects to watch, including draft picks from just last year.  One must also keep in mind that this is the level where some players put their names on the prospect map.  Just a few years ago, we saw Gregory Polanco and Alen Hanson light up this level, and become two of the Pirates’ top prospects.

The best part of this team should be the pitching staff.  The starting rotation will consist of a few guys looking to impress as they try to work their way up the prospect rankings.  The Power’s opening day starter was Jonathan Brubaker.  The former Akron Zip was the Pirate’s 6th round selection in the 2015 draft.  Brubaker is a projectable right-handed pitcher who possesses good size at 6’4″ and whose fastball has topped at 95 mph.  The Pirates obviously are intrigued with his size and arm as they used a higher pick on him.  Brubaker signed quickly last year and found himself to the Short-Season A team.  He made 15 starts for the Black Bears and pitched well.  In his 73.1 innings he posted a 2.82 ERA with a very strong 0.91 WHIP.  He looks to continue his success this year in his first full season.

The second starter to talk about is Bret Helton.  Helton was also a 2015 draftee, and he was taken in the 9th round.  When the Pirates drafted Helton I was not impressed with the pick.  At Utah, Helton struggled to put his projectable frame to use.  His junior year he went 2-8 with a 5.71 ERA.  He continued that trend in his 14 starts at Short Season A last year posting a 4.98 ERA.  One thing to like about Helton is he possesses a good fastball that has hit as high as 97 on the radar. Helton seems to be the biggest project at this level, he has a good frame and a good arm. Also keep in mind that he was recruited as an infielder to Utah, but then they turned him to pitching when they saw his power arm. If the organization can develop his mechanics and teach him the finer points of pitching he could turn into something. I think the best case scenario for Helton will be a power arm out of the bullpen.

The third starting pitcher from the 2015 draft at this level is Logan Sendelbach.  Sendelbach was picked right after Helton in the 10th round out of Tiffin University.  The 6’3″ right-handed pitcher put up strong numbers his junior year at Tiffin.  He posted a strong 2.84 ERA and obviously caught the attention of the Pirates scouts.  Sendelbach will not blow anyone away as his fastball sits 90-92 mphs.  He is more a location pitcher with good secondary stuff and has the projectable frame to add velocity to his fastball.  Last year at Rookie-Advanced level Bristol Sendelbach struggled posting a 2-3 record with a 4.69 ERA in 10 starts.  The Pirates are being aggressive by bumping him past the Short-A and moving him straight to the Low-A level.  This is most likely because they want Sendelbach to get a full season of pitching in, and being a former college pitcher, believe he will be able to handle the competition level.

The next two pitchers I will talk about are the top prospect arms at this level.  The first is right-hander Mitch Keller. Keller is the Pirates #14 prospect.  Keller was a prep arm taken in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft.  Keller, just like the pitchers above, was taken due to his size and arm.  He is 6’3″ and weighs 195 lbs. His fastball matches his size as he sits about 93-94 mph with it.  This year will be Keller’s first full season.  The right-hander started 9 games in the GCL in 2014 and 6 starts at Bristol last year.   One thing to consider is that he is still very raw and growing into his body.  Keller is just 20 years of age, filling out physically, and learning how to pitch professionally.  One thing that he has not had a lot of in his 2 seasons with the Pirates is experience.   Keller had forearm issues last year and set him back at the beginning of the year.  Rather than rushing him back and risk a serious injury the Pirates kept him off the mound for most of the season.  His 2014 season was short because he was drafted that year and the GCL schedule is short.  The Pirates hope that by limiting his innings early in the minors, and working with him on the side, that he will be ready to pitch at Low-A for a full season.  A lot of the time people forget about how much work pitchers can still put in, even when they are not throwing in games.  His first start seems to suggest that he is ready for that level, as he pitched 5 innings and only gave up 1 run while striking out 10.  The other encouraging thing from the start is that he did not walk anyone. Keller has a big time ceiling, and by next year could find himself in the top 10 prospects for the Pirates.  If Keller can continue to show his above average sharp curve-ball and develop an average change-up, he could be viewed as a potential front of the rotation starter down the road.

The last pitcher is player who had a somewhat of a breakout season last year at the Short-A level.  Dario Agrazal is a 6’3″ right-handed pitcher from Panama.  The Pirates signed Agrazal on July 1st of 2012 and got his career started in in 2013.  In 2014, Agrazal posted a 4.20 ERA in 12 starts, nothing really to get excited about.  However, in 2015, the Panamanian proved to be better, posting a 2.72 ERA in 14 starts.  The now 21 year-old hopes to continue his success this year in his first full season experience.   Scouts were so impressed with Agrazal that he was ranked the Pirate’s #30 prospect this year.  Yes, 30 is still pretty low, but this shows that scouts like his ability and think he can continue to trend up the rankings as he goes through the system.  Not to mention he was not even viewed as a legitimate prospect until pitching well last year and starting to fill into his frame.  Agrazal’s calling card is to produce ground balls.  Last season he averaged 2.07 ground outs for every 1 air out.  This is a very impressive number when comparing it to ground-ball pitchers.  One comparison would be to look at Charlie Morton’s career GO/AO rate, which is 1.94.  With that being said Agrazal is not a strikeout pitcher.  His fastball is average, as it usually sits in the 90-91 range but has good sink to it. He also uses an average change-up and a curve-ball that is still developing. One thing that also helps Agrazal is his father, who is considered the top pitching coach on Panama.  Agrazal has a good pedigree and baseball IQ, if he can keep producing ground-balls at a good rate and develop his other pitches to be league average, then he will continue to move his way up the Pirates prospect list.

