The top of this draft class right now is LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, who had a big weekend. The reason why he graded out so positively was due to his arm, gunning down runners like crazy, which was fantastic, and his tool grade for his armwas a 40. It had exploded even further when he was seen following the pandemic shutdown, as he sat 95-97 mph and was touching 101 during the 2021 regular season. Scouting reports were. Pirates Reds: NL West. Flowers has pitched very well in the mid-minors (he carried a 2.88 ERA with Altoona in 2022) and hes been especially good at avoiding walks for a pure relief prospect. His acrobatics and creativity at third base make him a plus defender there. When Smith-Njigba takes a comfortable, max-effort hack, its obvious that he has big power, and his exit velo data reinforces the visual evaluation. }); Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category. His curveball was his only secondary to induce an above-average chase rate. ), and some of the recent, perhaps overzealous examples (Maikel Escotto, Rodolfo Nolasco) are in this system. Nolasco had two years of surface-level statistical success in rookie ball and the huge exit velos to match, but now after three pro seasons, his strikeout rates show a troubling upward trend. That said, it's getting harder. Plaz had a cartoonish line in the DSL (he slugged over .700), but hes very burly and physically mature for a 17-year-old, so wed like to see him do it stateside. Matt Fraizer, CF His overall pitch recognition, especially against breaking balls, has become a more noticeable issue. The pitch has natural tailing action, but Ortiz can also blow it past hitters at the letters when he wants, and his TrackMan data shows hes mixing in four- and two-seamers in the locations where theyre most effective. Spotty command and limited fastball utility push Mlodzinski into a multi-inning relief role. De Los Santos contact metrics are a hair south of average, and thats the biggest indicator that theres real risk here, but boy, there is also real ceiling. As the Pirates improve and fall into the middle of the draft order, opportunities to do this might dwindle since they cant create a big pool space surplus as easily, but their steady stream of competitive balance picks should give them at least some opportunity to explore creativity in the draft room just about every year. Clubs like the Pirates arent making buyers trades, so they have little to no incentive to move a potentially great young player, which in turn means teams have little incentive to scout said player. Gonzales had a 68% Z-contact% as a 23-year-old at Double-A. Escotto, 20, was a 40+ FV prospect after his huge DSL season and later became part of the Jameson Taillon trade, but he struggled very badly in 2022 and needed to be demoted back to Low-A. The effects of a pro strength and conditioning program might kick-start him down the path toward finding a more consistent release and sustaining the big velocity as a pro starter. Their top ten, in. The older brother of Ohio State wide receiver phenom Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Canaan is another of the many prospects acquired from the Yankees for Jameson Taillon. Jerez has above-average power and a 70 arm. A few months later, the Pirates emerged as the word-of-mouth favorite to sign him; he inked a deal for $750,000 in January. Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. Milwaukee Brewers Batting Postseason Stats 2021. Looking forward to fangraphs being wrong Campman92 5 min. Jose Tabata / OF. This level of athleticism might be an indication that Rodriguez will find a way to mature into more raw power despite not having a traditionally projectable frame. Both feel like high-floored backend or long relief types who need to walk an atypical path to an impact role. The swing length and approach combination is scary enough to keep Lopez out of the 40+ FV tier even though he has this sort of upside. His swing decisions and ability to make contact out front and tap into his latent power improved throughout the season. The Royals designated Webb for assignment in mid-November and he elected free agency before signing with the Pirates. He projects as a quick-moving no. Oliver Mateo, RHP Not Quite Enough Hit Tool The timing of his surgery is more detrimental than that of the other college pitchers, as it ups the odds that he wont (or will barely) pitch in 2023. Hernandez sat 93-96 mph in 2021 and when seen prior to Dodgers list publication last season, then kept throwing harder throughout the summer and ended up averaging 95-97 and touching 101 while with Double-A Tulsa. He has the talent to be an everyday player, but has to improve in one or two key areas (throwing accuracy, slider recognition) for that to be his outcome. He has an interesting long-term body projection and