Morning Pirates Buzz: Presley coming up & Reactions from Huntington, Draft experts on selection of Mark Appel

MORNING PIRATES BUZZ

The Pirates intend to callup left fielder Alex Presley for tonight's game. Presley was sent to the minors on May 16, after batting .220 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI's, including a .246 OBP and .305 slugging percentage in 34 games with the Pirates.

Presley batted .309 in his first 19 games this season but slumped badly leading to his demotion, going 3-for-42 with 1 extra base hit in his last 15 games with the big club prior to being demoted.

Pirates GM Neal Huntington said at the time that Presley was not being intelligent at the plate and that the team "optioned Alex out to get him going." "We need to get him back to being intelligently aggressive where he attacks his pitch or works the count when he does not get a good pitch to hit, " Huntington said on May 16.

Presley has responded, hitting .303 (10-33) with 4 home runs, 10 RBI's and a double in his last 10 games with Triple-A Indianapolis. Presley has also walked seven times, posting a .415 on base percentage and 1.112 OPS.

A corresponding move is expected to include sending Gorky's Hernandez to Triple-A or Jose Tabata going to the DL.

The Pirates are getting rave reviews for the selection of Mark Appel in the first round who fell into their lap at No. 8. The team also selected outfielder Barrett Barnes in the supplemental round with the 45th overall selection. As a junior this year at Texas Tech University, Barnes hit .325 (67-for-206) with 17 doubles, six triples, nine home runs, 49 RBI, 53 runs scored and 19 stolen bases in 55 games. He was rated by Baseball America as the 21st-best position player available in the draft. The same publication also tabbed him as having the “Best Raw Power” in the Big 12 this season.

In his career at Texas Tech, Barnes became only the second player in school history to bat .300, record 500 at bats, score 150 runs, collect 200 hits, 50 doubles, 30 home runs, 100 RBI, 100 walks and 50 stolen bases, joining Texas Tech alum Clint Bryant from 1993-96.

He ranks fifth in school history in doubles (51), runs (171) and total bases (371), sixth in walks (113), seventh in at bats (637), ninth in home runs (33) and tied for ninth in hits (203). He also became the fourth player in school history to earn All-Big 12 honors in three consecutive seasons; he was second-team in 2010 and first-team in both 2011 and 2012.

In his first year at Texas Tech, he was named the Big 12 Freshman-of-the-Year after hitting .341 (74-for-217) with 19 doubles, 14 home runs, 53 RBI, a .641 slugging percentage and a .465 onbase percentage.