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This FV grade is commensurate with a mid-first round high school infield prospect. 4/5 starter. He has above-average bat-to-ball skills and very little power. Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Updated FanGraph Rankings Hernandez showed up to 2022 spring training with a harder breaking ball than he had previously shown, and as the season went along, he added to his fastball as well. His size creates some stiffness and imbalance during his swing, which can lead to him putting suboptimal contact in play. Theres still some prospect clout here because of Nolascos power and long-haul physicality, but at this stage, he should be considered more of power-driven flier than a likely big leaguer. 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. Even though he was sitting 96-98 in Arizona, Webbs fastball doesnt play like an upper-90s pitch right now, and his mid-80s breaking ball quality is highly variable (lots of 30s, some 50s). 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. With Endy Rodriguez around, it may not matter a ton. Defensively, he has mostly played second base so far in his professional career, with just a handful of starts at short. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. He entered the 2022 spring as a high-probability 40 FV prospect who some scouts thought belonged in the 40+ tier because of pitching approach changes Barco could make in pro ball that might enable a breakout, but he ended up blowing out his UCL and having Tommy John in May. Any Top 100 prospects, regardless of their ETA, are also included on this list. If he continues missing bats at High-A in 2023, though, Pittsburgh may be forced to add him. Top 51 Prospects: Pittsburgh Pirates | FanGraphs Baseball 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. Mlodzinski started for most of his 2022 season at Double-A but was called upon for middle-inning relief on a few occasions, and though it was only a handful of appearances, he was more effective as a reliever than as a starter. His 2022 performance deserves some age-related adjustment, but its possible we saw flaws in Pegueros game exposed by upper-level pitching. }); Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category. His swing decisions and ability to make contact out front and tap into his latent power improved throughout the season. His two-plane slider has nasty, late break and his changeup might have late projection because his arm action is so clean and loose. A much deeper overview can be found here. Pathways toward a more impactful role are most likely to be carved by Harringtons command outperforming this projection. All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. Nunez started 2022 at St. Louis Double-A affiliate before being dealt to Pittsburgh as part of the Jos Quintana deal at the trade deadline. 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. Jesus Castillo, SS While he has a low three-quarters slot that creates natural tail on his heater, Kennedy can still create riding life at the letters. Matt Fraizer, CF Top Prospects Team Lists 2022 2021 AL NL Pirates Top Prospects Reading Options Detail Level Data Only Full Position Filter All 60 FV Prospects 1. A core scouting rule of thumb is to take the long view with catchers who have impact offensive potential. Barcos long, low arm slot creates a flat approach angle, but hes not really inclined to climb the ladder and pitch at the top of the zone right now, instead living on the arm-side third of the plate with sink and tail. 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. If it does, he should be a 50, and that grade was discussed during the Pirates list-making process. 2022 Top Prospects | THE BOARD | FanGraphs Hes a good enough defender that hed probably being playing shortstop had he ended up at Arizona State, but in pro ball the keystone is Johnsons likeliest defensive home given his maxed-out, stocky build and what projects to be somewhat limited range. His maxed-out frame is cumbersome on the infield, but his footwork at first base has improved a ton since he started playing there, and weve updated our previous DH-only projection. Pirates 2B Termarr Johnson | 18 | A | 2025. 1/ . Hes been able to maintain nearly average contact rates despite a pull-heavy approach to contact. Pittsburgh Pirates Top 43 Prospects by Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin February 9, 2023 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports Top Prospects Team Lists 2023 2022 AL NL Below is an analysis. That said, it's getting harder. 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. 