First-Hand Report: Philadelphia Phillies’ and Pittsburgh Pirates’ A-Ball Teams
By Jay Blue
Reese McGuire takes a swing for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a minor league spring training game on March 18, 2014 in Clearwater, Florida. Mandatory Credit: Jay Blue
Hoping to catch some of the better prospects in the Pirates’ organization, I headed to Clearwater today to see the Pirates’ A-ball teams take on the Phillies. I had seen this group of Phillies a couple of times before and I’ve reported back to on some of the players that I have been able to take a look at.
So far this spring, I’ve only seen the Pirates’ older group (Double-A and Triple-A) which, at the time, didn’t feature many of the club’s top prospects since all of the ones who are closer to the majors were in big league camp (and I missed the day that Jameson Taillon pitched). Today, however, I got a chance to check out some of the better-known position-playing prospects in the Pirates’ organization.
The biggest name that everyone wants to hear about is Reese McGuire. I saw him catch a few innings and get two at bats in the Low-A game. Facing Ranfi Casimiro (more on him later), McGuire flied out to left field and struck out. His strikeout was a result of chasing a fastball up, out of the zone. Behind the plate, however, he looked smooth as silk, receiving the ball well and calling a good game with starter Adrian Grullon. Whether the umpires were predisposed to calling borderline pitches strikes or not, McGuire tended to get the benefit of the doubt in the innings I saw him catch, helping the umpire earn some ire from the Philadelphia coach behind the screen.
Josh Bell takes a swing for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a minor league spring training game on March 18, 2014 in Clearwater, Florida. Mandatory Credit: Jay Blue.
I only saw two of McGuire’s at bats because several good, young players were playing on the other diamond including switch-hitting third baseman Josh Bell. I saw Bell hit three times and saw him actually hit from both sides of the plate. He’s got a powerful swing and the ball just jumps off his bat. In his first at bat, he grounded out hard to third base, in his second he hit a double down the right field line and in his third, he grounded out to the first baseman.
Another player who impressed me was Harold Ramirez who just absolutely pasted the ball all over the park. A right-handed hitter with a powerful stroke, Ramirez was hitting second in front of McGuire and hit a long triple to the wall in left-center, a solid line-drive base hit and flew out to right field in the third at bat that I saw.
I saw Barrett Barnes but in two at bats that I saw, he flew out to shallow right field and was hit by a pitch. In the High-A game, Raul Fortunato went deep for the Pirates and I also saw Jin-De Jhang catch but nothing really stood out (and he flew out to center field in the only at bat that I saw). 21-year-old Jose Osuna hit the ball hard, blasting a long double in the only at bat I saw but I noticed that he wasn’t exactly a burner on the basepaths. He did make an excellent play at first base, diving to his right to pick up a hard ground ball.
For the Phillies hitters, J.P. Crawford, the biggest name of the bunch, had an infield hit and showed off his speed. I didn’t see much offense in the Low-A game (Crawford was playing in the High-A game) but one of the players that I’ve written about before, Deivi Grullon hit a long double while Malquin Canelo made several solid plays at short (nothing was spectacular but he was making the routine ones look easy).
As far as the pitchers go, I wasn’t impressed by anyone really. In the Low-A group, 6-foot-7 righty Adrian Grullon started for the Pirates and struck out the side in the first inning. He located well with his 90-mph fastball and 85-mph changeup but wasn’t as precise in the second inning, leaving the ball up and getting away with it, getting three fly ball outs. For the Phillies, it was 6-foot-8 righty Renfi Casimiro. Casimiro was throwing in the 89-91 mph range and was missing up a lot. I noticed that he didn’t show me a “put-away” pitch that he could use to strike batters out on a regular basis.
One pitcher that I really watched for a full inning was Chris Nichols, a 23-year-old, 31st-round pick for the Phillies from 2012. Nichols was pitching for the High-A team and his approach was interesting, mainly because he was pitching backwards. The first pitch I saw him throw was a changeup low and away to a left-handed hitter that had some nice fade on it. He had a decent 12-6 curve as well that he frequently buried in the dirt but his fastball looked straight and he had trouble spotting it effectively.
After a day of rain, it was great to get back out and watch some ball and I really enjoyed being able to see some good young players. With tomorrow a “camp day” (when minor league teams have a bit of a lighter day, starting a bit later and playing intra-squad games), I’ll head to Florida Auto Exchange Stadium to see the Blue Jays take on the major league Phillies.