First Pitch: Who Has Been Your Biggest Surprise So Far in the Pirates’ System?

15 May 2021

If you missed it yesterday, I had the first part of my interview with Pirates’ farm director John Baker, discussing Will Craig’s promotion to the majors, and what he had been working on.

I’ve got an article on Cal Mitchell coming up in Baseball America, and will have some Baker comments left over on this site from that topic of discussion.

In each player we discussed, Baker expanded a bit on how the organization is developing their prospects. If you read the Craig interview, you’d see it is very cerebral stuff.

I’ve got articles planned for the entire upcoming week from that conversation. One of the most fascinating is the follow-up to the Will Craig discussion, when Baker discussed the organization’s approach on learning in player development. I was going to run mostly the quotes for that, and let Baker do the talking. However, I’ve been reading more into the subject, and want to work on a more complete article for tomorrow.

Check out that Craig article if you missed it.

Saturday Discussion Topic: Today, I’ll have a look at some of the surprises so far in the Pirates’ minor league system. Who has been your biggest surprise so far?

Saturday Baseball Recommended Reading: James Gibson’s theories on direct perception.

Saturday Music Recommendation: St. Vincent just released her sixth album, “Daddy’s Home”. The album has major Pink Floyd vibes. The song of the day below is my favorite so far. If you play the album in order, there are some obvious Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon references at the start of the very next song. Highly recommended album if you’re into guitar-forward indy rock.