Half-season Minor League Positional Roundup: First Base

After recapping the seasons of the catchers in the Pirates system yesterday. Today we'll glance at the first basemen to see if the outlook is brighter through the season's first half. Luckily, it clearly is, from the top level on down.

Best Season: With several great performances from first basemen thus far, it was tough to choose just one as the best season, but Jeff Clement takes home the prize. Clement's no spring chicken anymore, as he's 28 years old and hasn't sniffed the big leagues since his discouraging turn as Pittsburgh's first baseman in 2010. But Clement deserves a promotion to help out the parent club as a bopper off the bench. The No. 3 pick in the 2005 draft is hitting .299/.364/.543 with 25 doubles and 13 home runs for triple-A Indianapolis. He's been remarkably consistent all season long, and from reports his defense has held up reasonably well despite his history of aching knees that forced him to miss most of 2011. Although he's not on the 40-man roster, Clement could receive a promotion to help the Pirates by the end of the season if he continues his rebound.

Worst Season: Nick Evans and Jake Fox were signed in the offseason to potentially help the major league bench, but neither made the team out of Spring Training and were assigned to Indianapolis. Fox had a good start but was eventually released after a slump and a roster crunch. But Evans was abysmal from the get-go and broke his hand near the end of April just when he was finally starting to hit. He only garnered 80 plate appearances and managed a .197/.263/.324 line with 2 home runs. He may not have a place when he comes off the DL anyway with Clement tearing it up.

Biggest Surprise: Matt Curry tore up low-A West Virginia last year and was promoted aggressively to Altoona where he flopped. Curry needed a big season to remain on the prospect map and he's delivered so far. Although he pulled a hamstring and missed about a week and a half in early June, Curry stormed back to hit .412 in June and July with 4 of his 6 home runs during that period. In fact, the only month Curry's hit under .300 was in May. His overall numbers are up to .320/.376/.533 with 26 doubles. His home run power is the one aspect lacking from his offensive game and his defense is sub par but he might make it to Indianapolis by the end of the season.

Biggest Disappointment: Although his statistics are far from poor (they might even be better than average), Alex Dickerson was expected to provide a plethora of pop for high-A Bradenton this year. The 2011 3rd round pick was drafted for his powerful stick, but he hit only 2 home runs through the season's first two months. He's picked up the pace since then (he's up to 8 bombs) and his line is up to .293/.355/.441 with 18 doubles and 60 RBIs (AAAAAAHHHHHH old statistic!!!!) so there's evidence that Dickerson's power is adjusting to the professional game. He'll likely end up in Altoona next year regardless of his second-half performance.

Stock Rising: Jose Osuna skipped over State College straight to low-A West Virginia to start his full-season debut at age 19. Osuna's numbers don't jump off the page (.262/.313/.405, 23 doubles and 7 homers) but he's handled advanced pitchers pretty well for his age. He hasn't had the breakout that fellow Power teammates Alen Hanson or Gregory Polanco have had, but he's more than earned a promotion to Bradenton next season. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is manageable at 55 to 22 (in 339 plate appearances) and his doubles total could translate to more power down the road. One issue is also his defense, as he's kind of stuck at first and isn't very effective there.

Stock Falling: AFter an amazing spring where he crushed 7 home runs, Matt Hague made the Pirates' Opening Day roster. But "The Hit Collector" hasn't strung enough powerful hits together in either the majors or Indianapolis to show Pirates' management that Hague can be an effective first baseman at the big league level. Hague is only slugging .363 despite a .285 batting average in 196 plate appearances. Hague was given a few weeks of run as a big league starter but he didn't translate his prior minor league success to Pittsburgh just yet (.235/.278/.265). He turns 27 in August and is currently with the Pirates thanks to Alex Presley's injury and Jose Tabata's ineffectiveness, but he'll likely drop back to Indianapolis before long. He's looking more and more like a bench bat at best.

Other players of note: Justin Howard doesn't have much power to speak of as Dickerson's backup in Bradenton, but he's proving to be a serviceable organizational hitter that can help out for a couple of years. The 24-year-old is hitting .284/.387/.387 with only 1 home run and 11 doubles in 181 plate appearances but a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 27:25...Jared Lakind was an overslot signing in the 23rd round in the 2010 draft but has sputtered to gain prospect status. After two years in the GCL, Lakind started this summer in State College but hasn't generated buzz in his first 30 at bats, hitting only .167/.286/.200. He's going to need to start hitting soon or he'll get lost in the shuffle...18-year-old Edwin Espinal got off to a horrific start in the GCL, striking out 10 times in his first 15 at bats and still has a high K rate, but hit his first professional home run and bumped his numbers to .250/.250/.341. He walked 20 times and struck out only 10 times last year in 134 plate appearances last year in the Dominican Summer League.

Check back tomorrow for a recap of the second basemen in the Pirates system