breaking ball combination. An extreme groundball pitcher in a small sample, he allowed just two home runs in 35.2 innings of work in 2022. He barely played in 2022 due to hamstring, elbow, and hip flexor injuries that cost him all but a couple of games. Chen was the 22nd-ranked player on the 2019 International Player section of The Board and was generally seen as the best signable high school prospect in Taiwan. His slot also helps generate two-plane sweep on his breaking ball. His delivery is violent and scary, especially given the injury track record, though not all of his injuries in the past have been to his arm. Maikol Escotto, 2B Gutierrez has soft, quiet hands, he doesnt tip pitch type or location with runners on base, and he will drop to one knee when he receives some pitches as a means of framing them. On defense, Rodriguezs size is both a feature and a bug. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. FanGraphs Top 43 Pirates prospects blogs.fangraphs Vote 3 comments Best Add a Comment Robert_roberts82 14 min. A proactive bullpen move could put him in position to debut in 2024. Theyve tripled since his claim-staking 2019 DSL season and Nolsaco Kd at a whopping 34% rate in the 2022 Florida State League. Hes been a fast-mover thus far and looks likely to continue that pattern, with a chance to show up on the big-league roster later this season, though a 2024 big league debut is more likely. The depth-drive approach has extended to the amateur side of things, where the Pirates tend to spread out their bonus pool to at least a couple of over-slot prospects every year. Hes been up to 100 mph, sits 96, and has solid glove-side command of a mid-80s slider. Pathways toward a more impactful role are most likely to be carved by Harringtons command outperforming this projection. Hes poised for a big league bullpen role this season and has a repertoire thats deep and nasty enough that he should be considered a late-inning option. A two-way high school prospect, Flowers was primarily a center fielder at Florida State but transitioned to the mound full-time in pro ball. Sanchez runs pretty well. Injured Arms Cheng entered 2022 coming off an incredible season in which he slashed .311/.449/.492 with twice as many walks as he had strikeouts. (2/2/2021) The recent track record of hitters this size isnt favorable, with only Franmil Reyes really panning out, but its exciting to watch Blanco take BP and see how loose and athletic he is for his size. He finished 2022 at Altoona and has a chance to be in the big leagues at some point this season. While it may seem like a lot of time has passed since he put his name on the prospect map with his otherworldly 2018 DSL performance, Nunez is still very young; hell turn 22 during spring training, where hes a non-roster invitee. That makes changeup development, or anything that might help him deal with righties, important, and indeed thats already underway Solometo has begun to more heavily incorporate a mid-80s changeup into his pitch mix. Matt Gorski, OF This is the third year were delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which youll see in the position column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. He spins the hell out of everything that leaves his hand, in particular his slider, which averaged over 2,700 rpm, but his inability to fine tune his command puts a damper on its utility (his walk rate was an untenable 12.4% across his 75.2 innings of work). His four-seamer was around the same velo as it had been at the alt site, sitting comfortably at 93 mph and maxing out at 95. He was Rule 5 eligible after the season, and hitters who have performed that well at High-A tend to be added to their clubs 40-man roster, but Lopez doesnt have a crystal clear defensive home and his plate discipline needs a lot of seasoning, so he wasnt a real threat to be taken. He pitched for Panamas U18 team in September and showed a good changeup and fair slider as well. Still 17 years old as of initial list publication, De Los Santos DSL barrel rate (its more a proxy for a barrel rate the exit velo and launch benchmarks arent exactly the same as Statcasts Barrels, but its the same idea) is so high that it actually breaks an age-adjusted 20-80 scale, grading out as an 83. Meanwhile, put on the tape, limited though it may be, and youll see an explosive young athlete with a prototypical baseball frame and premium bat speed, sizzling line drives all over the field. However, Priester makes up for it with his preferred secondaries a huge, arcing curveball that Priester has had forever, and a more recently developed mid-80s slider both of which have garnered swing-and-miss rates well above the big league average. (One weird scouting note: Peguero chokes up with two strikes, but only with his top hand, creating separation between his two hands la Kevin Youkilis.) Drafted