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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. How impactful a starter may depend on how his changeup, currently a tertiary offering, develops at the big league level. 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. Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Pittsburgh Pirates. While especially adept at launching pitches on the inner third, Johnson also shows some ability to shorten up and cover the top and outer edge of the strike zone. 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. Hes now 23 but could still be a fifth outfielder. 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. Currently, Kennedys best attribute is multi-faceted fastball utility. 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. His acrobatics and creativity at third base make him a plus defender there. It plays nicely with Flowers plus slider, and he has enough changeup feel to parachute one in against lefties once in a while. 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. Still tracking like a high-probability backup catcher, Gutierrez set a career-high in homers in 2022 amid an uptick in strikeouts that his underlying data (just a 10% swinging strike rate) indicates will bounce back to career norms. This FV grade is commensurate with a mid-first round high school infield prospect. He has the stuff to continue developing as a starter just in case things click, but the bullpen is Jimenezs more likely future destination. 2023 600 PA / 200 IP Projections Steamer600. The Pirates are going to develop him at many different positions with the hope that he can provide a late-game upgrade at a couple different spots (hes already very good at third base), serve as righty power off the bench, and work in middle relief. While he has a low three-quarters slot that creates natural tail on his heater, Kennedy can still create riding life at the letters. He absolutely towers over his father, who was twice a Baseball America Top 100 prospect but spent most of his pro career in Japan. Counter to our past reports, his swing is rather stiff and some of Lopezs length makes him vulnerable to pitches in on his hands. Moreover, he has one of the more unusual profiles in professional baseball. 4/5 starter. Its bat-missing capabilities are limited to the bottom arm-side portion of the zone, where this two-seam-ish fastball tends to finish. 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. Nick Gonzales - Stats - Batting | FanGraphs Baseball Back with former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom in Arizona . All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. FanGraphs Prospects. 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. On the showcase circuit, he was less whiff-prone than is typical for a multi-sport guy from the Northeast, though he was a pull-only hitter and struggled to contact fastballs in the upper/outer quadrant of the zone. 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. His multi-tasking fastball plays at the letters due to angle and also gets a groundball when located down, but at just 91-94 mph, its still a below-average pitch. That said, it's getting harder. In the past, Ortizs high-effort delivery and sub-optimal fastball shape put him on the starter/reliever line, but hes thrown plenty of strikes across multiple seasons while simultaneously developing more velocity and comfortably projects as a starting pitcher now. 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. ), and some of the recent, perhaps overzealous examples (Maikel Escotto, Rodolfo Nolasco) are in this system. RotoWire News: Gonzales will join the Pirates' major-league camp this spring. 11/ . Aspects of the offensive profile that made him exciting in the first place are still here, led by Pegueros compact but authoritative swing, which is especially good at punishing pitches at the very top of the strike zone. Traded from Miami during the 2021-22 offseason as part of the three-player package for Jacob Stallings, Nicolas spent 2022 with Altoona, where he worked 90 innings with a FIP and ERA close to 4.00. Hell also show you a 92-96 mph fastball that plays down a bit due to its shape and Jimenezs lack of command, which caused him to walk 5.8 per 9 IP in 2022. Don't Count Quinn Priester Out Due to Low Strikeouts Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. You can see the power and athleticism in Davis lower half throughout other aspects of his game, and its an indication that he has the ability to polish this stuff up and control the running game. It can be found here. Hes going to be a star if he ends up with even average raw power, and even if he doesnt, were talking about a switch-hitting catcher who can make an impact on both offense and defense. Chen began his career with 26 consecutive walk-free innings in the 2021 Florida Complex League, then spent all of 2022 at Bradenton, where he had a solid second pro season, carrying a 3.76 FIP across 98 innings. Mets Prospect Grant Hartwig Has an Unusual Background and an East-West Shim is a big, physically mature righty with huge present arm strength, creeping into the upper 90s. He has a delivery similar to Ubaldo Jimnezs, where his front side flies way open and he tilts out, which helps Kellington get to a vertical arm slot. When healthy, he was a hard-throwing 40 FV reliever. Righties get a nice long look at everything Solometo does, and he could be very platoon-vulnerable against big leaguers. It should be noted that DeVitos development has been plagued by stops and starts caused first by the pandemic and then by an ulnar nerve issue that shortened his 2021 season. 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. Dombkowski is a lefty whose high-80s fastball plays up thanks to his low arm slot and excellent command over his above-average secondaries. An extreme groundball pitcher in a small sample, he allowed just two home runs in 35.2 innings of work in 2022. Sammy Siani, LF. 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. 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. He ultimately went fourth overall to Pittsburgh, and because hes a relatively advanced hitter with a mature build, theres a good chance the Pirates move Johnson through the minors pretty quickly if he hits the ground running offensively. Unfortunately, he then lost the 2020 season to the pandemic and most of 2021 to a shoulder injury he sustained just 12 games into the season. 