Brad Lincoln

One of the most talked about Pirates among bloggers this week has been Brad Lincoln, the Pirates number 1 pick of 2006. Unfortunately, being selected in the first round has probably been the highlight of his career. In his professional career, Lincoln has a 3.99 ERA with 1.8 BB/9 and 6.2 SO/9. Now, those numbers aren't horrible, but not too great for a guy that was supposed to be a future ace. The low point of Lincoln's career was missing the entire 2007 season after his Tommy John surgery. However, last year was an encouraging season, as he pitched phenomenally in AA and then was sent to AAA, where his numbers weren't the greatest (however that was probably because he was there to work on his fastball and changeup, so he didn't have a chance to mix it up, in other words, getting batters out wasn't his main focus). Now, in 2010, Lincoln seems ready to make him big league debut.

Dejan Kovacevic interviewed Lincoln down in Bradenton the other day, and in that interview Lincoln showed his excitement for his chance to make the team out of spring training. While I don't think it would be in the Pirates best interest to bring Lincoln up out of spring training, I really want them to give him a chance, for competitions sake.

This year in Bradenton there will be competition for the #5 spot in the rotation. The two obvious contenders are Kevin Hart and Daniel McCutchen. However, I really want the Pirates to let Lincoln know that he has a chance to make the team out of spring training. That way, they will get optimal effort out of all 3 contenders, and that can only make good things happen.

While I am all for the competition and giving Lincoln a shot, I think the only way the Pirates actually bring him to Pittsburgh for opening day is if he absolutely amazes everyone. Looking at his season from last year, there are a lot of flaws in his game that he needs to improve on before he's ready to face major league hitters. The main things he needs to work on are his fastball control and his changeup. He has pretty good velocity, and has a plus curveball. If Lincoln can develop a good changeup and get locate his fastball well, he could be a very good pitcher. He will probably never reach #1 in the rotation status, but it's not out of question for him to be the Pirates #2 or #3 starter for a very long time. At the very worst he is a solid 4 or 5.

If the Pirates are going to trade Zach Duke or Paul Maholm this season, Lincoln will be the man to take their spot. However, I would like to see him in the big leagues before a trade like that happens. That way, we will have a little bit of an idea of what Lincoln will bring to the table in the majors, although he will not have nearly enough starts to know anything for sure. I would like to see the Pirates bring him up in late June or early July, that way he will get a good amount of time in the majors in 2010 and we will save the money by starting his clock 3 months later.

The Pirates minor league system isn't exactly full of good starting pitching prospects, so the future of the rotation is strongly relying on Lincoln to turn into a good major league pitcher. Besides him, we don't have much down there, at least in AA and AAA. There are a good amount of strong arms in A ball, but we are a couple years away from knowing what we have in those guys.