as a shortstop, he fell down the defensive spectrum pretty quickly but without finding a way to lift the ball and hit for power in games. Here are the Pirates' 2023 Top 30 prospects March 1, 2023 Pirates' Chandler going all in on pitching February 28, 2023 Pirates return No. He has now struck out nearly 30% of the time during each of the last two seasons, but hes still performed comfortably above the league average at each stop because of the quality of the contact he does make. Not exactly on topic, but Id love to get some thoughts on the recently graduated Jack Suwinski. If he does end up having relevant chase issues, he might track like a left-handed hitting Brendan Rodgers, but Johnsons makeup and personality are so universally lauded that its fair to expect him to make relevant adjustments and become a key cog on Pittsburghs next competitive team. For the second straight year, he allowed a high rate of home runs, which inflated his ERA. He also threw a smattering of changeups in 2022, though it amounted to fewer than a dozen across his 50.2 innings of work at Double-A, and the changeup didnt show up at all when the Bahamian took the mound for Great Britains WBC squad. It shows above-average arm-side action on occasion, but hes only throwing it 12% of the time. That makes it seem all but inevitable that Chandler will eventually ditch the bat to optimize his development on the mound. So compact and short to the baseball is Rodriguez that he can wait an extra beat to diagnose pitch types, which enables him to make in-flight adjustments to breaking balls, spoil the well-located ones, and crush the hangers. These rankings include six Pittsburgh Pirates prospects cracking the FanGraph top 100. Triolo has long been viewed as a glove-first third baseman whod likely have some big league utility, similar to D-backs third baseman Emmanuel Rivera. How impactful a starter may depend on how his changeup, currently a tertiary offering, develops at the big league level. While likely of low impact, Solometos feel to pitch will almost certainly enable him to be a big leaguer of some kind, either a backend starter or long reliever. Even with that in mind, any team would be happy to sign a teenager with this kind of stuff for just $750,000 of their bonus pool. He has a short arm action, which aids in his command, though refining his location will likely be the order of the day upon his return from injury as he continues to work out of the Pirates pen. Amid a couple of short IL stints in 2022, Selby put up impressive numbers split between Double- and Triple-A and then looked great in the Arizona Fall League. Vilade spent some time near the top of the Rockies list due to his feel for contact. We added RosterResource's Depth Charts; these reflect a team's current. A two-way high school player, Jones was clearly a superior prospect as a pitcher, as he was one of the most electric on-mound athletes to roll through the high school ranks over the last decade. That pitch plays up against lefties for reasons that are probably obvious, but it isnt a nasty pitch in a vacuum. He showed a velo spike (92-96) at the onset of the 2022 college season before his arm strength and command regressed. With Endy Rodriguez around, it may not matter a ton. Hudson Head, CF This time around, the Top 100 has even more Moreno types, prospects who combine . Garcia is only 19 but is already sitting 96. A second base-only defensive fit puts the onus on Pegueros bat to perform at an everyday level. Melendez (sitting 97) and Mateo (sitting 95) are upper-level relievers with poor control. Sergio Campana, CF Finding a great changeup (or maybe a split?) A core scouting rule of thumb is to take the long view with catchers who have impact offensive potential. He also has a promising sweeper slider, but he lacks typical physical projection for a teenage pitcher. Nicolas spent most of his college career in the bullpen, but hes held up well as a starter in pro ball, developing two distinct breaking balls that hes using much more than he did at Ball State. 2023 Offseason Tracker. In 2022, it garnered just 8% whiffs and 13% chase during his time at Double-A, where he spent most of the season. Before he was drafted he was considered, at least at FanGraphs, a more likely reliever due to the quality of his stuff. He was ranked 25th on the Pirates list at the end of 2022, but we were blown away after watching him on video and seeing some of his underlying DSL data during the construction of this list. Ricky Tiedemann is one of the fastest-rising pitching prospects in the game. Theres an All-Star-caliber hit and power combination here, and while a bigger pro data sample might reveal some approach-related issues, Johnson has been one of the best hitters his age for going on a half decade and feels like a relatively high-probability high school hitting prospect. Ideally, Nicolas