A couple days ago we were talking about the Pirates being contenders to get J.J. Hardy or Jason Bartlett in trades to replace Ronny Cedeno in the 2011 starting lineup. However, Hardy was traded to the Orioles, and Bartlett went to the Padres, which led to the Pirates selection of Josh Rodriguez in the Rule 5 Draft.
So right now the Pirates have Cedeno and Rodriguez as their major league shortstops, with Pedro Ciriaco being the emergency call-up. It's evident that the Pirates are not content with this, which is a good sign since they really should not be.
Cedeno's a career .245/.284/.640 hitter, which is bad even from the shortstop position. His defense is average at best, and those two things together make for a pretty lackluster baseball player. Rodriguez has never played a game in the major leagues and doesn't really project to be anything but a bench utility man. Although Rodriguez does have some pop in his bat and some definite upside, it's not enough to warrant sending him and Cedeno into the 2011 season as the 2 best shortstops if you can avoid it.
Now it's no surprise that the Pirates will have below-average players starting in the major leagues in 2011. They've had these kinds of players in the lineup every year since I've been alive. I'm not writing this from the perspective that the Pirates have a problem in the lineup and need to fix it immediately. At this point it wouldn't really matter if the Pirates had Hanley Ramirez in the lineup next year, they probably still wouldn't make the playoffs. What I want to look at is the future of the position. So let's go.
Outside of Cedeno and Rodriguez, this is what the Pirates have in the system in terms of shortstops:
Pedro Ciriaco
2011 Opening Day Level: AAA Indianapolis
Ciriaco was a part of the trade with the Diamondbacks that sent D.J. Carrasco, Ryan Church, and Bobby Crosby to Arizona, and also got the Pirates Chris Snyder. He's a right-handed, 26 year old defensive-minded shortstop. His defense was good enough to earn him honors as the top-rated defensive shortstop in the Southern League in the 2009 season. His bat doesn't project to have much impact in the major leagues, although he has put up some pretty decent numbers in the minors. In 2009 with the Diamondbacks double-A team, he hit .296/.319/.367, and .265/.281/.387 in 2010 split between two triple-A teams. He hit for more power in 2010, with 24 doubles, 8 triples, and 6 home runs in 119 games, but everything else was much worse. At his age it's hard to say that he is going to get better with the bat, but if he could come into the majors hitting .270 and playing the kind of defense he does, he would be better than Cedeno is, however it's still probably not good enough. Ciriaco might help the Pirates out a little bit in 2011 if Cedeno or Rodriguez gets hurt or plays even worse than expected, but he's definitely not a guy that's going to be a major league starter anywhere.
Chase d'Arnaud
2011 Opening Day Level: AAA Indianapolis
d'Arnaud has a weird last name, so we're just gonna call him Chase from here on. He was drafted by the Pirates in the 4th round of the 2008 draft and his stock as risen since. He is a very solid defender, and has had success with the bat at every level he's played at. He's been in the system for 4 years now and his lowest batting average is .286, and that was in his first year. In 2009 he hit .293/.398/.454 in a season split between single-A and double-A, a very impressive line for a middle infielder. However, his offense nearly disappeared in 2010 with a .247/.331/.377 line in 132 games at double-A Altoona; an incredibly disappointing season for Pirates fans. Despite that, he remains the Pirates best shortstop prospect in the system and really the only one that could turn into a good major league starter someday. He has the defensive abilities to make it, but his offensive numbers are going to have look more like 2009 than 2010 if he wants to make it. The Pirates will hope for a bounce-back year in 2011, and if they get it they will look to have him in the majors by mid-season.
Brian Friday
2011 Opening Day Level: AAA Indianapolis
Friday was a third round draft pick in 2007 out of Rice University, where he played with the aforementioned Josh Rodriguez. There's nothing outstanding about Friday's game, but he doesn't have any glaring holes either. He hit .265/.361/.386 in 2009 with double-A Altoona and .257/.347/.378 in his 93 games with triple-A Indianapolis in 2010. He missed some time with injury and played 10 games between rookie ball and Bradenton, but I didn't factor those numbers into that line. As you can see, he doesn't hit for good average, which wouldn't be a huge problem in the major leagues but it's likely that his averages would drop upon promotion to the Pirates, so we can't expect him to be an average hitter in the majors. He has little power and not enough speed to justify a spot in a major league batting order. He is a smart player with a good eye at the plate and good defensive prowess, but there just doesn't seem to be enough there for him to ever make it in the majors.