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. FanGraphs Prospects. Hernandez, also 19, sat 93-96 in 2022 and has a good-looking two-planed slider, but a relief-only delivery and a mature build. Davis plate crowding helps enable his pull-heavy approach. Very Young Prospects to Monitor The top of this draft class right now is LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, who had a big weekend. Here are the Pirates' 2023 Top 30 prospects March 1, 2023 Pirates' Chandler going all in on pitching February 28, 2023 Pirates return No. Hudson Head, CF Cubs prospect Hayden Wesneski proving he belongs in the big leagues White was a multi-sport star in high school and after initially making a verbal commitment to Clemson solely for baseball, he eventually became a two-sport commit to Penn State to play wide receiver and center field. Opinions around Shim vary because he offers less physical projection than is typical in the international talent space, even for an older pitcher. Cy Nielson, LHP window.FGWebsite_head_section.buildProspectsListControls(); 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. 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates Summary Stats Schedule Player Usage Depth Chart The depth charts found on the Team Pages are based on projected playing time, NOT the current status of a team's roster. His swing may look different in 2023 and prompt a re-evaluation. He was one of the younger players available in the 2022 draft and yet at a listed 205 pounds, Kennedy is more physically mature than most of his peers, even some who are a year or two older than he is. 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. Instead, Triolo looks like hell be a superutility guy. This also may have been part of why the Pirates lost so many players (11!) He absolutely towers over his father, who was twice a Baseball America Top 100 prospect but spent most of his pro career in Japan. Podcasts: . They all received. Triolos swing and footwork in the box make him vulnerable in a couple of obvious ways (high heat, sliders away), and we dont think the 60-grade hit, 45-grade power profile that he has put on paper so far will hold quite that much water against big league arms. 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. 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. 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. The FanGraphs prospect team presents their 2022 top 100 list . Whether his ability to go get it in center field bounces back is the X-factor that will determine his ability to play a long-term big league role. John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. Its a pretty big lost year of reps for a multi-sport player looking to get traction with the bat in pro ball. He barely played in 2022 due to hamstring, elbow, and hip flexor injuries that cost him all but a couple of games. He mixed in four pitches, with his four-seamer and slider accounting for 88% of his pitches, and the changeup and two-seamer bringing up the rear. Pittsburgh Pirates Top 10 Prospects Updated - FanGraphs Baseball His delivery also creates an odd angle on a mid-80s cutter/slider, which Solometo commands to his glove side. He spent much of the season leading off for Altoona, where he slashed .282/.376/.419 and stole 24 stolen bases. But he was then shut down and had TJ, which ended his season early enough that he could be back in 2023. Pre-draft rumors pegged Kennedy as a tough sign given a strong commitment to LSU. Johnson was a well-regarded prospect basically as soon as he reached high school, and there were scouts who were so excited when they first watched him hit that they considered him a future top 5-10 pick when he was only a freshman. 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. If a clearer path at third base existed in this org, that might have been enough for us to do it. He seems able to make some mid at-bat adjustments to this type of pitch but then ends up playing a guessing game with breaking balls. Lopez is a huge-framed infielder who hit .286/.329/.476 and launched 19 homers in just 106 games as a 20-year-old at hitter-friendly Greensboro in 2022. Sunday Notes: Born To Brits, Harry Ford Could Be - blogs.fangraphs.com FanGraphs released their top 100 prospect rankings on Wednesday. Even though both Davis and Rodriguez are near-ready catching prospects, they arent redundant, and in fact they complement each other well. 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. Gonzales hands work in a short, explosive loop. His pop times are routinely in the 1.85-1.95 range in part because Endy has a strong arm, but also because hes almost always leaving his crouch before he even receives the pitch on steal attempts, which hastens his exchange. His arm action is very long, and he bends at his torso as he lunges toward the plate, allowing for more extension during his release, but also creating an uncomfy angle that adds stress to his shoulder. Hard-Throwers 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. Injured Arms 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 . That's nearly 30% of all their picks coming up as noteworthy prospects. Counter to our past reports, his swing is