The Pittsburgh Pirates have dedicated the last couple of years to pad the minor leagues with as much talent as possible. We saw some of that talent lost in the Rule 5, with 11 players taken in the minor league phase.
While most of those players aren’t considered to be notable prospects, what stands out the most is the need the team really had to clear those players to make room for the traffic jam that is going to become of Altoona and Indianapolis — most notably the pitching staffs.
Nine of the 11 taken were pitchers, five of which played at either Altoona or Indianapolis.