Gregory Polanco

Gregory Polanco

Polanco in 2012
Pittsburgh Pirates – No. 25
Outfielder
Born: September 14, 1991
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bats: Left Throws: Left
MLB debut
June 10, 2014 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Career statistics
(through April 10, 2015)
Batting average .234
Hits 69
Home runs 7
Runs batted in 34
Teams

Gregory Polanco (born September 14, 1991), also known by his nickname "El Coffee", is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Career

Minor leagues (2009–2014)

Polanco competed in showcases, and played as a pitcher due to him being left-handed. He was asked to rotate to the outfield due to a shortage of players, and found that he preferred the position.[1] Polanco signed as an international free agent with the Pirates on April 11, 2009.[2]

In 2009, he played for the Dominican Pirates of the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League. In 2010, he played for the Gulf Coast Pirates of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL), where he had a .202 batting average. In 2011, he played for the GCL Pirates and the State College Spikes, batting .237. He spent the 2012 season with the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League. He enjoyed his best season to date, batting .325 with 16 home runs and 40 stolen bases.[1] He was named the South Atlantic League player of the year, and the Pirates' minor league player of the year.[3]

Prior to the 2013 season, Polanco was ranked as the 65th best prospect in baseball by MLB.com,[4] and as the 51st best prospect in baseball by Baseball America.[5] Polanco began the 2013 season with the Bradenton Marauders of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. With Bradenton, Polanco batted .312 with 24 stolen bases and 30 runs batted in in 57 games, before receiving a promotion to the Altoona Curve of the Class AA Eastern League.[6] In June 2013, Baseball Prospectus ranked Polanco as the 12th best prospect in baseball.[7] Polanco, along with Dilson Herrera, represented the Pirates at the 2013 All-Star Futures Game.[8] The Pirates promoted Polanco to the Indianapolis Indians of the Class AAA International League at the end of the season. He received nine at-bats with Indianapolis.<ref name=bradenton/.

The Pirates added Polanco to their 40-man roster on November 20, 2013, to protect him from being selected by another team in the Rule 5 Draft.[9] On March 14, 2014, the Pirates optioned Polanco to Indianapolis.[1]

Major leagues (2014–present)

Polanco was called up to the major leagues on June 9, 2014 due to an appendix injury to second baseman Neil Walker[10] and made his MLB debut on June 10 playing right field.[11] In that game, he recorded his first career Major League hit against Chicago Cubs pitcher Travis Wood, later scoring his first career run. The following day, June 11, Polanco recorded his first Major League RBI. On June 13, as part of a five-hit game, Polanco hit his first career home run, a two-run shot, against the Miami Marlins in the 13th inning that would turn out to be the game winner in an 8–6 victory for the Pirates. On June 17, he became the third Pirates player—the first since Roberto Clemente in 1955—to record a hit in each of his first seven major league appearances.[12] The following day, he became the first Pirate to hit in his first eight games.[13] Polanco struggled for a month after a good start to his career, and was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on August 25 before returning a week later as part of the expanded roster at the beginning of September.[14][15]

Personal

Polanco is from Santo Domingo. Both of Polanco's parents are police officers in Santo Domingo.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Rise of Pirates' Polanco is old-school success story for new-age franchise". TribLIVE. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ Williams, Tim (August 30, 2012). "Polanco and Hanson Selected as 2012 SAL All-Stars".
  3. ↑ http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/4232402-74/polanco-season-league#axzz2w8S5akVq
  4. ↑ "Cole among four Bucs prospects in Top 100". Pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com. January 30, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Prospects: Rankings: Top 100 Prospects: 2013 Top 100 Prospects". BaseballAmerica.com. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  6. ↑ http://www.bradenton.com/2014/02/27/5016718/pittsburgh-pirates-prospect-gregory.html
  7. ↑ "Taillon, Polanco, and Glasnow Make Baseball Prospectus Top 50". June 25, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Gregory Polanco, Dilson Herrera on World roster for Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game | pirates.com: News". Pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com. June 27, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Polanco among four added to 40-man roster". Mlb.mlb.com. November 20, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Pirates call up prized OF prospect Gregory Polanco". ESPN.com. Associated Press. June 9, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  11. ↑ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140609&content_id=79040082&vkey=news_pit&c_id=pit&partnerId=ed-8297918-712401803
  12. ↑ Singer, Tom (June 18, 2014). "Polanco following in Clemente's footsteps". MLB.com. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
  13. ↑ Singer, Tom (June 19, 2014). "Polanco takes place in Bucs history in loss to Reds". MLB.com. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Bucs send struggling Polanco to Triple-A". MLB. August 25, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  15. ↑ Singer, Tom (September 3, 2014). "Polanco, Locke among those back with Bucs". MLB.com. Retrieved September 3, 2014.

External links