Altoona will feature legitimate prospects at most regular spots. At least a couple should be vying for promotions by mid-season. And one former first round pick will be trying to re-establish some sort of prospect status.
Catcher
The regular catcher initially will be Christian Kelley, who’ll be moving up from Bradenton. The Pirates like his defensive work, as shown by the fact that he’s been invited to major league spring training the last two years. He hasn’t, however, hit much. The backup will be Jackson Williams. Eventually, Kelley will probably share the catching job with Jin-De Jhang, who’ll return to Altoona after a rough year last year.