Pittsburgh Pirates Top 5 Prospects From A Decade Ago: How They Did, Where They Ended Up

A decade ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates had these 5 players  as their most promising minor league prospects. How has the big leagues treated them, and how have their careers ended up?

The Pittsburgh Pirates in the last decade once had a top farm system of all 30 teams in the MLB. Currently, it’s fairly shallow, but ten years ago, it had some recognizable names. Now that we’re in 2020, I want to take a look back at the Bucs’ top 5 prospects from the 2010 season.

Most of the names didn’t turn out as good as many were expecting, but it’s interesting to look back at, and see what happened to the players who were once considered the best minor leaguers the Pirates had.

I cannot find an official list of the Pirates’ top organizational prospects from Fangraphs, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus, or Baseball America. However, I am classifying who the top 5 are based off of unofficial lists’ consensus top organizational prospects for the Bucs.

Number 1 – Third Baseman Pedro Alvarez

Ironically, before he graduated from prospect status, most prospect lists placed Pedro Alvarez above Andrew McCutchen. But in 2010, those lists had good reason to. In 2009, the 2nd overall pick in the 2008 draft posted a line of .288/.378/.535 in 542 plate appearances (258 in AA, 284 in High-A). He crushed 27 home runs, and owned a 176 wRC+ in Altoona. He walked a decent amount too with a 13% walk rate in High-A ball, and a 13.2% walk rate in Double-A.

Alvarez further built his prospect stock in early 2010. In 66 games and 278 plate appearances in Triple-A, the left-handed slugger hit .277/.363/.533 with 13 home runs. His great output in Indianapolis earned him a call to the majors in 2010. While his high average didn’t transfer to the big leagues, Alvarez blasted 16 home runs in 386 PA’s. Overall he posted a 114 wRC+ in the Majors, but, at just 23-years-old, he seemed to be on the upward trend. However, he struggled in 2011, both performance wise and with health, and finished with just 74 games and a 58 OPS+.

Alvarez kind of broke out in 2012, but still a far cry from the numbers he posted in the minors. He hit .244/.317/.467 with 30 home runs and a 112 wRC+ in 586 PA’s. Alvarez struck out 30.7% of the time, and struggled defensively. 2013 would be very similar to his 2012 numbers, but he led the league in home runs and made the All-Star game. Overall he hit .233/.296/.473 with 36 long balls, and a 112 wRC+. His defense at the hot corner improved (+3 DRS, 0.5 dWAR), but he still made a fair amount of errors.

2014 was a struggle for Alvarez to say the least. His OPS dipped below .750, and he also struggled with injuries, playing just 122 games. He hit 18 home runs, and he was one of the worst defensive third basemen in baseball (-5 DRS). He even lost his starting job at 3B to Josh Harrison.

With his defensive struggles, he was moved across the diamond to first base, and he bounced back to expectations, at least with his bat. He slugged 27 home runs, struck out a lot (26.7%), and walked a little (9.8%), all while carrying an average in the .240 range (.243). Overall he was worth a 112 wRC+. The move to first base didn’t help him defensively at all as he recorded -13 DRS, and a -2.2 dWAR. Alvarez was let go after the season’s end, and signed on with the Baltimore Orioles where he played a part-time role for the team in 2016.

Alvarez hasn’t played a professional game since 2018, but an interesting fact that I would like to point out is that the Orioles tried Alvarez as a right fielder. He played 42 games/353.2 innings in the grass at the Orioles AAA level in 2017, and while I cannot find the exact advanced defensive stats of his outfield adventures, he only made 2 errors. Although I feel like we can safely make the assumption that he had some pretty limited range, given his sprint speed of 25.2 feet/second, which ranked 486 out of 551 qualified batters in 2016.

Number 3 – Catcher Tony Sanchez

The 4th overall pick in the 2009 draft, Tony Sanchez ranked as one of the Bucs’ top prospects throughout the early 2010’s. Sanchez crushed with the bat in 2009 and 2010. In both seasons, he posted an OBP above .400, batting average in the .300’s, and finished out ‘09 with a .539 slugging. However, Sanchez hit a wall, among other things, in 2011. In his first full season at Double-A, Sanchez batted just .241/.340/.318 with 5 home runs in 496 plate appearances. He would partly bounceback in the first half of 2012, seeing his BA rise to .277 and OBP to .370, but his power was still lacking.

