Hillcats right in the middle of Pirates’ organizational reshuffling

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ lineup for Opening Day 2008 in Atlanta featured Nate McLouth, Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche, Xavier Nady, Ryan Doumit, Jose Bautista, Jack Wilson and Ian Snell.

Of the nine, only Doumit remains. All have one thing in common: they were all Dave Littlefield’s guys, players signed and drafted by the Pirates’ former general manager. The new front office, headed by general manager Neal Huntington, has gone about trying to revamp a team that has endured 16 consecutive losing seasons by purging that group out of existence.

Through a series of shrewd trades in recent weeks, Huntington and the Pirates’ front office have remade the organization, and Lynchburg has been at the center of this transition. This season alone, the Pirates have assigned five players to the Hillcats who came from different organizations.

Infielder Josh Harrison, acquired in a deal with the Cubs Thursday, made his Hillcats debut Friday. Pitcher Nate Adcock, who came aboard when Pittsburgh dealt Jack Wilson to Seattle last week, is ex-pected to make his debut today, piggybacking on Ronald Uviedo’s start.

“I just think they’re adding depth to our system,” said shortstop Jordy Mercer, who was the Pirates’ third-round pick in the 2008 draft, Huntington’s first. “Because the system was pretty thin to begin with, and everybody knew it.”

How thin? At the end of each season, Baseball America compiles a list of the top 20 prospects in every minor league. The Pirates were woefully under-represented on those lists, with the only “top 20” players being Andrew McCutchen (International League), Neil Walker (IL), Jose Tabata (Eastern League), Chase d’Arnaud (NY-Penn League) and Jarek Cunningham (Gulf Coast League).

Huntington’s first draft was heavy on college players, including Pedro Alvarez, Mercer, Justin Wilson and Matt Hague. Seven of the first nine picks were collegians. The Pirates’ system was especially thin at the Advanced-A level, as evidenced by the Hillcats’ poor records in recent seasons.

“We were the first draft class of their regime, or whatever you want to say,” Mercer said. “I think we’re the starting point. Now it’s just building and keeps building and keeps building. It starts with the farm system.”

The Pirates brass has made that clear enough with the flurry of trades since the season started. Lynchburg has benefited from the moves. Of the 29 players currently on the Lynchburg roster, more than half (15) are players Huntington has either drafted, signed or traded for. Seven of those are BA top 30 (pre-season) prospects: Adcock (Seattle, 24); Jeff Locke (Atlanta, 7); and five of the Pirates’ top 30 prospects — Bryan Morris (5), Mercer (15), d’Arnaud (167), Hague (23) and Wilson (29).

The only Hillcat in the top 30 from the Littlefield years is Ronald Uviedo (18).

“We understand we’re not going to go out and spend millions on free agents,” Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes said. “We’re going to have to pick and choose our spots to fill one in where we don’t have one of our guys. The more guys we have that are prospects, players, the better chance we have of finding that one guy that’s going to be the right fit.

“I love it. The better players we have down here, the better chance we have of being successful up there. It starts down here, and it’s going to eventually push up.”

Morris suspended

The Pirates suspended Morris indefinitely Saturday for “unprofessional conduct” he displayed after his start Thursday against Frederick.

“Through various comments and actions during his outing the other night, he disrespected the umpires, his manager, his teammates and the organization,” Pirates director of player development Kyle Stark told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Neither Forbes nor Morris would comment on the specifics of the incident that prompted the suspen-sion. When umpires called for a rain delay Thursday night, Morris gesticulated wildly from the pitching mound, clearly upset that the game was being stopped.

“It’s an in-house thing. We’ve handled it, and hopefully he’s back here sooner rather than later,” Forbes said. “He’s going to go down to (Bradenton) Florida to work on a couple of things, pitching-wise. I think that’s as deep as it needs to go.”

Said Morris: “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

Morris, one of the key parts of the trade that sent Jason Bay from Pittsburgh to Boston, missed the first two months of the season with a shoulder injury and has struggled to find a rhythm. He’s 2-6 with a 5.91 ERA in 45 2/3 innings pitched.

d’Arnaud back

Thought to be done for the season after suffering sprained thumb ligaments in mid-July, d’Arnaud re-turned to the lineup Saturday. He started at second base and went 1-for-4 with a walk and an infield single in his first appearance since July 15.

D’Arnaud injured his left thumb diving for a ground ball at Potomac. He wore a hard cast for about a week before switching to a soft brace. Initially, Stark told reporters in Pittsburgh that d’Arnaud was done for the season. But after getting a second opinion in Pittsburgh on the injury, d’Arnaud was able to resume baseball activities within two weeks of the injury.

“The doctor said my thumb was stable,” d’Arnaud said. “It feels all right. I‘m ready to play. It healed quickly.”