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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. His slow, mid-70s curveball is easy to identify out of his hand, but it has lovely shape and depth of break, so perhaps it can be sculpted into a more traditional big league breaking ball. The Royals designated Webb for assignment in mid-November and he elected free agency before signing with the Pirates. If he moves to first base, this will become especially scary. Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. D-backs Dodgers Giants Padres Rockies: Offseason Tools. 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. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he . Podcasts: . Not counting his time at the alt site in 2020, last season was Boltons first time back in competitive action since 2019. There were some signs of offensive progress in 2022. Now 24 and neither protected from nor claimed during the 2022 Rule 5 draft, its imperative for him to start throwing strikes more consistently in order to find his way to a big league bullpen. 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. Hes on track to debut in 2025 as a starter if those issues improve and as a reliever if they do not. 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. Oliver Mateo, RHP Blanco is a gigantic corner outfield/1B prospect who had the most present raw power in the January 2022 international signing class. 1/ . He pitched five innings of relief over two games in early May for the Pirates without allowing a run. Jesus Castillo, SS 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. Prospects 2022 Top 100 Prospects. Thats hard enough to do for any batter, let alone one whose schedule also includes the grueling demands of pitching development. Pirates Reds: NL West. Andres Silvera, RHP. Pathways toward a more impactful role are most likely to be carved by Harringtons command outperforming this projection. 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. 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. 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. 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. Brennan Malone, RHP. 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. The Pirates claimed him off waivers and quickly lost him to the Diamondbacks in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. He signed for $900,000 and barely played in the 2022 DSL. 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. Maikol Escotto, 2B DeVito is a bird of a feather that has flocked together in the Pirates system: a promising arm with in-zone swing-and-miss, but one whose unsteady command has prevented him from capitalizing on that whiff rate. Milwaukee Brewers Batting Postseason Stats 2021. These rankings include six Pittsburgh Pirates prospects cracking the FanGraph top 100. Hes an arm strength reclamation project with a shot to pitch in Pittsburghs bullpen. 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. He could get a cup of coffee in 2023. If he continues missing bats at High-A in 2023, though, Pittsburgh may be forced to add him. Obviously the 2021 draft was the big one, and seven players from that class are currently on the list. The Pirates have three of those 38 players, with Termarr Johnson ranked 21st, Endy Rodriguez 22nd and Henry Davis 38th. Pegueros lack of throwing accuracy from shortstop is concerning. Be warned that he may hit for huge power at Greensboro in 2023, but the key thing to watch is his strikeout rate. 2018 Brewers batting, pitching, and fielding traditional and advanced stats. Jimenez has a very good sweeping, upper-70s curveball and creates plus action on a changeup that he sells with fantastic arm speed. He moved into a minor league relief role in 2022. 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. 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. 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. Injured Arms 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. If a clearer path at third base existed in this org, that might have been enough for us to do it. 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. Johnsons swing bears some mechanical resemblance to Bryce Harpers, especially its lower half usage and finish. Priesters four-seamer is divisive. 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. 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. Hudson Head, CF Counter to our past reports, his swing is rather stiff and some of Lopezs length makes him vulnerable to pitches in on his hands. 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. He also mixes in the occasional changeup or curveball, which accounted for a combined 11% of his offerings at Low-A. He walked more than a batter per inning in 2022. Hes different from Kieboom (lever length) and Kiura (simpler footwork) in meaningful ways, but that entire group (and Downs) has had issues with letter-high fastballs, which Gonzales often swings underneath. Big league sliders might force Davis to make an adjustment, but so far his contact performance has been solidly average. He was passed over in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft despite his stuff quality because hes so raw as a strike-thrower. Juan Jerez, 3B Currently, Kennedys best attribute is multi-faceted fastball utility. 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. 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. His changeup is deceptive against batters in both boxes, but in particular against righties, who have a 40% chase rate on the offering. He has the stuff to continue developing as a starter just in case things click, but the bullpen is Jimenezs more likely future destination. 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. 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. Thats a very walkable path. 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. 