can develop an offering that has some arm-side movement, one better than his current changeup that can prevent hitters from sitting on those glove-side locations. Its possible Flowers strike-throwing consistency will make a big league manager feel secure going to him with consistency in the middle innings, but on stuff he projects more as a near-ready up/down reliever. Silvera, 18, is a physically mature righty who missed a ton of DSL bats even though he only sits 88-90. He did not pass. Martin has plus-plus raw power and a 30-grade hit tool, not enough for first base but maybe enough for consideration overseas. Brennan Malone, RHP. Campana, soon to be 21, is the youngest of this group. His letter-high, heater-heavy style of pitching, like Gerrit Coles, results in lots of fly balls and he may have long-term vulnerability to the home run. Prospects 2022 Top 100 Prospects. Davis plate crowding helps enable his pull-heavy approach. Carter Bins, C Enmanuel Terrero, OF RotoWire News: Gonzales will join the Pirates' major-league camp this spring. Hes naturally adept at framing low strikes because hes already so low to the ground, but its also fair to wonder if such a small athlete can withstand the grind of catching 80-100 games every summer. In some respects, its easy to assess DSL players. They have Hunter. Barco is a low-slot lefty with advanced command and several underlying pitch traits that give clubs hope of more upside even though he looks like a lower-variance backend starter prospect on the surface. Indeed, of his offerings, only his four-seamer had a whiff rate above the big league average, and he struggled to keep that pitch competitive, only throwing it for a strike 57% of the time. He has basically been the same guy since he entered pro ball, sitting 94-95 with ineffectual shape and a pretty good slider. DSL data is noisy, in part because pitchers there dont yet throw enough strikes or with much velocity compared to more advanced levels of the minors. He re-emerged in 2022 as a 24-year-old at Triple-A, and had an offensive season commensurate with that of an extra outfield prospect, a lefty stick with more raw power than hed hit for in games, but enough bat to play a bench role provided hes capable of playing center field. Hes still the contact-first, chop-and-spray hitter hes always been, an approach to hitting enabled and bolstered by his speed, which allows him to beat out infield singles. Across his 94.1 innings, he racked up 111 strikeouts against just 31 walks, with a 1.21 WHIP. He pairs it with two above-average secondaries: a high-80s slider with sharp, downward movement that garnered a 48% chase rate against righties, and an 11-5 curveball with a shape that mimics the slider, only slower and looser, which helps keep batters off balance and enables him to pitch backwards. His on-mound athleticism enables plus long-term command projection, though for right now Harrington really only locates his fastball to his arm side. He absolutely towers over his father, who was twice a Baseball America Top 100 prospect but spent most of his pro career in Japan. He doesnt always look comfortable out there, but his speed makes him viable at all three spots, solidifying his role as a heavily-used role player even without the power production. Back with former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom in Arizona . Traded from Arizona to Pittsburgh as part of the Starling Marte deal, Peguero had been a top 100 prospect for the last couple of years, tracking like a plus bat middle infielder. Acquired in a. Its unlikely hell make enough of an offensive impact to be a primary catcher, but hes very likely to spend time on big league 40-man rosters as a second or third catcher. He missed basically all of September and was shelled in the only start he made coming off the IL. Currently, Kennedys best attribute is multi-faceted fastball utility. He maintained his patient approach in Altoona, and when the Double-A season ended, he was sent up to Indianapolis for the last five games of the Triple-A season. Sammy Siani, LF. Antwone Kelly, RHP During a full season at Double-A in 2022, he saw time at third base, shortstop, and center field, and in 2023 hell start seeing more time at second base. His command and changeup are both still works in progress, but his 2022 fastball strike% (68%) is an encouraging sign, and again, Jones has a special level of athleticism that should enable him to hone both over time. Burrows had success as a starter throughout a 2022 season split between Double- and Triple-A before shoulder inflammation effectively ended his season. A double-plus hit tool leads the way for Termarr Johnson, a 5'7" 175 lb left-handed hitter who calls Jose Ramirez to mind on a quick visual evaluation. For instance, hes struggled badly on defense, wracking up 46 errors combined the last two seasons. If