One of the Pirates international signing in 2009 was a young infielder by the name of Alen Hanson. He came from the Dominican Republic and as with most international signings, there were a lot of questions about how he would perform playing professional baseball.
2010 came around and Hansen was ready to debut as minor league ballplayer. He played in 68 games in the Dominican Summer League, hitting .324/.383/.447 with two homers, seven triples, ten doubles, and 20 stolen bases. That was more than enough to get him to the Gulf Coast League to start the 2011 season. Hanson hit .263/.352/.429 in 52 games there and got moved up for a few games to State College. That set him up for a 2012 season in which he would start in West Virginia and get a full season of baseball in.
So far, Hanson has been nothing but impress - and that might be an understatement. This year, Hansen is hitting .310/.348/.429 with four homers, four triples, and 14 doubles. He's stolen 12 bases in 17 attempts. He's arguably been the best hitter in the system this year, and that's exciting coming from a middle infielder. He's got some power, he's hitting for contact, and he can run.
Chances are before this year you hadn't heard of Alen Hanson, but it seems like you're going to be hearing his name a lot more for the next few years. He has good patience at the plate and a matured sense for the strike zone. He's not a complete prospect right now, he still takes some uncontrolled hacks and doesn't always put up as good of an at-bat as he could. Also, his size doesn't speak well for his future and his limited arm strength is going to make it tough to play him anywhere but second base.
Hanson has been hitting the ball extremely well this year, and can put up some extra base hits. This is all from a position that you don't get too much offense out of, which makes Hanson a valuable prospect. Keep an eye on this kid down in West Virginia as the year progresses. He's really young at the age of 19, but a promotion to AA could be coming by year's end if he keeps hitting.
I'm not going to say that this kid is a sure major leaguer, because he hasn't had a lot of time in professional ball yet. However, everything he has done this year bodes well for his future, and that's refreshing in a system that doesn't seem to be able to develop middle infielders.
Is Alen Hanson the Pirates Next Top Prospect?
2012-05-11T09:00:00-04:00
Jon
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