Pittsburgh Pirates season preview: A look at the outfielders
By Matt Shetler
Wild Card: Jerry Sands
Sands was acquired in the Joel Hanrahan trade, but is coming off of an awful spring.
If he hits well in Triple-A and shows some of that power potential, he could force his way into a call up.
Prospect to Watch: Gregory Polonco
Polonco broke out last season hitting .325 with a .910 OPS, showing both power (16 HR, 85 RBI) and speed (44 SB).
He may be the best hitting prospect in the entire system right now and his 2012 season got him national attention as Polonco was among the Top 100 prospects on every list.
He is definitely one to watch in 2013.
Pirates Prospect Barrett Barnes
Prospect to Watch: Barrett Barnes
Barnes, out of Texas Tech, was a first-round supplemental pick of the Pirates a season ago.
After a slow start in June, Barnes had a big July when he hit 309/436/568. He missed the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his leg, but He is ready to go this season and should start the year in Bradenton. He’s a guy with very good bat speed and power potential.
Prospect to Watch: Josh Bell
When it is all said and done, Bell could turn out to be the best hitting prospect in a farm system that doesn’t have a whole lot of them.
He started slow last year and started to pick things up nicely before hurting his knee sliding into second base. The recovery didn’t go well and Bell missed the rest of the season.
He didn’t look good in spring training and the knee has to be a concern, but if Bell can be injury free and put things together this year, his future will be bright.
My Take:
The Pirates outfield should be just fine, but as I mentioned before, Snider and Marte having good years could make or break this team.
McCutchen will have another big season and if Marte develops then the Pirates lineup becomes that much better.
The wild card in all of this is Snider. I do love the power potential, but if it doesn’t happen, I would much rather see Tabata at the top of the order and Marte moved down.
I would expect that the group that begins the year will be the group that finishes it, unless Sands or a guy like Alex Presley has such a good year in the minors that the Bucs have no choice but to promote them.
Either way, given the talent in the outfield, it promises to be a strength of the team once again.