The Pirates won two of three in Miller Park this weekend, mostly by battering the bad Brewers’ pitching staff all over Miller Park. When I left Chapel Hill last Saturday morning, the Pirates were three games below .500. They’re a game above now, having won seven of their last nine against NL Central oppoents and while they’re still the worst offensive team in the NL, they’re no longer hilariously worst. With another three game set against the Reds this week, the Pirates could actually open up interleague play tied for first in the NL Central, though they’d need a sweep to do it. Strange how a week can change your perspective on things.
Tony Sanchez got promoted to Indianapolis last night. Sanchez hasn’t been great in 2012 (.277/.370/.390), but he’s obviously made a step forward fro his awful year last year. He hasn’t hit any home runs yet, but he’s already matched his 2011 double and triple total and he’s still drawing walks at a nice pace. Sanchez isn’t anywhere near where he was pre-2011 when Baseball America named him the 49th best prospect, but as a strong defensive catcher, he’ll still have a solid career ahead of him so long as he can make himself into something other than a complete waste at the plate. That being said, I’m not putting too much stock into the numbers of a 24 year old player repeating Double-A. I’m interested to see how he handles Indianapolis, and with the Rod Barajas option after this season, I’m sure the Pirates are, to.
Lastly, the Pirates are apparently converting Stetson Allie into a third baseman. Allie was a decent hitting prospect out of high school, but not a $2.25 million prospect like he was as a pitcher. As far as I can tell, this is being portrayed as the Pirates’ decision after Allie struggled mightily with his control in extending spring training this year, but I’m honestly kind of skeptical of that. The Pirates invested a lot of money in Allie as a pitcher and have had some good luck with teaching guys control in the minors. We can say what we want about Allie’s numbers, but he’s 21 years old with 26 2/3 professional innings under his belt. It just strikes me as highly unlikely that the Pirates are willing to pull the plug on him as a pitcher this early. Of course, there are lots of things that I don’t see and don’t know so I could be wrong here, but knowing Neal Huntington’s relationship with the Allie family, I can’t help but wonder if this is something that Allie wants to do and Huntington is biting the bullet to keep him from taking any more heat than he already has.
That being said, the Pirates’ track record with high school pitchers under Neal Huntington is now incredibly spotty and that’s something worth considering as we head into the first round of the draft tonight. I know I haven’t written much about the draft yet, but I’ve got a layover this afternoon and I’m planning on writing a preview up then. If I can’t get it finished, I’ll do it as soon as I get home and it should be up before the draft, at least.
