For instance, hes struggled badly on defense, wracking up 46 errors combined the last two seasons. 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 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. on Twitter: "wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs He still has a pretty exciting hit/power combination for a player his age, showing a proclivity for big contact to dead center and the opposite-field gap, the latter in part due to his length, which causes him to be late. Castillo is a loose rotator without a lot of bat speed, but he seems to find a way to put the bat on the ball and the power might come if he gets stronger. 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. If it does, he should be a 50, and that grade was discussed during the Pirates list-making process. He also has a promising sweeper slider, but he lacks typical physical projection for a teenage pitcher. His low-80s slider, which has late, two-plane bite, has improved considerably and is now an above-average big league pitch. Baseball America Releases Their List of the Top 30 Pirates Prospects Prospect Report: Diamondbacks 2023 Imminent Big Leaguers 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. His fastball remains in the mid-90s but continues to underperform in terms of its bat-missing ability due to its hittable line. 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. Cristofer Melendez, RHP Dombkowski is a lefty whose high-80s fastball plays up thanks to his low arm slot and excellent command over his above-average secondaries. His swing may look different in 2023 and prompt a re-evaluation. 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. His player page shows him above average in UZR/150, OAA and RAA (although only 1 in each of the latter two). Kennedys delivery is simple, compact, repeatable, and easy-looking, and you can project heavily on his changeup because of this, though right now he often gets underneath it and it tends to cut on him. The site listed four Dodgers prospects on their list. Jose Tabata / OF. 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. He commands it consistently enough to his glove side to project as a starter. 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. 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. M.J. Melendezs 2019 and Bo Naylors 2020 are recent examples of otherwise good-hitting catchers who had a terrible offensive season in the mid-minors that was followed by an immediate and significant rebound the following year. 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 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. Acquired in a. He is a 6-foot-5 20-year-old, after all. FanGraphs Top 43 Pirates prospects blogs.fangraphs Vote 3 comments Best Add a Comment Robert_roberts82 14 min. He spent much of the season leading off for Altoona, where he slashed .282/.376/.419 and stole 24 stolen bases. With Endy Rodriguez around, it may not matter a ton. D-backs Dodgers Giants Padres Rockies: Offseason Tools. Pittsburgh graduated two top-50 prospects in 2022 (Oneil Cruz and Roansy Contreras) and still has a top-five system, or close to it, because of the three potential stars atop the group and the many upper-level, core role-playing hitters who should arrive in the big leagues soon. The organization will be thrilled if . Selbys fastball sits 96-98 mph and he looks to blow it past hitters up in the zone. Prospects Coverage | FanGraphs Baseball In addition to sending Bradley back to Boston, the Milwaukee Brewers are also sending two of their top-30 prospects. Nick Gonzales - Stats - Batting | FanGraphs Baseball His swing decisions and ability to make contact out front and tap into his latent power improved throughout the 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. Instead, Triolo looks like hell be a superutility guy. He finished 2022 at Altoona and has a chance to be in the big leagues at some point this season. He barely played in 2022 due to hamstring, elbow, and hip flexor injuries that cost him all but a couple of games. in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. He spent two years at a JUCO before heading to South Alabama in 2020, and he only pitched 21 total innings for the Jaguars due to the timing of his transfer. His range, footwork, ability to bend, and overall athleticism are all plus, and it made sense to try to develop him as a shortstop for as long as possible, but Peguero finally saw time at second base in 2022 and a permanent move there will hopefully help him throw more confidently and accurately. He and Solometo have the same flavor of stuff wrapped in different packages. His 2022 performance deserves some age-related adjustment, but its possible we saw flaws in Pegueros game exposed by upper-level pitching. 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. He was passed over in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft despite his stuff quality because hes so raw as a strike-thrower. A fresh start with a new org (he was a waiver claim this offseason) might help him find a swing that produces more power. Grant Hartwig is one of the most promising under-the-radar prospects in the New York Mets system. window.FGWebsite_head_section.buildProspectsListControls(); 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. Terrero is a compact outfielder with a well-rounded skill set and strong rookie-level line. Diego Cartaya (37) - Catcher Cartaya is listed a little higher in The. He appears tentative on routine throws and still isnt a sure-handed defender. Moreover, he has one of the more unusual profiles in professional baseball. He stayed healthy throughout 2022, throwing 70.1 innings, and was more effective out of the bullpen than in his late-season starts. His slider has a sweeping horizontal shape, but his inability to locate it has hampered its utility. While hes played a bunch of shortstop, he is much more likely to wind up on the edge of 3B/1B than he is to see middle infield time at maturity. A proactive bullpen move could put him in position to debut in 2024. wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs Pirates Top Prospect List You found it controversial, so we discussed it Subscribe & Listen http://linktr.ee . Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. Chandler started the 2022 season on the complex, where he showed two-way promise, slashing .231/.444/.654 over 36 plate appearances while annihilating opposing batters, issuing 27 strikeouts and giving up just three hits without allowing a run over 15.1 innings. Top 42 Prospects: Pittsburgh Pirates | FanGraphs Baseball 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 a shorter, less natural looking delivery than what Flowers had as an amateur, but hes been able to throw strikes with it. 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. FanGraphs Top 43 Pirates prospects : r/buccos - reddit.com 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. 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. Podcasts: . His overall pitch recognition, especially against breaking balls, has become a more noticeable issue. 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. 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. 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. As a right-handed hitter almost all of Endys damage is done on outer-third pitches that he can get fully extended against. (2/2/2021) 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. 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. Besides Johnson and Harrington, two other 2022 draft picks made the top 30. 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. Gonzales hands work in a short, explosive loop. He went 2-for-4 with two singles, two runs and an RBI on Friday night against Kansas State. Priesters four-seamer is divisive. He could get a cup of coffee in 2023. RotoGraphs. His acrobatics and creativity at third base make him a plus defender there. 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). How impactful a starter may depend on how his changeup, currently a tertiary offering, develops at the big league level. Jones checked all but two scouting boxes as a high school pitcher. As of list publication, Rodriguez is one of just two catchers on Pittsburghs 40-man roster, and while its possible hes beaten out by a veteran non-roster invitee like Tyler Heineman, Rodriguezs defensive chops and versatility give him a shot to break camp with the big club, split time with Austin Hedges, and moonlight at one or two other positions before eventually seizing the primary catcher job. Their top ten, in. Pirates Prospects Daily: Bryan Reynolds Plays Left Field In His Spring