Gulf Coast League Pirates

Gulf Coast League Pirates Founded in 1968 Bradenton, Florida
Team logo Cap insignia
Class-level
Current	Class Rookie League
Minor league affiliations
League	Gulf Coast League
Division	Northwest Division
Major league affiliations
Current	Pittsburgh Pirates
Minor league titles
League titles (1)	2012
Division titles (4)	2002 2003 2008 2013
Team data
Nickname	GCL Pirates
Ballpark	Pirate City Complex
Owner(s)/ Operator(s)	Pittsburgh Pirates
Manager	Milver Reyes

The Gulf Coast Pirates or GCL Pirates are the North Division Gulf Coast League Rookie Level minor league affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team plays in Bradenton, Florida, at Pirate City Complex. Established in 1978, the team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball either as draftees or non-drafted free agents from the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and other countries. The team won division championships in 2002, 2003 and in 2008. The team's current manager is Milver Reyes. In 2012, the team won its first GCL Championship in team history.^[1]

The 2009 GCL Pirates had nine players each from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, with the United States a distant third at six. There were the two highly publicized, pioneering Indian pitchers, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, who became the first Indian-born players to sign professional baseball contracts in the United States,^[2] a second baseman named Henry Henry from Colombia, two players from Puerto Rico, and one each from Mexico, Panama, Australia, Canada and one of the first three players ever signed out of South Africa, Gift Ngoepe, while one of the Americans, Chris Aure, is from Alaska. "We eat together in the cafeteria, but sometimes we try each other's foods," Ngoepe says. "I listen to the Indians' music when I go past their rooms, and they listen to my music from Africa. We tell each other stories about our home countries. We do everything together." "Everybody's the same here, like family," Venezuelan infielder Elevys Gonzalez says.^[3]

Season-by-season

(from Baseball Reference Bullpen)

Year	Record	Win-Loss %	Manager	Regular Season Finish	Playoffs
1968	27-33	.450	Buddy Pritchard	6th GCL	No playoffs until 1983
1969	28-26	.519	Buddy Pritchard	4th GCL
1970	23-40	.365	Dick Cole	8th GCL
1971	20-32	.385	Ed Napoleon	6th GCL
1972	21-39	.350	Ed Napoleon	7th(t) GCL
1973	17-37	.315	Woody Huyke	9th GCL
1974	11-42	.208	Woody Huyke	9th GCL
1975	23-31	.426	Woody Huyke	4th GCL
1976	11-41	.212	Woody Huyke	7th GCL
1977	22–32	.407	Woody Huyke	7th GCL
1978	21–32	.396	Woody Huyke	6th GCL
1979	20–32	.385	Woody Huyke	6th GCL
1980	24–39	.381	Woody Huyke	8th GCL
1981	32–28	.533	Woody Huyke	5th GCL
1982	27–35	.435	Woody Huyke	3rd GCL
1983	28–32	.467	Woody Huyke	3rd GCL North	Did not qualify
1984	21–42	.333	Woody Huyke	5th GCL North	Did not qualify
1985	15–47	.242	Woody Huyke	5th GCL North	Did not qualify
1986	24–39	.381	Woody Huyke	5th GCL North	Did not qualify
1987	33–30	.390	Woody Huyke	2nd GCL North	Did not qualify
1988	26–37	.413	Julio Garcia	5th GCL South	Did not qualify
1989	21–42	.333	Woody Huyke	8th GCL South	Did not qualify
1991	30–29	.508	Woody Huyke	3rd GCL Central	Did not qualify
1992	23–37	.383	Woody Huyke	4th GCL Central	Did not qualify
1993	21–38	.356	Woody Huyke	7th GCL West	Did not qualify
1994	25–35	.417	Woody Huyke	4th GCL West	Did not qualify
1995	23–36	.390	Woody Huyke	4th GCL Northwest	Did not qualify
1996	28–31	.475	Woody Huyke	3rd GCL Northwest	Did not qualify
1997	27–32	.458	Woody Huyke	6th GCL Northwest	Did not qualify
1998	25–35	.407	Woody Huyke	6th GCL West	Did not qualify
1999	24–35	.407	Woody Huyke	5th GCL North	Did not qualify
2000	34–26	.567	Woody Huyke	2nd GCL North	Did not qualify
2001	22–34	.393	Woody Huyke	6th GCL West	Did not qualify
2002	37–23	.617	Woody Huyke	1st GCL North	Lost in 1st round vs. GCL Dodgers (1 game to 0)
2003	36–20	.643	Woody Huyke	1st GCL North	Lost in Finals vs. GCL Braves (2 games to 0)
2004	30–28	.517	Woody Huyke	3rd GCL South	Did not qualify
2005	28–26	.519	Jeff Livesey	2nd GCL South	Did not qualify
2006	27–26	.509	Turner Ward	4th GCL North	Did not qualify
2007	26–30	.464	Tom Prince	4th GCL South	Did not qualify
2008	37–19	.661	Tom Prince	1st GCL South	Lost in 1st round vs. GCL Phillies (1 game to 0)
2009	29–31	.483	Tom Prince	4th GCL North	Did not qualify
2010	29–30	.492	Tom Prince	4th GCL North	Did not qualify
2011	34–26	.567	Tom Prince	2nd GCL North	Lost in 1st round
2012	36–24	.600	Tom Prince	2nd GCL North	Won GCL Championship vs. GCL Red Sox (2 games to 0) Won in first round vs. GCL Cardinals (1 game to 0)
2013	33-27	.600	Milver Reyes	1st GCL Northwest	Lost in 1st round vs. GCL Nationals (1 game to 0)
2014	20-40	.333	Milver Reyes	3rd GCL Northwest	Did not qualify
2015	28-31	.475	Milver Reyes	3rd GCL Northwest	Did not qualify
2016	22-34	.393	Edgar Varela	2nd GCL Northwest	Did not qualify

Roster

Gulf Coast League Pirates roster
Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 46 Nicholas Economos 17 Shane Kemp 44 Mister Luciano 45 Alex Martinez 37 Yunior Montero 65 Nestor Oronel 29 Chris Plitt -- Horelbin Ramos ‡ 16 Ike Schlabach 47 Jacob Taylor 49 Nathan Trevillian		Catchers 25 Paul Brands  5 Yoel Gonzalez 12 Garrett Russini Infielders 15 Jhoan Herrera  3 Nelson Jorge  7 Sam Kennelly 13 Luis Perez 57 Adrian Valerio Outfielders  2 Luis Benitez 56 Michael De La Cruz 23 Victor Fernandez 31 Edison Lantigua 26 Eric Thomas		Manager 24 Milver Reyes Coaches 22 Kory DeHaan (hitting) 35 Elvin Nina (pitching) 7-day disabled list * On Pittsburgh Pirates 40-man roster # Rehab assignment ∞ Reserve list ‡ Restricted list § Suspended list † Temporary inactive list Roster updated April 13, 2016 Transactions → More MiLB rosters → Pittsburgh Pirates minor league players

References

1. Williams, Tim (August 29, 2012). "GCL Pirates Win First Gulf Coast League Championship in Franchise History".
2. http://www.bucsdugout.com/2009/7/4/938007/dinesh-patel-and-rinku-singh-make
3. Kovacevic, Dejan (July 10, 2009). "The Bradenton Pirates: They are the world". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

External links

• MiLB.com team page
• GCL Pirates History from Baseball Cube