Pirates Prospects is Live!
PiratesProspects.com has all of the information you need on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their minor league system.
Pirates Prospects is live!
A little over a year ago, I took PiratesProspects.com offline.
It was only the second time since January 2009 that Pirates Prospects wasn’t operating.
The first time came in 2020, and lasted exactly one year. My intent at the time was to create a new version of Pirates Prospects during a time when there was no minor league baseball.
I never actually created a new version of the site. I didn’t have the coding knowledge, and AI wasn’t around to advance that coding knowledge with vibe coding. So, the site returned in 2021 with a different spin on the old approach.
Today, I have created the version of Pirates Prospects that I envisioned back in 2020.
EDUCATION UPGRADE
It would have cost me $6000 to keep the old Pirates Prospects database online in 2025. I repurposed that money toward furthering my education.
Part of that education was learning the basics of coding. Part of that was learning how AI worked. A big part of that was learning how the stock market worked. There are no pensions in sports blogging.
By January of this year, I was creating apps with the help of AI. This included an NBA prop betting system that was the foundation for the new Pirates Prospects. I also started on the foundation for the new P2, but I needed the season to be in progress before I could really get to work.
This past week, I reached a point where Pirates Prospects could go live, which is now is over at PiratesProspects.com.
It’s pretty self-explanatory when you check it out, but let me tell you a little about how the new site works.
INFORMATION AND AUTOMATION
Ever since 2020, I wanted Pirates Prospects to be a resource, instead of a blog. I didn’t want the content of the site to be dependent on opinions and live reports, but just objective data.
There’s no written content on the new Pirates Prospects. I’ll still be writing here. I might add some written content in the future to the new P2, but it’s not going to be a blog with constant articles filled with opinions, and I’m definitely not going to be traveling to report on games.
As I type this, I have the Pirates Prospects homepage open on another screen. I know that Wyatt Sanford hit another home run in the afternoon Greensboro game, because the site automatically updated with the result.
One of the main features on the old Pirates Prospects was a daily Prospect Watch that tracked what was happening throughout the system each day. The new Pirates Prospects allows you to see what is happening live.
The live game updates include a top performers section, showing who has homered, the hits leaders, and the strikeout leaders for pitchers.
The Scores page shows Statcast data, including exit velocities, hit distances, whiffs, and pitch velocities. That page also shows the full box scores and play-by-play for each game, again with live updates.
Aside from the live game updates, the entire site is filled with information.
The Stats page shows the leaders of key categories across the entire system, along with a sortable table complete with timeframe splits and IP/PA qualifiers.
The Rosters page shows the depth chart, updated within an hour of any official roster transaction, with links to every player page.
The individual player pages include career stats, game logs, splits, 2026 Statcast data, and career transactions for every player in the system. If you didn’t already click the Sanford link above, you can check out the player page for fellow top prospect Seth Hernandez.
The Schedule page shows the current week schedule throughout the system, with the ability to look at any week of the season, and links to past results.
The Standings page keeps track of the record of every team in the Pirates’ system, along with where they rank in their division, and where the Pirates rank in the NL Wild Card race.
The Transactions page updates throughout the day with the latest official moves, with links to the player pages, and the ability to filter transactions by level.
The abbreviated version of all of these features is available on the home page, giving you a destination to get the latest updates throughout the system with one quick scroll.
FUTURE UPDATES
The best part about the new Pirates Prospects is my workload.
There might be some hiccups with the automated updates in the early days, but today was the first day I woke up and everything was working as it should. This allows me to focus my energy on expanding the site with new features.
Here’s a preview of what’s to come:
One of the key details currently left out is the tracking of service time, option years, and other contract information. I’m currently working on that expansion. I also need to update the draft and international signing database, which largely involves an import from the old Pirates Prospects archives.
I’ve been working the last few years on a new approach to scouting prospects. That’s something I hope to implement on the site by the end of this calendar year, which would introduce a unique ranking system not found anywhere else. Right now, I have all of the data I need to proceed. The system I created to evaluate the stock market is going to provide the framework for this system. I don’t want to rush into this yet, so it might be a target for the offseason.
There are other smaller updates on my list. Advanced play-by-play data. Team specific pages. Links to articles around the internet from trusted sources.
Finally, I’d like to put together a newsletter that emails the previous day’s results every morning. This might be one of the first updates to hit the site.
My only role now is to think about how Pirates Prospects could be improved with more information, and then to make it happen.
The to-do list I have right now is ten tasks deep, and I add something to the list every time I browse the site. I’m like Tony Stark designing new Iron Man suits.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll check out the new version of Pirates Prospects, and make it a daily destination for information on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their minor league system.
The new site is free, and will remain free. It might eventually include advertisements to pay the bills. Your support on this Pittsburgh Baseball Live writing project and over on Patreon has helped me to get to this point where I could launch the new Pirates Prospects as a free resource. I appreciate everyone who has supported along the way, even if you didn’t know the new site was slowly being developed.
Until the next time I go live…
-Tim Williams
Tim, get to see this up and running. Quick question I live in Connecticut and happened to see Altoona play the Yardgoats last night, and was completely stunned by the performance of Derek Diamond. He’s got a lively arm and I was wondering what your thoughts are and perhaps with the organizations thoughts are on him as well? Thanks for your time. Good luck with everything.
Jim