Baseball 2011: The Pirates' three-volt battery
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From left, Stetson Allie, Jameson Taillon and Tony Sanchez at Pirate City. -
Catchers Chris Snyder, left, and Tony Sanchez look on at spring training in February in Bradenton, Fla.
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BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Pirates' top three prospects have precious little in common, particularly off the field.
Jameson Taillon, who could be the franchise's first pitching ace since Doug Drabek, is the cerebral sort: He can be engaging and funny, as well, but it's evident that he thinks a step ahead.
Stetson Allie, who profiles as a lights-out closer with his 100-mph fastball, has the personality to match: He walks and talks like the kid who took your lunch money at school just to show he could.
And Tony Sanchez, who rates as one of the best defensive catchers in any team's system, fits his prototype, too: He is most at home when getting clipped and cut behind home plate, yet so energetic that he wants more and more.
The Brain, the Brawn and the Dirtball.
Add them up, and they just might make the most promising top trio of prospects the Pirates have had since the Barry Bonds/Bobby Bonilla core in the mid-1980s.
Jim Callis, Baseball America's executive editor, calls the current trio "as good as any" in the Pittsburgh system since 1998, when Aramis Ramirez, Kris Benson and Chad Hermansen all ranked among that publication's top 13 overall prospects. Callis also calls the trio better than that of 2009, when Pedro Alvarez ranked 12th, Andrew McCutchen 33rd, Jose Tabata 75th.
In the publication's 2011 list issued last month, Taillon ranked 11th, Sanchez 46th and Allie 79th.
Not much came of Benson and Hermansen, so caution is advised. And that seems to be the approach within this group, anyway.
"I hope all three of us make it to Pittsburgh, but it's a process," Allie said. "We might not all get there at the same time, but we're all going to work hard to get there and try to bring a change."
Taillon appears to have it all.
The Pirates' first-round draft pick last summer, No. 2 overall, has the model 6-foot-5 starting pitcher's frame, a fastball that is on the corners steadily around 95 mph, a hammer curve that arrives at an unfair 84 mph, a sweeping slider, and the poise and command to match.
See all that, then hear the maturity when he speaks, and it is unfathomable that he is 19 years old, fresh out of Texas' The Woodlands High School, and still a week away from his first professional pitch.
First Published March 28, 2011 12:00 am
