A flurry of roster moves and transfers took place within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization today, and while none of them were the move that fans have been desperately wanting, there were some interesting decisions made and promotions given.
Right handed pitcher Isaac Mattson, catcher Dylan Shockley, outfielder Matt Frazier, and utility man Mike Jarvis all earned promotions to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, and the organization also bumped up several players to replenish their Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve.
This includes a level up for former first round Sammy Siani, who earned himself a jump from High-A ball with the Greensboro Grasshoppers to the Pirates’ Double-A club.
Siani was selected by the Pirates in 2019, 37th overall, but his attempt to ascend through the minor leagues has been rather slow. He played 39 rookie league games with the Gulf Coast League Pirates shortly after his draft, before joining the Low-A Bradenton Marauders in 62 games during 2021.
Since then, however, batting has been a problem for him in High-A play. Siani was with the Grasshoppers for two full years, slashing .201/.318/.306 in his first year with Greensboro, and .231/.337/.364 in his second year.
Last season did show sizable improvement from his first year in the High-A South Atlantic League, but they were still worryingly low given his draft position.
This season has been a different story though, with Siani slashing .324/.402/.563 in 20 games to start the year with Greeensboro. Despite playing in only 1/5 of the games he played in High-A last year, Siani is nearly halfway to his home run total from last season (9 last year, 4 so far) and practically a third of the way to his total bases figure as well (123 last year, 40 so far).
With that progress, the Pirates organization decided to pull the trigger and elevate the 23-year old to Altoona, where maybe he could assist the Curve in batting.
In the 12-team Eastern League, Altoona is 10th in team batting average with .216, 11th in OPS with .622, tied for last in home runs at 16, and dead last in RBI with 84.
They’re also third in the league in total strikeouts and are sporting a 6-22 record, far and away the worst record in the Eastern League and the worst record in Double-A ball entirely.
The Pirates farm system, as a whole, is very lopsided. Far more assets and development has gone towards the pitching side, and while it has yielded some good results already in the form of Jared Jones, and will continue to do so with guys like Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler, and others, it has left the batting side of the farm system to become a wasteland.
Indianapolis has some players who are batting very well, and as I’ve chronicled before some of them probably deserves major league roles. However, none of them can be considered prospects anymore. Guys like Ji Hwan Bae, Nick Gonzales, and Jake Lamb have played major league games before and are well along in their careers.
As for the younger kids, there isn’t a whole lot in the lower leagues. Termarr Johnson headlines a weak hitting farm for the Pirates, who may have to deal away some of their pitching prospects to acquire some help at the plate.
As for Siani himself, he wasted little time getting familiar with Altoona, hitting a triple in his Curve debut:
(Featured photo from the Pittsburgh Pirates)
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