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. 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. He can play a fine shortstop. On Friday, FanGraphs released updated rankings. Here are the Pirates' 2023 Top 30 prospects March 1, 2023 Pirates' Chandler going all in on pitching February 28, 2023 Pirates return No. As a high schooler, his ultra-low spin splitter seemed like the more promising pitch, but his feel for it has regressed. Robert_roberts82 1 min. Finding a great changeup (or maybe a split?) 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. That creates backspin and carry on his fastball and big depth on his curve. 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. 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. Pittsburgh to add him to their 40-man roster after the season, indicating that hell be a big league relief option in 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. The high-waisted Lopez has a wide range of athletic/mobility outcomes that will impact where he ultimately ends up on defense. RotoGraphs. Rodriguezs arm is comfortably plus. Neil Walker / 2B 5. Roelmy Garcia, RHP 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. 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. His delivery has a relief-only look to it. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted If you want to read me wax poetic about that you can check out my end of year review. To be fair, he was only about average in terms of OAA. Theyre finding them. Might the changeup develop over time into a plus pitch? Very Young Prospects to Monitor 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. Pirates Reds: NL West. 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. ago I'm surprised how far Nick Gonzalez and Hudson Head dropped in a few years. 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. 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. Not exactly on topic, but Id love to get some thoughts on the recently graduated Jack Suwinski. 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. 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. 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. 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. Jackson Glenn, 2B. How impactful a starter may depend on how his changeup, currently a tertiary offering, develops at the big league level. His delivery also creates an odd angle on a mid-80s cutter/slider, which Solometo commands to his glove side. 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. wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs Pirates Top Prospect List You found it controversial, so we discussed it Subscribe & Listen http://linktr.ee . After coasting through the low and mid-minors, he finally hit a speed bump in 2022, posting his first below-average statline as a 21-year-old at Double-A Altoona. 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. The FanGraphs prospect team presents their 2022 top 100 list . It shows above-average arm-side action on occasion, but hes only throwing it 12% of the time. Those games were taking place amid weight-lifting and practice for the coming football season and then during the season itself, so Whites balance of strength and flexibility might change as he trains just for baseball. 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. Davis was on the IL multiple times in 2022 with issues stemming from a small nondisplaced fracture of his left wrist that he suffered when he was hit by a pitch in May. He spent more of his big league time in the outfield than at his native second base. His carrying tool is still his defense, especially his receiving, which is crafty and advanced. Matt Fraizer, CF His overall pitch recognition, especially against breaking balls, has become a more noticeable issue. 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. Isaias Uribe, LHP From 2017-21, Webbs strikeout rate more than doubled as a result of his uptick in arm strength. 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. Selbys fastball sits 96-98 mph and he looks to blow it past hitters up in the zone. He was promoted to Bradenton and fell into a rhythm where each pitching appearance was buttressed by an off day before and after it, with the 19-year-old DHing in the intervening days. Looking forward to fangraphs being wrong Campman92 5 min. 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. Jones checked all but two scouting boxes as a high school pitcher. 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. Aside from the persistent Bryan Reynolds trade rumors, the general industry sentiment is that the team is shifting from prospect collection mode and into a phase where those players start to arrive. Climbing the minor league ladder often comes with offensive slumps, many of which are cured as hitters accrue at-bats at the more advanced level. The top 38 spots on the list are all 55 FV or higher. 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. 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 . He barely played in 2022 due to hamstring, elbow, and hip flexor injuries that cost him all but a couple of games. Webbs velocity began to climb in 2019, when he went from sitting 89-92 mph to sitting 90-94 and touching 96. The husky Nunez swings really hard and generates big peak exit velocities. Even though hes so young, youre not really projecting on his frame in a positive way so much as it feels possible Kennedy could have impact command at maturity, because his delivery is so effortless and the quality of his fastball strikes so advanced. Johnsons swing bears some mechanical resemblance to Bryce Harpers, especially its lower half usage and finish. Dombkowski is a lefty whose high-80s fastball plays up thanks to his low arm slot and excellent command over his above-average secondaries. 2023 Updated In-Season Projections Gonzales hands work in a short, explosive loop. 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. 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. Connor Scott, RF 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. 