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). 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. But Jones athleticism and physical strength drove confidence that he could maintain plus fastball velocity across a starters workload in pro ball (which so far has been true), and his natural breaking ball bite gave him at least one likely plus pitch to go with it. He throws precise, high-quality strikes with the heater, and the pitch has enough tailing action to have stayed off of A-ball barrels. Blake Cederlind, RHP Solometos fastball sits in the 88-92 mph range. If you want to read me wax poetic about that you can check out my end of year review. With Endy Rodriguez around, it may not matter a ton. A draft-eligible sophomore in 2022, Harrington is an athletic, pitchability righty with a tailing low-90s fastball and a power-sink changeup in the mid-80s. Hes a young, switch-hitting catcher with cartoonish offensive numbers (especially from a bat-to-ball standpoint) and uncommon defensive versatility, as hes played a bunch of second base and left field as well. Top Prospects. Lopez swings exceptionally hard and makes some mechanical compromises to do so, but not in a way that has impacted his performance yet. Cubs prospect Hayden Wesneski proving he belongs in the big leagues His breaking ball is his best pitch and he could be a lefty relief piece. Davis skills and offensive style are tailored like those of Evan Gattis. 2018 Brewers batting, pitching, and fielding traditional and advanced stats. These rankings are now available on The Board on the 2023 Fantasy Rankings tab, where you can also see the Top 120 Dynasty Rankings!. He pitched for Panamas U18 team in September and showed a good changeup and fair slider as well. Diego Cartaya (37) - Catcher Cartaya is listed a little higher in The. Besides Johnson and Harrington, two other 2022 draft picks made the top 30. 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. Averaging Out the Top Prospect Rankings - Pirates Prospects Fantasy Update: 2023 Re-Draft Top 25/Dynasty Top 120 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). Reports around his once-stellar defense have dimmed, and were hoping its due more to rust and lost time than to an actual regression in ability. ago Hes already taken a sizable step in the breaking ball department in just two pros seasons. Out over the plate, he has a tendency to stay inside fastballs and lift them toward the opposite field gap. Pre-draft rumors pegged Kennedy as a tough sign given a strong commitment to LSU. But given his age and the amount of runway still afforded to him, this was seen as a speed bump for his development rather than being of great concern at the time. Very Young Prospects to Monitor Sunday Notes: Born To Brits, Harry Ford Could Be - blogs.fangraphs.com Pittsburgh Pirates Top 10 Prospects Updated - FanGraphs Baseball Even if sliders are a chronic issue for Davis, hell likely still get to enough power to produce better than the average everyday catcher. Mason Martin, 1B in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. Pittsburgh Pirates Top 61 Prospects | FanGraphs Baseball D-backs Dodgers Giants Padres Rockies: Offseason Tools. Dodgers: FanGraphs Lists Four LA Prospects on Top 100 List 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. FanGraphs Top 43 Pirates prospects blogs.fangraphs Vote 3 comments Best Add a Comment Robert_roberts82 14 min. 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). 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. A much deeper overview can be found here. A second base-only defensive fit puts the onus on Pegueros bat to perform at an everyday level. Throw in the visual twitch and athleticism, and this is the player Spotifys algorithm would recommend to FanGraphs if prospects were musical artists. Grant Hartwig is one of the most promising under-the-radar prospects in the New York Mets system. Joness velocity and breaking ball quality (a power, mid-80s slider with vertical action) give him the floor of a really good reliever, especially if he can somehow throw harder an inning at a time. RT @NorthShoreNine: wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs Pirates Top Prospect List You found it controversial, so we discussed it Subscribe & Listen . (2/2/2021) Maikol Escotto, 2B But when a potentially significant DSL prospect plays for a rebuilding team, it can be difficult to find other clubs that have pro scouting reports on them. A core scouting rule of thumb is to take the long view with catchers who have impact offensive potential. But he was then shut down and had TJ, which ended his season early enough that he could be back in 2023. Gonzales has begun to track like Keston Hiura, Carter Kieboom, and Jeter Downs, and his swing shares mechanical similarities with both Hiura and Kieboom. Prospects Coverage | FanGraphs Baseball In addition to sending Bradley back to Boston, the Milwaukee Brewers are also sending two of their top-30 prospects. Across the 2022 calendar, Davis had nearly as many HBPs as he did extra-base hits, to which the wrist fracture likely contributed. Hes on track to debut in 2025 as a starter if those issues improve and as a reliever if they do not. He has a pronounced bat wrap. Ke'Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Mitch Keller, Travis Swaggerty, Tahnaj Thomas and. Webb dealt with a forearm strain that delayed the start of his 2022 season. 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. Burrows had success as a starter throughout a 2022 season split between Double- and Triple-A before shoulder inflammation effectively ended his season. 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. 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. 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. 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. The FanGraphs prospect team presents their 2022 top 100 list . The Pittsburgh Pirates are hiring. The 2021 edition of this list featured some carping about Eric Longenhagen ranking Gabriel Moreno in the 100, because he was the exact kind of player who might not have been highly regarded in earlier eras of public prospect evaluation but who had all the markers of future success. Cy Nielson, LHP 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. 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. Fangraphs Reveals Their Updated Top Pirates Prospects List He went 2-for-4 with two singles, two runs and an RBI on Friday night against Kansas State. Instead, Lopez picked up some reps in the Dominican Winter League, just a few games against the most advanced competition he has yet seen, and is poised to spend 2023 as a 21-year-old at Altoona. 