a clearer path at third base existed in this org, that might have been enough for us to do it. Massey, going on 23, is a very loose, projectable college prospect from Minnesota. Still, the teenage pitcher demo is bust-prone and, anecdotally, this seems especially true when the prospect in question already throws really hard at age 17 or 18. A successful 2022 pro debut (47.2 IP, 9.63 K/9, 3.59 BB/9, 2.64 ERA) driven by very advanced fastball command contrasts with skepticism about how Solometos stuff will play against older and better hitters. The average draft position (ADP) included is from Draft Champions leagues from January 19 to February 19 at the NFBC, which you can find here.These leagues draft 50 players and that's all they get for the year no pickups or drops. Johnsons swing bears some mechanical resemblance to Bryce Harpers, especially its lower half usage and finish. He signed for $900,000 and barely played in the 2022 DSL. Thats the situation were projecting here. Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2023 4:51 PM ET, Park Factors Ortiz rocketed through the system in 2022, skipping High-A and spending most of the season with Double-A Altoona before making his big league debut across four starts in September and October. 2023 600 PA / 200 IP Projections Steamer600. Ryan Vilade, LF Roelmy Garcia, RHP The top six were already know from this list, because Fangraphs had six Pirates in their top 100 prospects. Pegueros lack of throwing accuracy from shortstop is concerning. Johnson often ends his swing with his torso having made a full 180 degree rotation, sometimes swinging with such ferocious bat speed that he loses his balance and faceplants in the batters box. It can be found here. There were some signs of offensive progress in 2022. Might the changeup develop over time into a plus pitch? 1/ . When an opposing pitcher releases the ball, the scoop in Johnsons bat head is pointing at the mound with his back elbow hiked way up above his shoulder in a position that seems to defy the rules of normal human physiology. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb. D-backs Dodgers Giants Padres Rockies: Offseason Tools. His delivery evokes Madison Bumgarners long, slingin lefty arm stroke, and Solometos east/west feel for location is Bum-ish, but dont mistake this for a true comp, as Bumgarner had already made 24 big league starts at Solometos age. Quants and front office analyst types are more bearish, citing issues with Priesters fastball playability. Luigi Hernandez, RHP. As for the top three prospects on all six lists, their average rankings: Termarr Johnson - 28.2 Endy Rodriguez - 38.5 Henry Davis - 52 John Dreker + posts John started working at Pirates. He did not hit well after the injury, but thats typical of hitters coming off a wrist fracture, and a second IL stint due to the wrist was an indication that it was bothering Davis throughout the year. He would slot among Priester and Ortiz on this list had he completed a totally healthy 2022. On Friday, FanGraphs released updated rankings. But he was then shut down and had TJ, which ended his season early enough that he could be back in 2023. He hit his stride in mid-August with back-to-back scoreless starts in which his four-seamer averaged over 96 across a combined nine innings a high water mark for the season and a true glimpse of his upside. Solometo was a very high-profile amateur pitcher, drafted in the second round but given a bonus commensurate with the 24th overall pick ($2.8 million) as one of several exciting high schoolers who Pittsburgh landed with the pool space freed up by Henry Davis under slot agreement. Hunter Stratton, RHP His low, short-armed slot is like a righty version of Reiver Sanmartins delivery. This is the case with De Los Santos. Spending all season at Triple-A, he put up decent numbers, striking out roughly a quarter of opposing batters and allowing just four homers all season. He has a pronounced bat wrap. He threw it 16% of the time (up from 9% the previous season) and induced a 53% whiff rate with this power-action, mid-80s change. Priesters four-seamer is divisive. He might end up becoming the player the industry hoped Francisco Meja would become. