Tim from Pirates Prospects asks what's going on with the Pirates' hitting prospects. The Bucs have focused on pitching in the last three drafts, maybe in part because they really like a certain kind of tall, skinny high school pitcher, and they've often been able to pick those sorts of players late in the draft and lure them away from college commitments.
↵In the meantime, though, they're short on hitting prospects. Pedro Alvarez hasn't worked out as planned, and neither has Tony Sanchez, who was a controversial choice early in the 2009 draft. If those two guys turn it around in 2012, the Pirates could have a nice collection of good young hitters on their hands, with those two players joining Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, Starling Marte, Josh Bell and a couple others. In the meantime, the cupboard does look a bit thin. As Tim points out, that doesn't necessarily mean that the Pirates should draft a bunch of hitters next year, if the talent isn't there to support such a strategy. But the relative lack of hitting talent is worth thinking about.
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