Pittsburgh Pirates: Ben Cherington takes a trip to Altoona

The Pittsburgh Pirates are coming off their best series of their 2020 season.  During the series, their General Manager took a road trip to Altoona.

One of the most important things that Ben Cherington has stressed since becoming the Pittsburgh Pirates GM has been the need to develop a strong farm system.  He knows that for a small-market team like the Pittsburgh Pirates to truly compete, they need to produce their own high level talent.  He has already made a difference in the team’s system rankings, hopefully these players actually develop to their potential.

This was something that the previous regime struggled with for some reason; whether it was their overall organization, philosophy of how to bring players up (which was ineffective) or just pure bad luck.  The team needs to do a better job of procuring young, impact talent.  Cherington himself looks to be taking some initiative to get a look at how his players are developing.

According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cherington took a trip to Altoona over this past week to get a glimpse of how things are going there.  This is actually very exciting; it is obviously good news to see a team’s General Manager personally evaluating his talent.  However, the other thing is that he is able to.

During a regular Major League Baseball schedule and structure, it can be tough for a General Manager to see their minor league players.  For instance, last year the Pittsburgh Pirates had 8 different minor league affiliates.  To really be able to go and measure a player or players with so much talent spread out is tough, so the way things are set up this year actually makes life a little easier for him.

Almost all of the Pittsburgh Pirates top prospects are in Altoona.  This gives Cherington a chance to see a lot of the top young talent in one trip, but also allows him to see them perform against other top prospects in the system.  That is in fact what he did this past weekend as well.  Mackey listed who the Bucs had playing in the infield while Cherington was observing:

These names makes a lot of sense and likely were put out there at the General Manager’s requisite.  For starters, Ke’Bryan Hayes looks like he will be getting called up in the very near term future.  Cherington likely wanted to take the opportunity to really get a good look at Hayes before the third baseman is called up.

The same can be said for Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales.  These are two of the three top prospects that Cherington has brought in since being hired.  He likely wanted to see his future middle infield in action and see how they are developing.  Mason Martin could fit into this category as well; he is one of the team’s best young power prospects, although he is not as highly as touted as the other names.

Overall, it is great to see Ben Cherington taking a trip to Altoona.  It is good to know that he is taking the time to see how prospects are developing with his own eyes.  This could be a reality going forward as the Minor League structure is going to be overhauled in the future. The league is going to cut at least 40 Short-Season affiliates.  So who knows what the minor league setup will be like next year.