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. document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function () { Its going to be fascinating to watch him develop, and if it doesnt work, hell probably still be a viable reliever. 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. Head, who was part of the Joe Musgrove trade, has Kd at a 33% clip in A-ball and might also be in the midst of a swing change that gets rid of his arm bar. His slider lacks nasty, biting movement, but his arm slot makes it tough on lefty hitters, and his command of it gives it back-foot utility against righties. Ke'Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Mitch Keller, Travis Swaggerty, Tahnaj Thomas and. He did not pass. He pitched for Panamas U18 team in September and showed a good changeup and fair slider as well. 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. Endy had an incredible 2022 statline .323/.407/.590 most of which was generated at hitter-friendly Greensboro. Still, his tendency to roll his wrists over early in his swing, breaking up his attack angle, resulted in a groundball rate above 50%. Luigi Hernandez, RHP. 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. You can really see his athleticism and remarkable hip/shoulder separation on his throws down to second. 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. 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. 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. Prospects Coverage | FanGraphs Baseball In addition to sending Bradley back to Boston, the Milwaukee Brewers are also sending two of their top-30 prospects. His fastball velo is up a tick since 2021, now comfortably sitting in the 95-96 mph range and routinely touching 98. 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. In some respects, its easy to assess DSL players. Reports, tool grades, . Cristofer Melendez, RHP window.FGWebsite_head_section.buildProspectsListControls(); FanGraphs Top 43 Pirates prospects blogs.fangraphs Vote 3 comments Best Add a Comment Robert_roberts82 14 min. He practically straddles the plate and was hit by 20 pitches during an injury-shortened regular season, then was somehow beaned seven more times in just 17 Arizona Fall League games. This impressive performance inspired his offseason 40-man addition. Carter Bins, C All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. Chandlers pitching performance wasnt as lights-out as it had been pre-promotion, but it was still a display of the rightys potential. His 2022 performance deserves some age-related adjustment, but its possible we saw flaws in Pegueros game exposed by upper-level pitching. 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. Ryan Vilade, LF Drafted: 1st Round, 2022 from Mays HS (GA) (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2018 from Dominican Republic (NYM), Drafted: 1st Round, 2021 from Louisville (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2018 from Dominican Republic (PIT), Drafted: 1st Round, 2019 from Cary-Grove HS (IL) (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2017 from Dominican Republic (ARI), Drafted: 10th Round, 2018 from Waterford HS (CT) (PIT), Drafted: 3rd Round, 2021 from North Oconee HS (PIT), Drafted: 2nd Round, 2019 from Houston (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2017 from South Korea (PIT), Drafted: 2nd Round, 2020 from La Mirada HS (CA) (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2022 from Dominican Republic (PIT), Drafted: 1st Round, 2022 from Campbell (PIT), Drafted: 2nd Round, 2020 from Ball State (MIA), Drafted: 16th Round, 2018 from Randolph-Macon College (PIT), Drafted: 8th Round, 2019 from Seton Hall (ATL), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2018 from Venezuela (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2023 from South Korea (PIT), Drafted: 2nd Round, 2021 from Gloucester Catholic HS (PIT), Drafted: 2nd Round, 2022 from Florida (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2018 from Cuba (STL), Drafted: 1st Round, 2020 from New Mexico State (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2015 from Dominican Republic (LAD), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2019 from Pei-Ke High School (Taiwan) (PIT), Drafted: 4th Round, 2022 from Troy HS (NY) (PIT), Drafted: 2nd Round, 2021 from Malvern Prep HS (PIT), Drafted: 1st Round, 2020 from South Carolina (PIT), Drafted: 15th Round, 2021 from South Alabama (PIT), Drafted: 1st Round, 2018 from South Alabama (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2016 from Venezuela (PHI), Drafted: 3rd Round, 2022 from Notre Dame (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2019 from Taiwan (PIT), Signed: July 2nd Period, 2016 from Bahamas (CLE), Drafted: 4th Round, 2019 from Florida State (PIT), Drafted: 11th Round, 2016 from Valley View HS (PA) (PIT), Drafted: 4th Round, 2017 from Rockwall Heath HS (TX) (NYY), Drafted: 34th Round, 2016 from Lees Summit HS (MO) (KCR), Drafted: 6th Round, 2017 from Tracy HS (CA) (PIT), Drafted: 4th Round, 2021 from U-32 HS (PIT). 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. Even if sliders are a chronic issue for Davis, hell likely still get to enough power to produce better than the average everyday catcher. Jesus Castillo, SS Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Pittsburgh Pirates. White was seen early and often as an underclassman since he went to a Philadelphia high school with University of Virginia outfielder Chris Newell, and would frequently match up against the Siani brothers during varsity play. He stayed healthy throughout 2022, throwing 70.1 innings, and was more effective out of the bullpen than in his late-season starts. Nicolas has consistent glove-side command of his entire repertoire, and he tends to live on that half of the plate exclusively. . RotoGraphs. But as Triolos pro success with the bat continued at a high level, and with KeBryan Hayes manning the hot corner for the Pirates foreseeable future, the Pirates began searching for defensive alternatives in order to plug Triolo into their lineup. 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. RotoWire News: Gonzales will join the Pirates' major-league camp this spring.
