Pirates Promote Kevin Newman to Triple-A

One of the Pirates’ top prospects is on his way to the Triple-A level

2015 first round draft pick Nevin Newman is on the move. On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted the shortstop prospect from Double-A Altoona to Triple-A Indianapolis. On top of being one of the Pirates’ best prospects, Kevin Newman is one of the top-100 prospects in all of baseball.

The promotion of the 23-year old Newman comes as a bit of a surprise. This is due to the fact he had struggled at Double-A this season offensively. However, in the minor leagues, a player’s results at the plate do not even come close to telling the entire story.

Kevin Newman had 371 plate appearances in 81 games at Double-A this season. He owned a 5.9 percent walk rate, .313 on-base percentage, and a .362 slugging percentage. He also owned a .306 wOBA and a wRC+ of 85.

While Newman’s slugging percentage is low, it should be noted that People’s Natural Gas Field in Altoona is a great pitcher’s park. Additionally, his 10.8 percent strikeout rate is great to see. This shows a hitter that does a good job of only swinging at hittable pitches and does a good job of making contact.

At Double-A this season Newman owned a 33.0 percent fly ball rate. This is a healthy fly ball rate. The more fly balls a batter hits the more extra base hits they will record. For Kevin Newman, the power will come.

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With his promotion, Kevin Newman will take over as the starting shortstop for the Indianapolis Indians. He is also now just one call away from the Major Leagues. Most likely, Pirate fans will see Newman in Pittsburgh sometime early next season at the latest. Honestly, now that he is at Triple-A, if Jordy Mercer were to suffer an injury it is possible that we would see Newman promoted to the Big Leagues.