rather stiff and some of Lopezs length makes him vulnerable to pitches in on his hands. Fourth-round high school pitcher Owen Kellington was a participant in the 2021 Draft League and Combine, and looked like an interesting, slow-burning developmental prospect prior to a hamstring injury than ended his 2022 season. ago While he was already throwing quite hard, Ortiz came into even more velocity in 2022 and averaged 97 mph on his fastball, up two ticks from 2021. Perhaps as an adjustment to deal with this issue, Priester now mixes in plenty of fastballs for which he pronates on release, giving the pitch screwball-like spin. In his time at Bradenton, Chandler struck out 33 batters over 26 innings, and while his walk rate was an unacceptably high 15.8%, thats actually down a notch from what he was allowing over a larger sample on the complex. These rankings are now available on The Board on the 2023 Fantasy Rankings tab, where you can also see the Top 120 Dynasty Rankings!. It felt like the Pirates were slow-playing him a little too much after the pandemic (Nolasco was easily physical enough to go to Low-A in 2021), but perhaps they simply knew he wasnt ready to parse full-season pitching. After pitching well at the U-18 World Championships and at a Nike showcase in Asia, he signed for about $1.25 million, which is pretty sizable for a late-market signee. You can really see his athleticism and remarkable hip/shoulder separation on his throws down to second. Theyre finding them. These rankings include six Pittsburgh Pirates prospects cracking the FanGraph top 100. That makes it seem all but inevitable that Chandler will eventually ditch the bat to optimize his development on the mound. Martin has plus-plus raw power and a 30-grade hit tool, not enough for first base but maybe enough for consideration overseas. Barring a velo bump or another significant alteration to some of the more concerning elements of his profile, he looks like a single-inning up/down reliever. He clearly wasnt comfortable in center field during his brief time there last season, but he only played there once every couple of weeks and he isnt a firm no at the position, even if he is bad there right now. The barrel-chested Smith-Njigba has huge strength-driven power and a patient approach that borders on passive. 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. 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. While he hasnt continued producing the mid-to-upper-90s velocity he did during college relief outings, Nicolas still sits a respectable 92-95 mph and leans on his two above-average breaking balls, a low-80s curveball and a mid-80s slider. As a high schooler, his ultra-low spin splitter seemed like the more promising pitch, but his feel for it has regressed. That fact isn't apparent on his Baseball-Reference or FanGraphs pages, but for about 48 hours, Maggi, who homered to break up the Yankees' shutout bid in the ninth inning of the Pirates' 9-1 split-squad loss on Thursday, enjoyed life in the Majors. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every teams list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has a career .387 OBP but hasnt been able to actualize his plus raw power in games, driving the ball into the ground at a whopping 66% clip in 2021 and a 54% rate in 2022. Sammy Siani, LF. The depth charts found on the Team Pages are based on projected playing time, NOT the current status of a team's roster. For the second straight year, he allowed a high rate of home runs, which inflated his ERA. The high-waisted Lopez has a wide range of athletic/mobility outcomes that will impact where he ultimately ends up on defense. But the improvement on his slider means he could solidify a role as a middle reliever, especially if the converted infielder is able to re-establish the fastball velos he flirted with a few years ago. Jackson Glenn, 2B. Still, his tendency to roll his wrists over early in his swing, breaking up his attack angle, resulted in a groundball rate above 50%. To that point in the season, his mid-teens walk rate had inspired guarded optimism regarding an improved approach, though Nunez also may have become intentionally passive, as his raw swing% was a minuscule 40%. He then played for Taiwans National Team at the WBSC U23 World Cup and helped los Caimanes de Barranquilla win the Colombian Winter League and later the Caribbean Series. A second base-only defensive fit puts the onus on Pegueros bat to perform at an everyday level. Whats more, theres a chance Triolo hits enough to simply be an everyday option at second (or if he turns out to be okay in center). Most of his swings and misses over the last few years have been on fastballs running away from him, but in 2022, he displayed a more advanced ability to poke the barrel at balls on the outer edge of the plate, extending his short levers in an effort to slap outside pitches the other way. Jimenez has a very good sweeping, upper-70s curveball and creates plus action on a changeup that he sells with fantastic arm speed. 