Sanchez would go on to struggle in Triple-A during 2012, but he regained his stroke in 2013. In 296 plate appearances, Sanchez hit .288/.368/.504 with 10 home runs. By now, Sanchez had refined his catching skills behind the plate, and was given the call to the MLB in 2013 as well. But Sanchez never stuck in the Majors.

In 2013 and 2014, he was stuck behind both Russell Martin and Chris Stewart. By 2015, Elias Diaz had passed Sanchez on prospect charts. Plus he was still blocked, now by Francisco Cervelli. Sanchez’s defense also continued to regress behind the plate and he even developed a minor case of the yips when it came to throwing the ball.

Sanchez played all of 51 games in a Bucs uniform, posting a .259/.303/.371 line, 4 home runs, and a 91 OPS+. He has been with a myriad teams since being granted free agency by the Pirates. The list  of teams includes the Blue Jays, Giants, Angels, Braves (who he was traded for Brandon Phillips), Reds, and Rangers (who he played 1 game and plate appearance with in 2017). He did play 64 games/256 plate appearances with the Rangers Double-A team. The now 31-year-old batted just .246/.316/.346 in his last professional appearance.

While Sanchez never lived up to the billing as a player, he was still liked by many fans. Between his social media interactions, fun personality and ability to crush beers in the team’s clubhouse celebrations following clinching postseason berths in ’13 and ’14, many fans always supported Tony Montana.

Number 4 – Pitcher Tim Alderson

You may not be familiar with Tim Alderson, but you have probably heard of Freddy Sanchez. Alderson was the guy who was sent from the Giants to the Pirates for the All-Star infielder in 2009. At the time, it looked like a great trade for the Bucs. Alderson was the 22nd overall pick in the 2007 draft, and was doing great at Double-A, having a 3.47 ERA, 3.48 FIP, and 1.24 WHIP.

But after the trade, the right hander faltered. It’s almost like Alderson lost the ability to pitch well. In 2010, the former prospect’s ERA soared to 6.03, and gave up 11.2 hits per 9 on average. While Alderson’s numbers would come down from that in following seasons, his ERA was still above 4 in both 2011 and 2012.

Eventually, Alderson became a full-time bullpen arm. In 2013, he seemed to have found his niche, pitching in 22 games and 42 innings while posting a 2.79 ERA, 3.66 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP at Tirple-A. But by then, his status as a future star had worn off.

Alderson was traded by the Pirates to the Orioles in July 2013 for corner utility man Russ Canzler. After 2013, Alderson bounced around with the A’s, Nationals, and even an indy league club, but hasn’t pitched in a pro game since 2016, or any MLB game in his career. Canzler never played a game for the Pirates at the MLB level.

Number 5 – Pitcher Brad Lincoln

The 2006 MLB draft included some pretty legendary names. Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Tim Lincecum, and Andrew Miller are just to name a few. 4th overall pick in the draft, Brad Lincoln was not one of those All-Star caliber names.

Lincoln was one of the many disappointing draft picks by the Pirates in the early 2000’s. Throughout his minor league career, he never showed stuff to be an ace-level starter, but pretty much your typical middle rotation, back-end kind of guy. His best minor league season came in 2009 when he posted a 3.37 ERA, 3.32 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP in 136.1 innings between Altoona and Indianapolis. But those numbers are partly boosted speaking that he struggled a fair amount in Triple-A (4.70 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 1.337 WHIP).

There was only one season Lincoln played more than 12 games and 50 innings with the Bucs. That came in 2012 (age 27 season) when he pitched in 28 games (5 being starts), and 59.1 innings. He pitched fairly well in ‘12, posting a 2.73 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 1.09 WHIP, and a strong 4.29 K/BB ratio. However he was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays for outfielder Travis Snider at the ‘12 deadline.

Lincoln would rejoin the Bucs during the 2014-2015 off-season, but only served as minor league depth. He did not fare well in Triple-A, putting up a 4.18 ERA, 4.15 FIP, and 1.67 WHIP in 60.1 innings, and didn’t appear in the Majors. Lincoln has not pitched in a professional game since 2015, and hasn’t touched an MLB mound since 2014 with the Phillies.