I wanted to cover the whole pitching rotation as I find it the most interesting part of the Power’s team this season.  With the last two having the most upside and experience, the other three were all drafted in the top 10 rounds last year, and it will be interesting to see how they perform.  The next players I will be talking about are a few other position players. I again will be going back to last year’s draft.

The Pirates may have gotten a steal in last years draft by getting Ke’Bryan Hayes with their compensatory 1st round pick.  Ke’Bryan, the son of former Pirate and long time MLB veteran Charlie Hayes, was a rising prospect leading up to the draft last year.  Many scouts felt just days before the draft that he could go in the first round. The Pirates were happy enough to take him with the pick they received for Russell Martin at #32 overall.  Hayes comes in ranked as the Pirate’s #7 prospect for 2016.  Not bad for a kid who played only 56 games last year.  The big thing is the upside that Hayes possesses.  First off, he has a pedigree.  His Dad played in the MLB for a long time and has helped develop Hayes into the player he is today.  Secondly, he is a solid athlete who will stick at 3b.  This is good news as the Pirates farm system is thin at that position.  Lastly, he has an advanced approach at the plate for his age.  He showed this last year when playing in the GCL, he hit .333 with a K/BB of 24/22.  Meanwhile he was playing against other players who are the same age as him.  The fact that he nearly walked as much as he struck out shows that he has a good feel for the strike zone already.  Now when he made the jump to the New York Penn League at Short Season-A, he struggled somewhat.  With this, he was facing mostly college level players and being promoted this quickly in the middle of a season may have caused some adjustment issues.  Also he only played in 12 games at Short-Season so it is a small sample size.  Hayes is listed at 6’1″ and 210lbs already, and many scouts feel he will develop plus power.  Last year he did not hit any home-runs, but many attribute it to his advanced approach at the plate.  As of now Hayes has line drive/gap power.  He does not over extend himself and is fine with taking what he gets.  However, as he fills out and grows older those line drives to the gaps will start to go out.  Hayes is a plus defender, with plus athleticism, and an advanced bat with power upside.  If he continues to develop the way many believe he will, the Pirates, will have their future 3b relatively soon as he should move quickly through the system.

Tito Polo will be playing outfield for the Power.  He is a prospect who many people became familiar with this spring training as he got into a few games.  Polo has been projected as a breakout prospect for the last few seasons.  He has not broke out the way some thought he would, but he has not been a disappointment either.  The now 21-year-old signed out of Colombia in 2012.  He played in the DSL and the GCL for his first three seasons.  Last year he skipped over both Short-Season teams and played for the Power.  He played in 102 games and batted a career worst .236 with a low OPS of .641.  Knowing that he may not have been ready for the jump from the GCL to Low Single-A.  The organization decided to put him back there to start 2016.  This move makes sense as he did not impress at this level last year and needs to show that he made adjustments to be a better hitter this year.  I do not think he will spend a lot of time there if he gets off to a good start.  The big thing with Polo is he is a potential 5 tool player.  He has good speed, an average arm, the ability to track on defense, plus has some pop off the bat.  If he continues to develop and learn to be a more disciplined hitter then we could start to see why scouts projected him as a breakout candidate.

These are the main prospects at West Virginia that are worth paying attention to this season.  However, there are a few other intriguing players as well. Last year’s third round pick Casey Hughston is playing left field for the Power.  He was drafted as a sophomore out of the University of Alabama.  Tyler Moore was the Pirates 12th round pick out of UCLA.  He also is playing the outfield.  Between him, Hughston, and Polo the Power could have a nice outfield.  Seht McGary is a relief pitcher who was drafted in the 8th round of the 2015 draft.  He went to school at Florida Atlantic and has the upside of a back-end of the bullpen guy with his power arm.  The last player of note is Carlos Munoz. Munoz is manning first base this season.  The 21-year-old is a career .293 hitter in the minors with an OPS of .873.

West Virginia is a place where prospects can “breakout”.  As I mentioned above, Gregory Polanco and Alen Hanson both blossomed there in the past.  This is the first level where players have a full season in their professional careers.  There are some guys like Mitch Keller and Ke’Bryan Hayes who are already viewed as big time prospects who hope to put themselves in that elite level this year.  While guys like Casey Hughston and Tito Polo hope to establish themselves as legitimate prospects who have a shot to make the Pirates one day.  This concludes the minor league primers.  Below are the links to the other 3 for AAA, AA, and A+.

Sorry for the lack of images there is not much available on these players due to the level they play at.

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