Pirates sign Belarussian pitcher

[cakmakli]

This is crazy. We have players from India, South Africa, Australia, the Netherlands and now a 16 year old from Belarus. Are we running a circus here?

Pirates sign Belarussian pitcher
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Add another flag to the United Nations consulate that has become the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Club officials announced that they indeed have signed the first Belarusian to a major-league contract, 16-year-old, right-handed pitcher Aleksey Lukashevich of Brest Zubrs' baseball and softball club.

Lukashevich, 6 foot 4 and just 160 pounds, is from Brest, Belarus. He just turned 16 on June 1, and his contract is for the 2011 season, so he is expected to begin play with Bradenton of the Gulf Coast League next summer. He is currently in Bradenton touring Pirate City and taking physical examinations, among other things.

Lukashevich was a 2009 invitee to the Major League Baseball European Academy in Italy, where the Pirates also mined second baseman Gift Ngoepe of short-season State College by way of South Africa.

A team for years noted for little international activity, the Pirates now have 14 signees the past three years from Belarus, South Africa, Lithuania (pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas), India (pitchers Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh), Taiwan (first baseman Chih-Wei Hsu, outfielder Ping-Hung Chi and pitcher Sheng-Cin Hong), Australia (catcher Dylan Child, pitcher Mitchell Fienemann and pitcher Jarryd Sullivan), the Netherlands (first baseman Daan Cornelissen) and Colombia (shortstop Jonathan Barrios).

All listed in the above paragraph are playing this summer for GCL Bradenton, except for Fienemann -- who is with Ngoepe in State College.

Another Australian pitcher, Wilson Lee, is playing this summer with the major-league's Australian Academy.

In other news: The West Virginia Power made it official, announcing their player-development agreement with the Pirates runs through 2014.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10194...#ixzz0tgW9PwoK

[BPS3akaWirels3]

We also just re-acquired Brian Bixler of the Cleveland Indians AAA to Pirates AAA.. Who we gave up has not been said as of yet.. This could mean Diaz is promoted from AAA and either Cedeno or Crosby go bye,bye

[X-Terminator]

It's gotten to the point where it's just not worth laughing about anymore. Pirates management is an absolute disgrace.

[tony hipchest]

It's gotten to the point where it's just not worth laughing about anymore.

while true, i did get a chuckle out of outfielder Ping-Hung

[steelerdude15]

MLB, take over the Pirates, that is all.

[Godfather]

He might turn out to be a good player.

In which case he'll get traded for a bum.

[cakmakli]

Even when we go Japanese we get this:

[Chidi29]

Who cares where they're from? They could be from North Korea for all I care. If they have potential, if it's a good move, do it. Location doesn't mean a thing.

If anything, I'm glad to know for a fact that we're scouting internationally. And that it's more than just due dilligence. That it's actively looking at every possible angle to acquire players that could help down the road.

[cakmakli]

Who cares where they're from? They could be from North Korea for all I care. If they have potential, if it's a good move, do it. Location doesn't mean a thing.

If anything, I'm glad to know for a fact that we're scouting internationally. And that it's more than just due dilligence. That it's actively looking at every possible angle to acquire players that could help down the road.

I don't care where they are from. They could sign a little green guy from Mars for all I care - as long as he can play ball.

That being said, I also don't want to read about them signing guys from other countries, that I would be willing to bet will never play MLB, just because they can be gotten for cheap with the pie in the sky dream that one of them will be the next Sandy Koufax.

What I do want to read is that they have put up the money and have signed their top two draft picks, Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie.

[tony hipchest]

If anything, I'm glad to know for a fact that we're scouting internationally. And that it's more than just due dilligence. That it's actively looking at every possible angle to acquire players that could help down the road.

if anything, it tells me they are too cheap to even sign guys from our own western hemisphere.

next thing you know, we will be signing 13 year old stick ballers from indonesia and africa for 24 cents a day, who are used to playing barefoot with broom handles and a whiffle ball.

[Chidi29]

I don't care where they are from. They could sign a little green guy from Mars for all I care - as long as he can play ball.