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. Alessandro Ercolani, RHP 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. Connor Scott, RF The Pirates claimed him off waivers and quickly lost him to the Diamondbacks in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. Here's a link to the Top 25.. Link to the Top 50.. Link to the Top 75.. Jameson Taillon / SP 4. 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. Besides Johnson and Harrington, two other 2022 draft picks made the top 30. Webb dealt with a forearm strain that delayed the start of his 2022 season. He will be an unmistakable fixture on Pittsburghs backfields for the next couple of years and is a power-hitting corner prospect of extreme variance. His arm action looks longer and looser than it was in his injury-shortened 2021, and his upper body appears more closed, which might be helping him hide the ball longer than before. Antwone Kelly, RHP Harry Ford is one of the top prospects in the Seattle Mariners organization, and he is also unique among his peers. 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. 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. Overall, there is a ton of in-zone swing-and-miss happening here. It shows above-average arm-side action on occasion, but hes only throwing it 12% of the time. None of his other pitches are above average in fact most of them are currently below average but Chen has plus command projection and a plus changeup, so hes pretty likely to pitch at the back of a big league rotation or as an innings-eating spot starter. He appears tentative on routine throws and still isnt a sure-handed defender. on Twitter: "wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs Pittsburgh Pirates Top 10 Prospects Updated by Marc Hulet September 10, 2018 The Pirates system doesn't have immense depth or a long line of high-impact players but the big league club could. Hes an arm strength reclamation project with a shot to pitch in Pittsburghs bullpen. He walked more than a batter per inning in 2022. Jose Tabata / OF. Selbys fastball sits 96-98 mph and he looks to blow it past hitters up in the zone. Blake Cederlind, RHP Middle infielder Termarr Johnson, who the Pittsburgh. He sits in the upper 80s right now but has promising underlying traits and plenty of time to develop. Maikol Escotto, 2B Melendez (sitting 97) and Mateo (sitting 95) are upper-level relievers with poor control. 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). Thats something to watch as Jones continues to progress through the minors. Gorski had a nutty statline at Greensboro and indeed has plus raw power, but its tough to project a real role for a 25-year-old who struck out as much as he did at High- and Double-A. Prospects Coverage | FanGraphs Baseball In addition to sending Bradley back to Boston, the Milwaukee Brewers are also sending two of their top-30 prospects. 2 prospect to Minors camp after injury February 24, 2023 Bucs invite top prospects Davis, Johnson, Priester to camp February 2, 2023 Shim realizes first part of dream as prospect signs with Bucs January 26, 2023 In August of 2022, Jun-Seok announced he would skip the September KBO draft in order to sign with an MLB club right away. It sounds like Brannigan is going to develop as a two-way player. If his defense continues to look like it did in the 2022-23 Dominican Winter League during 2023 spring training, he may quickly be repositioned on this list. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb. Hes not a great defender right now, and probably wont ever be better than a 40-grade glove, but Davis frames high strikes well and has plus raw arm strength. Samaniego looks like a typical second lefty out of a bullpen, sitting 92-94 mph with a deceptive, whippy arm action, and locating his fastball with precision on the arm-side part of the plate. After the season, he again played winter ball, this time in Puerto Rico with Carolina, where Cheng struggled. Top 51 Prospects: Pittsburgh Pirates by Eric Longenhagen February 24, 2021 Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Might the changeup develop over time into a plus pitch? JP Massey, RHP Ricky Tiedemann is one of the fastest-rising pitching prospects in the game. RotoGraphs. 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. Neil Walker / 2B 5. Drafted 91st overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021 out of a Huntington Beach junior college, the 20-year-old southpaw not only finished last season in Double-A, he dominated at all three levels where he saw action. Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports. Prospect Report: Diamondbacks 2023 Imminent Big Leaguers 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. 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. 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.