Pirate 1996 Scouting Report

Last Updated 10 June 1996

On Saturday, November 18, 1995, Mark Jareb (mij6t@avery.med.virginia.edu) posted the following to the Pirate e-mail list. I have edited it and included it here with his permission:

This is a position-by-position report on the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. It attempts to project the level that each player will be at in '96 and identify the extent to which a player is a prospect. In addition, it attempts to identify which positions the Pirates have needs and the various possibilities to address those needs. In evaluating batters, a major criterion will be age, as batters tend to peak at ages 27-28 and then decline. Another heavily discussed criterion will be the ability of the batter to take a walk -- drawing walks tends to be a very stable ability (doesn't vary much from year to year) and usually is the key factor between a poor On Base Percentage (OBP) and a good OBP. I'll harp a lot on OBP because I see that as the Pirates major offensive problem (compared to the league their OBP is relatively worse than their SLG).

Notes: when you see ###/###/### that stands for BA/OBP/SLG (or just OBP/SLG sometimes). The ages listed for players are how old they will be in '96.

I'll list players currently in the organization based on the highest level they played in 1995.

Mike Emeigh writes a monthly recap on the Bucs for Online Drive. You can see Mike's column starting with the May 1996 edition.
In their late December 1995 issue, Baseball America lists the Pirates Top 10 Prospects. They are listed below with links to Mark Jareb's Scouting Report on that particular player:
  1. Jason Kendall, Catcher
  2. Trey Beamon, Outfield
  3. Chad Hermansen, ShortStop
  4. Freddy Garcia, Third Base
  5. Charles Peterson, Outfield
  6. Ramon Morel, Right Handed Pitcher
  7. Jose Guillen, Outfield
  8. Lou Collier, ShortStop
  9. Kane Davis, Right Handed Pitcher
  10. Jimmy Anderson, Left Handed Pitcher
While listing the best tools in the Pirates system, Baseball America came up with this list: Finally, here is Baseball America's prediction for the 1999 Pirate Line Up. There are a few positions where I disagree with them, but they provide a good list to get a discussion going. The links are to Mark Jareb's comments in his 1996 Scouting Report: Here is another scouting report on the Bucs top Prospects.
After all that serious scouting information, if you need a little light-hearted reading, then check out One More Scouting Report.
Is there something here you like, that needs to be changed,
or would you like to see something that is not included?
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