Today, the team told Tony Sanchez – last year’s first round pick who is out with a broken jaw – that he’s done for the season. That’s a real bummer, both because Sanchez looked poised to go to AA before the injury and because the Pirates’ catcher at the Major League level is Ryan Doumit.

Not content to just leave it at that, some good news was mixed with some bad news. The good news is that Jeff Locke – a part of the Nate McLouth trade – has been moved up to AA Altoona after pitching very well in Bradenton. The bad news is that he’s taking the spot of Tim Alderson – the sole return of the Freddy Sanchez trade.

Finally, the team has re-acquired former farmhand Brian Bixler from Cleveland in exchange for a player to be named later. While a player to be named later is rarely anything to get excited about, neither is Brian Bixler, who is 27 years old and still can’t hit AAA pitching despite it being his fourth year at the level.

2010 has certainly not been kind to Pirates prospects. First Starling Marte had a hamate bone injury which required surgery, setting back a year that would probably have seen him promoted to AA at some point.

This was added to the fact that 2009 draftee Colton Cain had an injury before the season started that has had him on the shelf for all of 2010 so far. Also MIA are pitchers Quinton Miller, Victor Black and Brett Lorin.

Then middle infield prospect Brock Holt tore his MCL, and word has recently come in that he will be shelved for the rest of 2010.

Now 2009′s first-round pick Tony Sanchez has been hit in the face with a pitch, giving him a broken jaw in two places that will require surgery.

If there’s any good news to be had here, it’s this: few of these injuries will be significant.

Marte had been playing very well in Bradenton, but he’s also only 21 years old. As well, hamate injuries typically only sap power in the short-term. This may delay his arrival in the Major Leagues, but ultimately he’s still a very good prospect. Cain and Miller both have youth working in their favor as well.

Lorin is older, but he’s already started to come back to action in Bradenton this year. He’s not a top prospect by any means, so if he doesn’t pan out, it’ll be hard to say it was because of the injury.

As for Sanchez, this represents missed development time, which sucks for a college draftee. However, unless he does some weird thing I haven’t heard about where he throws out would-be base thieves using only his jaw, it shouldn’t be anything more than that. So while 2010 has been unkind to Pittsburgh prospects, it’s not the end of the world.