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. 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. 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. That pitch plays up against lefties for reasons that are probably obvious, but it isnt a nasty pitch in a vacuum. JP Massey, RHP The Pirates got a deal done for a cool million, nearly twice the slot amount in the fourth round. 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. 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. Theres an All-Star-caliber hit and power combination here, and while a bigger pro data sample might reveal some approach-related issues, Johnson has been one of the best hitters his age for going on a half decade and feels like a relatively high-probability high school hitting prospect. 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. Hes been up to 100 mph, sits 96, and has solid glove-side command of a mid-80s slider. Pre-draft rumors pegged Kennedy as a tough sign given a strong commitment to LSU. He sits in the upper 80s right now but has promising underlying traits and plenty of time to develop. It shows above-average arm-side action on occasion, but hes only throwing it 12% of the time. }); Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category. Its going to be fascinating to watch him develop, and if it doesnt work, hell probably still be a viable reliever. ), and some of the recent, perhaps overzealous examples (Maikel Escotto, Rodolfo Nolasco) are in this system. Dombkowski is a lefty whose high-80s fastball plays up thanks to his low arm slot and excellent command over his above-average secondaries. 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. 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. Besides Johnson and Harrington, two other 2022 draft picks made the top 30. 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. A second base-only defensive fit puts the onus on Pegueros bat to perform at an everyday level. He fills out the bottom half of the zone with his slider, itself an impressive bat-misser, thanks again to Dombkowskis command. The powerfully built Kelly, 19, is a squat but loose righty who sits 93-95 mph and throws quality strikes with his fastball. Endy had an incredible 2022 statline .323/.407/.590 most of which was generated at hitter-friendly Greensboro. 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. He has the talent to be an everyday player, but has to improve in one or two key areas (throwing accuracy, slider recognition) for that to be his outcome. Cristofer Melendez, RHP Middle infielder Termarr Johnson, who the Pittsburgh. Escotto, 20, was a 40+ FV prospect after his huge DSL season and later became part of the Jameson Taillon trade, but he struggled very badly in 2022 and needed to be demoted back to Low-A. 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. In some ways, this makes aspects of De Los Santos data even more impressive, because hes turning around soft DSL pitching with ridiculous pace. Even though both Davis and Rodriguez are near-ready catching prospects, they arent redundant, and in fact they complement each other well. LSU played . Ortiz rocketed through the system in 2022, skipping High-A and spending most of the season with Double-A Altoona before making his big league debut across four starts in September and October. FanGraphs Prospects. He stayed healthy throughout 2022, throwing 70.1 innings, and was more effective out of the bullpen than in his late-season starts. 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. The top six were already know from this list, because Fangraphs had six Pirates in their top 100 prospects. The component parts of a scouting, tools-oriented look De Los Santos frame, bat speed, and infield actions put him in that range, while the DSL data reinforces it somewhat. Rodriguezs arm is comfortably plus. 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. Still, his strikeouts come primarily on in-zone swing-and-miss, so its important for the strike-throwing to improve for him to capitalize on his ability to overpower hitters as he continues to advance. This is one of those prospects fantasy players should value more highly than this because of his potential home run output, whereas defensive limitations cause us to value his real-world roster fit in this range. Cheng entered 2022 coming off an incredible season in which he slashed .311/.449/.492 with twice as many walks as he had strikeouts. Triolo earned industry praise for his defensive aptitude and high marks for his baseball IQ and instincts. In some respects, its easy to assess DSL players. In 2022, it garnered just 8% whiffs and 13% chase during his time at Double-A, where he spent most of the season. Pittsburgh to add him to their 40-man roster after the season, indicating that hell be a big league relief option in 2023. Every once in a while he will show you the power, and hes very good at hitting pitches out away from him to the opposite field with authority, but you can get him out if you can execute location against Gonzales, and big league pitchers often do. As FanGraphs sourced TrackMan/Hawkeye data from team personnel after the season, De Los Santos hard hit rate and peak exit velocities stood apart from most of his peers, especially when limiting the sample to the DSLs age-appropriate players. Scott, Siani, and Campana all have big physical tools and have all struggled badly from a bat-to-ball standpoint. Ryan Vilade, LF 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 organization will be thrilled if . Silvera, 18, is a physically mature righty who missed a ton of DSL bats even though he only sits 88-90. (One weird scouting note: Peguero chokes up with two strikes, but only with his top hand, creating separation between his two hands la Kevin Youkilis.) 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.