Pittsburgh Pirates: West Virginia Power Player Awards
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Pirates minor league season has been over for about two weeks now. With that, it is time to start looking at the players at each level who performed the best on each minor league team.
The West Virginia Power are the Pittsburgh Pirates Low-A affiliate. The West Virginia Power finished the year at 71-68. The Power missed the playoffs this season. They had a lot of talented prospects on their team. Leading the pack was 2014 second round draft pick Mitch Keller, 2015 first round pick Ke’Bryan Hayes. Also spending time with the Power were pitchers Dario Agrazal, Scooter Hightower, Gage Hinsz, Logan Sendelbach, Seth McGarry, Brett Helton, and Taylor Hearn. The notable Power hitters (no pun intended) were Casey Hughston, Carlos Munoz, and Mitchell Tolman.
The West Virginia Power were not the best offensive team this season. They had a lot of their success due to their strong pitching staff. They also had a lot of experienced players on their team. The team was made up of a majority of 2015 college draft picks. This group was mostly made up of Hightower, Sendelbach, Helton, Hughston, and Tolman. Almost all of these players will move on to High-A next season. With that which pitcher and hitter from these lists deserves to be named players of the year for High-A West Virginia.
Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
Pitcher of the Year
The West Virginia Power’s pitcher of the year is Mitch Keller. No real surprise there. Mitch Keller was easily the most dominant pitcher in the South Atlantic League this year. The former 2014 second round pick showed great stuff all season. To go along with his stuff he also showed great command. When you mix these two things together you get a really good season. The biggest question mark that surrounded Keller entering the season was whether or not he would remain healthy. Keller missed most of the 2015 season with a strained forearm. Keller did not miss any times this year however.
On the season Keller pitched in 23 games for the Power. In those 23 games he threw a total of 124.1 innings. Keller average over one strikeout per inning pitched as he racked up a total of 131 strikeouts across the season. What was even more impressive is the fact that he only walked 18 batters in those 124 innings. This averages out to an impressive 1.33 walks per nine innings pitched. This is really impressive for a 20-year-old pitcher who throws 95 miles per hour. To sum up his season he had a 2.43 earned run average, and a WHIP of 0.92. All these numbers allowed him to finish the year in High-A, and makes him the pitcher of the year at Low-A.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Hitter of the Year
Although he is no longer a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, Tito Polo broke out in a big way for the West Virginia Power. Polo spent all of 2015 at Low-A and struggled, he was sent there again for the 2016 season. Polo showed that he made the appropriate adjustments.
What did Polo prove to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Low-A this year? He proved that they were right in that he needed more experience at that level, and that if he gained it he would improve. This season he played 54 games for the Power. Polo put on a clinic, and finally broke out the way that many were hoping the toolsy outfielder would. He had a batting average of .302 for the Power, and he posted an outstanding .909 OPS. He showed a great balance of power and the ability to get on base. His on-base percentage was at .368 and his slugging was .552, both much higher than his number in 2015. To go along with those strong numbers, Polo hit 12 home runs and swiped 20 bags as well. Polo has always had the tools, but really showed them off in a refined way this year.
Polo was bumped up to High-A. He played another 55 games there. It was announced on August 30th that Tito Polo would be heading to the New York Yankees as part of the Ivan Nova deal. Although he was not with the Power for a long time, the numbers he put up there were impressive enough to get noticed by other teams. This is why he is the Hitter of the Year at Low-A.
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Next Up
The West Virginia Power did not have the best of seasons. The team missed the playoffs and they did not have the best offense. The pitchers on the team were the brightest spot on the team. The Pittsburgh Pirates keep producing quality pitching prospects in their organization and there was plenty to watch at Low-A.
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Mitch Keller broke out in a big way for the West Virginia Power. He want from an organizational prospect to a top 100 prospect in all of baseball. Keller is likely going to rate as the Pittsburgh Pirates top pitching prospect entering the season next year. The hitters as I mentioned were not very good. With that Tito Polo shined for the Power. Although he did not spend the whole season there, he out performed all the other hitters by a significant margin.
This concludes the Players of the Year for the West Virginia Power. If you have any thoughts on the choices or the prospects in general be sure to comment below. Next up on the list will be the High-A Bradenton Maruaders. The High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates won their league. They have a lot of really impressive prospects there that will be up for consideration. Down the line we will look at Double-A, Triple-A, and awards for the organization as a whole.
Finally all stats are courtesy of Baseball Reference
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