OnlyBucs

Bummed-out by poor play, bad coaching, and terrible management/ownership at the Major League level, I looked for an outlet to soothe my pain.



I decided to dream of better days and select the organization's midyear, minor league all-star team. The candidates are from Indy, Altoona, Bradenton, and the WV Power. Today I will announce the position players.



There were only two criteria: 1) I tried to only select players that played at least half of their games at the position chosen, and 2) I based selection (as strictly as possible) on offensive statistics only. Therefore, minor league level or prospect status were ignored. Here we go.



Avg. Slg. OPS HR RBI SB

C Stafford – WV .294 .464 .816 5 28 0

1B Al Baur - Brd .311 .488 .853 8 36 1

2B K Kramer –Indy .270 .484 .815 11 36 6

SS OneilCruz- WV .315 .535 .907 9 43 6

3B J Osuna - Indy .340 .551 .941 4 31 1

OF Jason Martin -Alt .322 .525 .907 9 32 7

OF Jared Oliva - Brad .291 .495 .873 9 29 21

OF Cal Mitchell - WV .308 .492 .862 7 36 4



Subs

C J Stallings –Indy .289 .396 .731 1 25 1

IB Will Craig - Alt .253 .471 .801 11 51 2

SS K. Newman - Indy .309 .387 .748 1 18 15

OF J. Luplow -- Indy .276 .470 .831 6 32 6

OF C. Bostick- Indy .300 .457 .809 4 28 4



At 1B, Baur and his great average edged out Will Craig, who is starting to pile up some decent numbers. Cruz is putting up big numbers at WV and beat out Kevin Newman, perhaps the prospect on this list closest to the majors – other than Osuna, who is now there. The collective outfield numbers are what we dreamed of for the dream team of Cutch, Marte, and Polanco.

Martin’s and Mitchell’s numbers are nearly identical, but Oliva is probably the breakout player on the list. Last year at WV he hit .266 with 0 HR. He now looks like a very serious prospect.



Bostic has been solid all year and Luplow is getting hot. He finished April hitting .180 with 0 HR. He rebounded to hit .310 in May and now .320 in June. He will look good in Pittsburgh soon.



I would feel terrible if I overlooked someone deserving. Let me know if I did. I am working on the pitchers now.

While I have no personal issue with Baur, he is 26 years old in High A. I would go Osuna at 1B, and Hayes at 3B

03333F2424393E1D312323500 wrote: While I have no personal issue with Baur, he is 26 years old in High A. I would go Osuna at 1B, and Hayes at 3B




I agree with this.



All star pitchers, off the top of my head, probably Keller, Brubaker, Kingham, maybe Robles and Bolton?

Jason Martin should already be in AAA . And Bostic should be on a major league bench some where.



I like your team . I have always been a big time follower of the Buccos prospects. It always gave me hope through so many bad seasons. :'(

Choosing the position players wasn't so bad, but selecting the all-star pitchers was like looking at one indistinguishable number after another.  Like searching for a needle in a big stack of needles.  Nonetheless I selected six starters and seven relievers.  It would be pretty easy to challenge some of these choices, but here are the organizational all-stars I selected:

       REC ERA   SV WHIP     K/9



Kingham IND 4-1 2.19    0 0.953    9.3  

Keller Alt 9-2 2.72    0 1.116    8.0  

Agrazal Alt 3-2 2.79    0 1.006    5.1  

Eppler IN 8-3 3.14    0 1.232    7.6  

Vieaux Alt 6-2 3.21    0 1.150    8.2  

Wallace WV 5-1 3.59    0 0.989    5.6  



Schultz IND 0-1 0.99    3 1.073    7.7  

Hightower Brd 5-0 1.40    2 0.740   10.5

NeverauskasIN 1-2 1.78    2 1.145   12.1 

Weiman Brd 2-0 1.86    4 0.983   10.7 

Seelinger WV 1-2 2.05    5 1.136   13.1 

Sulser WV 3-3 2.30    4 0.878    9.9  

Eckelman Brd 4-0 2.38     5 1.191   10.3   



For the starters, Kingham and Keller were givens.  Dario Agrazal jumped out as a 3rd pick.   Then everyone started to blend together.  The final three of Vieaux, Eppler, and Wallace are a trio I never would have imagined picking.  With 8 wins, Eppler has rebounded from a terrible 2017 season.  Vieaux looked headed for the business world after last season, but he has only allowed 3 ER  in 19 innings since his promotion to Altoona.   Gavin Wallace has a WHIP of .99, is 5-1, and has pitched solidly all year.   These three may never pitch on TV, but they have pitched well in the first half of 2018.  Brubaker, Robles, Holmes, Hearn, Vera, and "No-Hit" Nunez were other considerations -- and some obviously have more projectable careers. 



Some relievers with really good numbers were left off this list, but everyone here has something going for them.  Neverauskas is going through a Glasnow-type relationship between AAA and the majors.  He has reeked in Pittsburgh and mostly dominated in Indy – at least until his last outing.  Remember, this is not the MLB all-star team, just four Pirate farm teams.   



With a 1.33 ERA and 11 saves, Johnny Hellweg would have made the list had the Bucs not released him to Japan this week.  Schultz has good numbers but will be pitching in front of his grandchildren soon.  Scooter Hightower (5-0, .74 WHIP) continues his solid career.  Together, he and Matt Eckelman (4-0), and Blake Weiman give Bradenton an effective back of the pen. 



Matt Seelinger has a 2.05 ERA and averages 13.1 K/9 for West Virginia.  That is almost as good as teammate Beau Sulser, who has a WHIP of .911 and has not allowed a walk in 26 innings.



Two relievers who did not make the list but we might keep an eye on are Jesus Liranzo and Montana DuRapau.   After coming over from the Baltimore organization, Liranzo has already been promoted to Indy from Altoona.  DuRapau is back from his suspension and in Altoona now.  I would interested to know besides Kingham and Keller, who do you think has the strongest likelihood of success in the majors? 



NOTE: Sorry for the jumbled numbers. I tried to modify but have struck out.