That being said, I also don't want to read about them signing guys from other countries, that I would be willing to bet will never play MLB, just because they can be gotten for cheap with the pie in the sky dream that one of them will be the next Sandy Koufax.

What I do want to read is that they have put up the money and have signed their top two draft picks, Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie.

You could sign a bunch of guys from America, knowing that 99% of them won't see the big leagues. Again, it doesn't matter where they're from. Everything is the same.

I'm sure signing these guys, presumably dirt cheap if I might add, will have no affect on us signing either draft picks. Two seperate budgets, if I had to guess.

[Chidi29]

if anything, it tells me they are too cheap to even sign guys from our own western hemisphere.

next thing you know, we will be signing 13 year old stick ballers from indonesia and africa for 24 cents a day, who are used to playing barefoot with broom handles and a whiffle ball.

What does hemisphere matter?

Besides, we just put in $4 million into a state of the art facility in the Dominican. We are making aggressive moves to attack the Latin America market.

I think you guys are overanalyzing this.

[cakmakli]

You could sign a bunch of guys from America, knowing that 99% of them won't see the big leagues.

LOL, the Pirates do that too.

[X-Terminator]

What does hemisphere matter?

Besides, we just put in $4 million into a state of the art facility in the Dominican. We are making aggressive moves to attack the Latin America market.

I think you guys are overanalyzing this.

That might be true if we were talking about any other franchise. But we're talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have been abysmal failures at talent evaluation over the years, mainly because they're too cheap to bring in legitimate talent. This is also the same franchise who have, in essence, said they have no intention of spending money to keep the talented players they DO have.

[cakmakli]

And if India is such a hot bed of Major League prospects why are the other 29 teams not reaching into that market? We signed a winner of an Indian Reality TV Show and the runner up. One had played cricket and the other was a javelin thrower. Twenty-nine other teams passed on these two but not the Pirates. Our GM is such a baseball genius that he managed to out smart the other 29 teams and sign these guys for only $10,000 a piece.

It was a PR move, pure and simple. Hey, look at us, we're the Pirates and we are willing to do anything it takes, to include signing a javelin thrower and cricket player from India to be a winning ball club... that is except to put money on some good ball players.

Don't believe me? Well do you remember this quote by Super Genius: "If a player wants to chase every last dollar, he’s probably not going to be here. If he buys into what we’re doing, he’ll leave some money on the table and he’ll stay.’’

[tony hipchest]

What does hemisphere matter?

we are talking about baseball, not cricket or soccer.

the finest truffles come from europe, the finest caviar comes from russia, the finest diamonds come from south africa, and the finest baseball players come from america and latin america (both of which happen to be in the western hemisphere).

sure you can pluck a decent gem out of the dirt in arkansas once in a while, just like you can find a good ball player from japan, but that is the rare exception, not the norm.

[Chidi29]

LOL, the Pirates do that too.

Which is my point. The location is irrelevant. America or International, most of these guys are nothing more than rookie ball, GCL, whatever the case may be, bodies.

[Chidi29]

That might be true if we were talking about any other franchise. But we're talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have been abysmal failures at talent evaluation over the years, mainly because they're too cheap to bring in legitimate talent. This is also the same franchise who have, in essence, said they have no intention of spending money to keep the talented players they DO have.

Then bash the talent these guys have. Not their location.

There are plenty of things you can complain about the Pirates. You could create a huge list a problems with the franchise. Location of players seems to be the least of our concerns.

[Chidi29]

we are talking about baseball, not cricket or soccer.

the finest truffles come from europe, the finest caviar comes from russia, the finest diamonds come from south africa, and the finest baseball players come from america and latin america (both of which happen to be in the western hemisphere).

sure you can pluck a decent gem out of the dirt in arkansas once in a while, just like you can find a good ball player from japan, but that is the rare exception, not the norm.

And we are actively getting players, setting up locations, in those areas. Tallion and Allie are both from high schools in America.

Again, these guys just appear to be roster bodies. It's not a big deal.