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. 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. Quants and front office analyst types are more bearish, citing issues with Priesters fastball playability. 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. Enmanuel Terrero, OF 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. by Handedness, 25th on the Pirates list at the end of 2022, Effectively Wild Episode 1966: Joe West, Young Man, Ben Cherington on Pittsburghs Two Top Prospects. His mother spent her childhood in London, while his father "a real Brit; he still has an . He has basically been the same guy since he entered pro ball, sitting 94-95 with ineffectual shape and a pretty good slider. FanGraphs Baseball | Baseball Statistics and Analysis The top six were already know from this list, because Fangraphs had six Pirates in their top 100 prospects. Oneil Cruz, SS Video Signed: July 2nd. Thats a very walkable path. Vilade spent some time near the top of the Rockies list due to his feel for contact. From 2017-21, Webbs strikeout rate more than doubled as a result of his uptick in arm strength. Baseball America Releases Their List of the Top 30 Pirates Prospects Davis plate crowding helps enable his pull-heavy approach. 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. He fills out the bottom half of the zone with his slider, itself an impressive bat-misser, thanks again to Dombkowskis command. Still right on the cusp of graduating from prospect eligibility, Kranick made four appearances in the minors to start the 2022 season before being called up to the major league bullpen. His fastball velo is up a tick since 2021, now comfortably sitting in the 95-96 mph range and routinely touching 98. 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. 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. }); Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category. In 2022, it garnered just 8% whiffs and 13% chase during his time at Double-A, where he spent most of the season. Fast-Rising Blue Jays Prospect Ricky Tiedemann Talks Pitching His 2022 performance deserves some age-related adjustment, but its possible we saw flaws in Pegueros game exposed by upper-level pitching. Andrew McCutchen / OF 3. Because theyre about the same age as high school draft prospects, apples-to-apples projection and tools comparisons are feasible, which then allows you to triangulate where theyd be selected in a draft based on those comparisons and get a sense of how to FV them. Silvera, 18, is a physically mature righty who missed a ton of DSL bats even though he only sits 88-90. 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. Looking forward to fangraphs being wrong Campman92 5 min. 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. 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. Short but not small, his lack of length and size is actually an advantage for Johnsons swing, as he can enjoy a bat path geared for power and lift without it being too long. You can really see his athleticism and remarkable hip/shoulder separation on his throws down to second. Top 100 Prospects For 2023 Fantasy Baseball: Spring Training Snapshot As a high schooler, his ultra-low spin splitter seemed like the more promising pitch, but his feel for it has regressed. Given their respective shapes, its easy to see how those pitches play off of one another, and they were the reason Burrows presented a traditional relief look prior to his changeups development. Jesus Castillo, SS His curveball was his only secondary to induce an above-average chase rate. He used his upper-90s fastball for in-zone whiffs, relying on his above-average slider as a chase pitch. It comes out of his hand from a high arm slot that looks like the kind optimized for data-friendly ride, but the pitchs downhill angle makes it less of a weapon at the letters and actually makes it very vulnerable within the strike zone. If he moves to first base, this will become especially scary. feels like the more realistic path to an eventual 45-grade role, or above. 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). He was throwing as hard as ever when he returned but still got shelled, and was quite wild at Double-A before he was sent to Arizona to audition to keep his 40-man spot with Kansas City. Meanwhile, Chandlers post-promotion production at the plate plummeted to a sub-.200 batting average and an OPS of just .574, thanks largely to a strikeout rate just barely south of 40%; he launched just a single dinger in his 32 Low-A games compared to three in his 14 games on the complex. Nicolas has consistent glove-side command of his entire repertoire, and he tends to live on that half of the plate exclusively. 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 Bolton was able to stay healthy for the entirety of 2022, which was an accomplishment in itself given that his professional career has been plagued by injury since it began. Youll occasionally see a low-90s changeup from Hernandez as well, but hes a relief prospect all the way and likely to stick in Pittsburghs bullpen despite below-average command. He is a 6-foot-5 20-year-old, after all. Some of his early-career success seems to have stemmed from his physical maturity. He sits in the upper 80s right now but has promising underlying traits and plenty of time to develop. He pitched five innings of relief over two games in early May for the Pirates without allowing a run. He also mixes in the occasional changeup or curveball, which accounted for a combined 11% of his offerings at Low-A. His swing is already geared for lift, but he doesnt currently have the raw juice to make the most of it. Juan Jerez, 3B 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. 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. Uribe, 20, is a projectable lefty with a 92-93 mph fastball and high-spin breaking ball. Oliver Mateo, RHP Injured Arms His delivery has a relief-only look to it. The Pirates snagged him in Decembers Rule 5 draft, making him only the second lefty reliever on their 40-man, so hell likely be called upon for consistent use out of the big league pen in 2023. There isnt suddenly big power here or anything like that, but its the start of a physical step that was likely necessary for Cheng to take to play major league ball.