The Pirates have named Robbie Grossman their minor league player of the year and Kyle McPherson their minor league pitcher of the year.
↵The choices were pretty straightforward. The Bucs' best hitter in the minors this year was almost certainly either Grossman or Starling Marte. Grossman drew a remarkable 104 walks for Bradenton and had a .418 on-base percentage, and his power developed throughout the year. He also scored 127 runs. Marte is the much better prospect, and I'm actually not sure that Grossman drawing this many walks in Class A+ is a good thing (in that pitchers at higher levels will have much better control, and so he won't be as well served waiting for pitches to crush and trying to work walks), but it's hard to argue with his overall numbers.
↵McPherson pitched at Class A+ and Class AA, and he ended up with 142 strikeouts and 27 walks in 161 innings. His performance was a huge breakout, and he could be ready to vie for a rotation spot with the Pirates within a year or two.
↵For more on the Pirates, check out Bucs Dugout.