Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: All Decade Busted Prospect Team

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

The outfield was always one of the strong parts of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.  It seemed every year there was another outfield prospect to get excited about.  Still, there were plenty of busts among those prospects as well.

Barret Barnes

Willy Garcia

Casey Hughston

Barrett Barnes was the Pittsburgh Pirates top draft pick to sign back in 2012.  After the team took pitcher Mark Appel with the eighth overall pick, the team turned to Barnes with their supplemental first-round pick.  Barnes was viewed as a potential five-tool outfielder coming out of Texas Tech.  Injuries derailed Barnes’ Pittsburgh Pirates career and he averaged just 64 games over five years.

Willy Garcia was one of the most projectable power bats in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.  The big outfielder always had swing and miss issues but was viewed as a potential plus defender with 25 home run power from the right side of the plate.  As Garcia moved up the minor league ladder his flaws started to show more and more.  His last season saw him bat a mediocre .245 with an ugly OBP of .293.  The Bucs DFA’d him that offseason.

Casey Hughston might be the most unfamiliar name on this list to Pittsburgh Pirates fan.  Hughston was a third-round pick out of the University of Alabama during the 2015 draft.  He was considered to be a projectable left-handed hitter who could handle all three outfield spots.  Hughston struggled to make consistent contact posting a career .215 batting average and .277 OBP.  The third-round pick never made it above Single-A.