Is Brock Holt the future at SS for the Pirates?

Brock Holt was drafted in the ninth round of the 2009 first year player draft out of Rice. The Pirates gave him a $125,000 bonus and probably thought his ceiling was as a utility infielder. Still, they've pushed him aggressively through the system and now he is thriving in AAA. He's lean and fast and fits the prototypical mold for a lead-off hitter: he gets on base and can steal bases. He has played primarily at short, but also at second, which might be his ideal position. The real question is, does he have what it takes to be a big-league regular?

Holt started the season in AA Altoona and hit .322 with a .389 OBP and 11 SB in 102 games. With Jordy Mercer becoming a fixture on the Pirates bench, Holt was promoted to AAA, where he has hit for a .423/.446/.577 line in his first 13 games. What's particularly remarkable about that is he showed almost no power to speak of in the lower minors. He still only has three homers combined on the season, but that's in addition to 29 doubles and six triples. Besides power, his defense is often cited as a drawback. He doesn't have the defensive skill at short that someone like Mercer has, but he's quick with a decent arm. He's also not a burner, so he needs to improve his reads if he's going to be effective as a basestealer in the majors. Right now he gets caught about as often as he makes it.

There's a lot to like about Holt as a ballplayer though. He's a lifetime .312 hitter in the minors with a terrific .376 OBP. He has been aggressively pushed through the system and has responded at every single level. He has been a mid-season All-Star every single year. Pirates Prospects had him listed as the 32nd best prospect in the system prior to the season and he's listed as having just missed the Top 20 in their post-trade-deadline update. I've heard some folks compare him to current Pirates utility man Josh Harrison, but Harrison had to exceed expectations just to get to the Bigs; Holt can be even better, though perhaps with less positional flexibility. There's no obvious long-term solution at shortstop for the Pirates, so Holt may eventually get his shot. With second base blocked by Neil Walker and Clint Barmes signed for another season, Holt's immediate future is likely as a utility guy, but it would not surprise me at all if he wrested control of the shortstop job for at least part of the year in 2013. Either way, given how successful he's been of late, he's certainly someone to keep an eye on.