Pegueros pull-heavy style of contact leaves him vulnerable to breaking balls on the outer half, even ones that catch a lot of the plate. FanGraphs Prospects. 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. 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. 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. Endy had an incredible 2022 statline .323/.407/.590 most of which was generated at hitter-friendly Greensboro. 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. The top 38 spots on the list are all 55 FV or higher. Unlike the other lists released yesterday, Fangraphs has not posted their top 100 prospects list yet, so we didn't already have some idea of the top of their list. Flowers velocity has never really popped in a big way despite some of the late projection because of his conversion. He could get a cup of coffee in 2023. The depth charts found on the Team Pages are based on projected playing time, NOT the current status of a team's roster. Poised to compete for a rotation spot when 2023 camp breaks, Ortiz is one of a few high-upside Pirates youngsters who look like theyd fit in a contenders rotation. Yean, 21, was once a 40+ FV prospect in Washingtons system. 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. He finished 2022 at Altoona and has a chance to be in the big leagues at some point this season. 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. The FanGraphs prospect team presents their 2022 top 100 list . 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. A core scouting rule of thumb is to take the long view with catchers who have impact offensive potential. In 2022, it garnered just 8% whiffs and 13% chase during his time at Double-A, where he spent most of the season. 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. on Twitter: "wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs The barrel-chested Smith-Njigba has huge strength-driven power and a patient approach that borders on passive. His size creates some stiffness and imbalance during his swing, which can lead to him putting suboptimal contact in play. 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. Luigi Hernandez, RHP. Chen is a very advanced righty with a deep repertoire led by his plus changeup. 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. On Friday, FanGraphs released updated rankings. As you can probably imagine of a Division-I football commit, White is already very physical, buff to the point where he looked a little bit stiff during his pre-draft summer. Format = Team Position Player | Age on 4/1/23 | Highest level played | ETA. Updated Top 30 Pirates Prospects List from MLB Pipeline We considered Glenn a high priority senior sign in the 2021 draft, but he needed to hit all the way up the minor league ladder and didnt do that in 2022. Hunter Stratton, RHP 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. FanGraphs Baseball | Baseball Statistics and Analysis Hes on track to debut in 2025 as a starter if those issues improve and as a reliever if they do not. Gonzales has begun to track like Keston Hiura, Carter Kieboom, and Jeter Downs, and his swing shares mechanical similarities with both Hiura and Kieboom. Big league sliders might force Davis to make an adjustment, but so far his contact performance has been solidly average. ago Scouting reports were. Andres Silvera, RHP. Not Quite Enough Hit Tool 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. Pegueros lack of throwing accuracy from shortstop is concerning. He showed a velo spike (92-96) at the onset of the 2022 college season before his arm strength and command regressed. Martin has plus-plus raw power and a 30-grade hit tool, not enough for first base but maybe enough for consideration overseas. He signed for $900,000 and barely played in the 2022 DSL. Hes now a career .303/.394/.533 hitter and has had meaningful statistical success up through Double-A, where he spent about a month toward the end of 2022. Instead, Triolo looks like hell be a superutility guy. If a clearer path at third base existed in this org, that might have been enough for us to do it. Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Top 50 Prospects It can be found here. RotoGraphs. Quants and front office analyst types are more bearish, citing issues with Priesters fastball playability. 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. He absolutely towers over his father, who was twice a Baseball America Top 100 prospect but spent most of his pro career in Japan. 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 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. 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. 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). 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. Overall, the Pirates adding six prospects to their top 50 list is pretty impressive. If you split his season exactly in half, the improvement is obvious. 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. His defensive versatility will allow the Pirates to play in-game matchups that take advantage of Baes speed and ability to put balls in play. 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. From a heuristics standpoint, you cant do much better than Rodriguezs profile. Injured Arms 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. Triolo earned industry praise for his defensive aptitude and high marks for his baseball IQ and instincts. in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. Dodgers: FanGraphs Lists Four LA Prospects on Top 100 List The Pirates have three of those 38 players, with Termarr Johnson ranked 21st, Endy Rodriguez 22nd and Henry Davis 38th. Matt Gorski, 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. 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. His overall pitch recognition, especially against breaking balls, has become a more noticeable issue. Ercolani, an 18-year-old righty from San Marino, had a velo spike during the winter and has been up to 97 mph in the bullpen recently. He spent more of his big league time in the outfield than at his native second base. Pirates Reds: NL West. 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. Nicolas has consistent glove-side command of his entire repertoire, and he tends to live on that half of the plate exclusively. Lolo Sanchez, CF Massey, going on 23, is a very loose, projectable college prospect from Minnesota. Even if sliders are a chronic issue for Davis, hell likely still get to enough power to produce better than the average everyday catcher. In some respects, its easy to assess DSL players. LSU played . Hayden Wesneski is a 25-year-old starting pitcher in the Chicago Cubs system. Here hes projected as a no. 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. It plays nicely with Flowers plus slider, and he has enough changeup feel to parachute one in against lefties once in a while. 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. 2023 Offseason Tracker. Priesters four-seamer is divisive. Isaias Uribe, LHP Gonzales hands work in a short, explosive loop. Mason Martin, 1B He sits in the upper 80s right now but has promising underlying traits and plenty of time to develop. Even though both Davis and Rodriguez are near-ready catching prospects, they arent redundant, and in fact they complement each other well. 2018 Brewers batting, pitching, and fielding traditional and advanced stats. Righties get a nice long look at everything Solometo does, and he could be very platoon-vulnerable against big leaguers. After the season, he again played winter ball, this time in Puerto Rico with Carolina, where Cheng struggled. As a high schooler, his ultra-low spin splitter seemed like the more promising pitch, but his feel for it has regressed. Looking forward to fangraphs being wrong Campman92 5 min. 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.