Stats — Minor League Splits — WTM
There’s not much info out there on this kid since he was born in South Africa the Pirates found him in a baseball academy in Italy (rather than playing in the DSL or VSL), but he played pretty well at GCL Bradenton last year and he was one of the minor leaguers that got a chance to play with the Pirates in spring training so it seems to me that the club thinks pretty highly of him.
What makes him stand out for me is that he’s got an insane walk rate so far this year (one every 4.6 plate appearances). I’m not sure if that’s because he’s like the short kid in Little League that gets told not to swing (his 5’10” listing seems awfully generous to me after seeing him in person), but almost no power (in his career just 10 of his 60 hits have gone for extra bases with seven doubles). He’s young and extremely raw and he’s clearly got some baseball ability if he fills out a bit, so I think he’s at least worth keeping an eye on while he’s in the low minors.
