MLB Prospect Watch

Minor Pirates Moves - Kaminska, Oliver

The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't been the most active team this off-season, but during the Winter Meetings, they did make a pair of interesting minor moves worth noting.

First, they acquired left-handed pitcher Andy Oliver from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for catcher Ramon Cabrera.  Oliver is a former second-round pick (2009) who, at the time of his selection, Baseball America said "If Oliver can't develop a reliable breaking ball, his fastball velocity and command should make him at worst an effective big league reliever."

After working primarily as a starter in the minors, it appears that even that command is now in question, as Oliver has walked five batters per nine innings in his minor league career.  That makes him almost certainly a reliever, but with a questionable breaking ball, it's tough to say how he'll fair against left-handers.  Still, he has a power arm that can hit the mid-90's from the left-side, so he'll get his chances.

Cabrera, on the other hand, is a catcher who can do a few things well, but he's 5'8" doesn't have a ton of upside.  He doesn't strike out much but doesn't walk much either and has limited offensive potential.  He's more of a sure thing to be able to catch in the majors (but not necessarily hit) than Oliver is to be able to pitch in the big leagues, but the Pirates have plenty of catching depth and can afford to part with Cabrera for the shot that Oliver's and his powerful arm figure things out.

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In their second move, the Pirates sent pitcher Kyle Kaminska to Boston to compete their acquisition of Zach Stewart.  The continued interest in Kaminska is interesting, as the Pirates made a point of acquiring him from the Marlins this past summer, only to see him pitch well in the Arizona Fall League then leave him unprotected in the Rule V draft.  He was not selected (not surprising) but then was sent to Boston.  Kaminska is a fringe prospect who throws a ton of strikes out is unremarkable at best.  The continued interest in him is strange, but the Pirates did manage to turn him into Stewart, who has bounced around and had little success in the majors but does have a decent track record in the minors.

Stewart will almost certainly be a bulpen arm.

 

Notable Prospects Left Unprotected

With today being the final day for teams to add players to their 40-man rosters, we now have a pool of players from which teams will be able to choose for the Rule V draft.  There are a ton of players available, but here are a few of the players that were somewhat surprising to see left unprotected.  They may not be selected, but it was still surprising to see them available.

 

Jiwan James, Phillies

James is still much more potential than production at this point, despite being 23-years-old this past season, but his talent and tools might be enough to get him selected.  In order to be drafted in the Rule V draft, a team would have to believe that James can survive the entire season in the majors.  James is ready to handle the majors defensively, which may be enough for a team to take a chance on him, but there's no way he's ready to hit at that level.  He'd basically be an automatic out at this point, so he'll only be selected if there's a team prepared to use him as a defensive replacement/pinch-runner all year.

 

Kyle Kaminska, Pirates

Kaminska is perhaps the surprising omission from 40-man rosters across the league, not because of his ability, but because of the way the Pirates have gone about things the past few months.  Not only did they trade for him (and essentially give up a compensation pick to get him), but then they used one of their seven Arizona Fall League spots on him.  On top of that, Kaminska pitched about as well in the AFL as could have been expected out of him.  It's hard to think of what the Pirates were hoping he would accomplish in the AFL and why they bothered trading for him and sending him to the desert if they were just going to leave him unprotected.

 

Ryan Chaffee, Angels

The former 3rd round pick was old for his level this year but put together his best professional season.  He's never had good control, but working as a reliever for the first time in his career, he posted a 2.60 ERA between High and Double-A.  He's got a desirable arm that some team is going to want, and as a reliever, he could survive the jump to the majors this season.  Expect him to get selected.

 

Jesus Aguilar, Indians

Aguliar is a talented prospect who is still growing into his power but showed an improved approach at the plate this season.  There are a number of teams that would probably love to get their hands on Aguilar, but it would require a major jump in levels.  Aguilar has only 87 plate appearances above A-ball in his career.  He's also a right-handed hitting first base-only prospect, making it difficult for a team to designate a bench spot to him.  Teams will be tempted, but even if he's selected, it's likely that he'll be sent back at some point.