Jordy Mercer
2011 Opening Day Level: AA Altoona
Mercer was drafted by the Pirates in the 3rd round of the 2008 draft, and has some good upside. First of all, let me say that is not a shortstop primarily any longer. In 2010 he played only 20 games at shortstop, compared to 54 at third base, and 49 at second. He does still have the ability to play shortstop, and play it pretty well. His defense doesn't compare to Ciriaco or d'Arnaud, and his body doesn't really fit into either, being 6'3'' and just shy of 200 pounds. In 2009, Mercer hit .255/.314/.400 with 10 home runs in 131 games with the single-A Lynchburg Hillcats. Unlike the rest of the guys on this list, he improved in 2010 (even with being promoted to double-A, hitting .282/.329/.373, although his home runs dropped off to 3. Mercer doesn't project to be a major league shortstop, but it's not out of the question, and he could provide above average offense along with good defense at second base. There's still a lot of things to be worked out with his game however, so don't expect to see him in Pittsburgh next season, regardless of his performance.
Brock Holt
2011 Opening Day Level: AA Altoona
Holt was a 9th round selection in the 2009 draft. In 2009 he played at State College and posted a .299/.361/.449 line with 6 home runs in 66 games. If that doesn't impress you, the .351/.410/.438 line he posted in 2010 with Bradenton should. He did all that in only 47 games, so there's not a big sample size to look at here, but his performance has been good for what it's worth. Holt is a small guy at 5'10'', 165, so he's not going to be a power hitter, but he definitely has the ability to progress through the system quickly and become a serious major league prospect in a couple years. He is good with the bat, has good plate patience and plays sound defense. Definitely a guy to keep an eye on here.
Jarek Cunningham
2011 Opening Day Level:
Cunningham is a very interesting player. He missed his senior year in high school with a knee injury and saw his stock drop significantly because of it, which gave the Pirates the chance to draft him in the 18th round of the 2008 draft. If he had stayed healthy, he would have gone in the first 5 rounds, easily. He started his pro career off with a .318/.385/.507 line in 43 games with the Gulf Coast Pirates. Cunningham was prepared to be the starter for the West Virginia Power in 2009, but tore his ACL in March and missed the entire season. He came back in 2010 and struggled at the plate with a .258/.309/.436 line. He hit 12 home runs in 121 games, which shows some upside. He will turn 21 on Christmas Day, so he's got a lot of time ahead of him. He hasn't actually played shortstop since 2008, which probably should have pushed him off the list, but I wanted to talk about him anyway. He played 2nd base exclusively in 2010, and has the athletic ability to play shortstop as well. However, my bet is that they keep him at 2nd and even try him out at 3rd some more (where he played 26 games in 2008). Cunningham has a long road ahead of him, but has the ability to be a major leaguer someday.
So those are the main shortstops in the system. There are a few more possibilities that played in the low-A regions of the system last year, but they are still at least a year away from even being discussed as major leaguers. Overall, the system is very shallow at middle infield, especially short stop. Chase d'Arnaud is our best hope at being an above average major league shortstop, but I wouldn't put much money on him.
This leads me to my actual point.
The Pirates have been linked to Brendan Ryan and Bill Hall in the last few days. This may or may not be true, but there's no doubt that the Pirates are still testing the market for big league ready shortstops. I don't exactly agree with this. Ryan and Hall would be 1 or 2 year deals, and wouldn't do much for the future of the Pirates. We are past the phase of this rebuilding process that requires adding talent to the minor leagues at all cost, but I still think there are major holes in the system. One of the biggest holes is the middle infield positions, and I think the Pirates would be better served going after double-A and triple-A prospects that could actually turn into good major league starters instead of chasing Ryan and Hall to play the position in 2011 (only slightly better than Cedeno would, I might add). We still need to be looking at this in terms of the x-years process. If we're going to win soon, it's going to be in the years past 2011. Unless some miracle happens, 2011 will be another losing season for the Bucs. There's no need in throwing more money at major league players that won't contribute to 2012 or 2013.
If it were up to me, I play the 2011 season out with Cedeno and Rodriguez and stay on the close lookout for possibilities to add serious middle infield prospects to the system.
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