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2021, the 25-year-old right-hander has a degree in microbiology and premedical studies from Oxford, Ohio's Miami University, and he has worked as a . Pro teams are more open to east/west fastball operation and the Pirates might be able to coax more sweep out of Harringtons slider, though Campbell does a pretty good job developing pitchers, so there may be less developmental meat on the bone here than youd guess considering hes coming from a smaller program. His swing is quite uphill from the left side and he can tend to swing underneath fastballs up and away from him, but overall he is very difficult to make whiff inside the strike zone despite his steep-launch style of contact. It plays nicely with Flowers plus slider, and he has enough changeup feel to parachute one in against lefties once in a while. So the question is, was there actual improvement in his ability or is this just noise in the signal? Oneil Cruz, SS Video Signed: July 2nd. Top 42 Prospects: Pittsburgh Pirates by Eric Longenhagen February 28, 2020 Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The emergence of a consistently above-average third offering reignited Burrows projection as a starter (he had been projected as a reliever here in previous seasons, in part due to injuries), and of his 24 outings in 2022, only two came out of the bullpen and just four were shorter than three innings. 2018 Brewers batting, pitching, and fielding traditional and advanced stats. We. Swaggerty matched the nine home runs he posted in 2019, but this time, he did so against better pitching, in fewer at-bats, and in a much less hitter-friendly park, and he improved on his walk rate by a couple of ticks. Selbys fastball sits 96-98 mph and he looks to blow it past hitters up in the zone. After spending most of the year at Triple-A, where he hit .289/.362/.430, Bae spent the last couple weeks of the 2022 season as an everyday member of the big league club, where he seems likely to stick throughout the coming season as a lefty-hitting 2B/OF. Instead, Triolo looks like hell be a superutility guy. Solometos fastball sits in the 88-92 mph range. His 2022 performance deserves some age-related adjustment, but its possible we saw flaws in Pegueros game exposed by upper-level pitching. He has above-average bat-to-ball skills and very little power. Reports, tool grades, . The Pirates claimed him off waivers and quickly lost him to the Diamondbacks in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. From the left side of the plate, Rodriguez has an exceptional ability to rip his hands through pitches on the inner edge of the zone. Eddy Yean, RHP They all received. Out over the plate, he has a tendency to stay inside fastballs and lift them toward the opposite field gap. Malone, a former first round high schooler who was part of the Starling Marte trade with Arizona, has barely pitched since he was acquired, and dealt with shoulder injuries in 2022. There were only three big league hitters with 100 plate appearances who had sub-70% in-zone contact rates in 2022 (Chris Morel, Brett Phillips, Eli White). He could get a cup of coffee in 2023. A 2022 eighth rounder, Nielsens velocity has been up and down depending on when hes been seen, peaking at 94 in 2022 but at 96 in years prior. To be fair, he was only about average in terms of OAA. Thats a very walkable path. Some aspects of that optimistic projection still exist, while others have changed or are currently absent, but the tools package here is still on par with the middle of the everyday second baseman player population, and were hoping that young Peguero will polish up his games current smudges. His 2022 was not as remarkable from a walk and strikeout standpoint but it was still good, as he hit .270/.376/.418 with 38 extra-base hits (pretty good for the Florida State League) and 33 steals at Low-A Bradenton. In April and May, he posted a strikeout rate of 15.9% and a walk rate of 14.5%; from June to September, he improved those marks to 28.5% and 6.9%, respectively. His size creates some stiffness and imbalance during his swing, which can lead to him putting suboptimal contact in play. Diego Cartaya (37) - Catcher Cartaya is listed a little higher in The. Top 35 Prospects: Pittsburgh Pirates by Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel November 26, 2018 Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Every once in a while he will show you the power, and hes very good at hitting pitches out away from him to the opposite field with authority, but you can get him out if you can execute location against Gonzales, and big league pitchers often do. Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Top 50 Prospects January 1, 2021 Kyle Brown General, MiLB, NL Central, Pirates, Top 50 Lists 2 Graphic design by John Stewart, @jonance on Twitter The Pirates had a woeful time in 2020 once the season got going. Born Harrison Michael Ford, in Atlanta, 20 years ago this week, the right-handed-hitting catcher is the son of English immigrants. Obviously the 2021 draft was the big one, and seven players from that class are currently on the list. wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs Pirates Top Prospect List You found it controversial, so we discussed it Subscribe & Listen http://linktr.ee . Now 24 and neither protected from nor claimed during the 2022 Rule 5 draft, its imperative for him to start throwing strikes more consistently in order to find his way to a big league bullpen.