pirates' top prospects fangraphswhat causes chills after knee replacement surgery
His swing may look different in 2023 and prompt a re-evaluation. Hes been up to 100 mph, sits 96, and has solid glove-side command of a mid-80s slider. He can already land his breaker in the zone and its angle should help it become a viable back-foot offering to righties. Ke'Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Mitch Keller, Travis Swaggerty, Tahnaj Thomas and. In some ways, this makes aspects of De Los Santos data even more impressive, because hes turning around soft DSL pitching with ridiculous pace. To that point in the season, his mid-teens walk rate had inspired guarded optimism regarding an improved approach, though Nunez also may have become intentionally passive, as his raw swing% was a minuscule 40%. 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. 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 carrying tool is still his defense, especially his receiving, which is crafty and advanced. Obviously the 2021 draft was the big one, and seven players from that class are currently on the list. Might the changeup develop over time into a plus pitch? Oliver Mateo, RHP The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. He was Rule 5 eligible after the season, and hitters who have performed that well at High-A tend to be added to their clubs 40-man roster, but Lopez doesnt have a crystal clear defensive home and his plate discipline needs a lot of seasoning, so he wasnt a real threat to be taken. That's nearly 30% of all their picks coming up as noteworthy prospects. 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. His curveball was his only secondary to induce an above-average chase rate. That said, it's getting harder. 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. Hes naturally adept at framing low strikes because hes already so low to the ground, but its also fair to wonder if such a small athlete can withstand the grind of catching 80-100 games every summer. He might end up becoming the player the industry hoped Francisco Meja would become. Thats hard enough to do for any batter, let alone one whose schedule also includes the grueling demands of pitching development. 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. 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. His fastball velo is up a tick since 2021, now comfortably sitting in the 95-96 mph range and routinely touching 98. With Endy Rodriguez around, it may not matter a ton. Its a pretty big lost year of reps for a multi-sport player looking to get traction with the bat in pro ball. These rankings are now available on The Board on the 2023 Fantasy Rankings tab, where you can also see the Top 120 Dynasty Rankings!. Solometo certainly has superficial frame-based projection, but his athleticism and explosiveness are comfortably below whats typical of someone who finds more and more velocity deep into their 20s. 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. Terrero is a compact outfielder with a well-rounded skill set and strong rookie-level line. Hayden Wesneski is a 25-year-old starting pitcher in the Chicago Cubs system. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. FanGraphs Prospects. Throw in the visual twitch and athleticism, and this is the player Spotifys algorithm would recommend to FanGraphs if prospects were musical artists. That puts pressure on his plate discipline to improve, since right now Lopez is a little too proactive at the plate and might be exposed at the upper levels. 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. If this were a high school draft prospect, you would already know his name based purely on how explosive De Los Santos is in the batters box. He has basically been the same guy since he entered pro ball, sitting 94-95 with ineffectual shape and a pretty good slider. The top 38 spots on the list are all 55 FV or higher. Very Young Prospects to Monitor In 2022, it garnered just 8% whiffs and 13% chase during his time at Double-A, where he spent most of the season. He has a short arm action, which aids in his command, though refining his location will likely be the order of the day upon his return from injury as he continues to work out of the Pirates pen. 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. 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. Righties get a nice long look at everything Solometo does, and he could be very platoon-vulnerable against big leaguers. 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. Sergio Campana, CF Triolo earned industry praise for his defensive aptitude and high marks for his baseball IQ and instincts. 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. Looking forward to fangraphs being wrong Campman92 5 min. 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. 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. 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. Selbys fastball sits 96-98 mph and he looks to blow it past hitters up in the zone. 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. 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. Cy Nielson, LHP 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. When we last saw Swaggerty for a full season of play, he was a 21-year-old whose nine home runs in 120 games was far lower than youd expect from someone with so much raw power playing in a hitter-friendly park. His swing is already geared for lift, but he doesnt currently have the raw juice to make the most of it. He maintained his patient approach in Altoona, and when the Double-A season ended, he was sent up to Indianapolis for the last five games of the Triple-A season. This time around, the Top 100 has even more Moreno types, prospects who combine . Gonzales had a 68% Z-contact% as a 23-year-old at Double-A. Big league sliders might force Davis to make an adjustment, but so far his contact performance has been solidly average. 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. Harry Ford is one of the top prospects in the Seattle Mariners organization, and he is also unique among his peers. Middle infielder Termarr Johnson, who the Pittsburgh. A fresh start with a new org (he was a waiver claim this offseason) might help him find a swing that produces more power. He commands it consistently enough to his glove side to project as a starter. Eddy Yean, RHP A core scouting rule of thumb is to take the long view with catchers who have impact offensive potential. The reason why he graded out so positively was due to his arm, gunning down runners like crazy, which was fantastic, and his tool grade for his armwas a 40. 2023 600 PA / 200 IP Projections Steamer600. 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. Johnsons swing bears some mechanical resemblance to Bryce Harpers, especially its lower half usage and finish. 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. The effects of a pro strength and conditioning program might kick-start him down the path toward finding a more consistent release and sustaining the big velocity as a pro starter. You can really see his athleticism and remarkable hip/shoulder separation on his throws down to second. 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. If you want to read me wax poetic about that you can check out my end of year review. They had a ton of depth and a need to fill their Triple-A roster with external veterans in case of injury, and its likely that they mis-evaluated some of their own players who they should have protected, players like Trey McGough, Cristian Charle, Joelvis Del Rosario, Austin Roberts, Wilkin Ramos, Jared Oliva, and Peter Solomon, all of whom have either been on past prospect lists or were flagged for interesting performance or characteristics during this list cycle. The 11-15 group consists of Jared Jones, Ji-hwan Bae, Anthony Solometo, Kyle Nicolas and Jared Triolo. 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. 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. Here are the Pirates' 2023 Top 30 prospects March 1, 2023 Pirates' Chandler going all in on pitching February 28, 2023 Pirates return No. But he was then shut down and had TJ, which ended his season early enough that he could be back in 2023. He has the strength to do damage the other way, but save for the occasional pitch on the outer edge, hes geared to pull. 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 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. 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. His swing is quite uphill from the left side and he can tend to swing underneath fastballs up and away from him, but overall he is very difficult to make whiff inside the strike zone despite his steep-launch style of contact. Neil Walker / 2B 5. He went 2-for-4 with two singles, two runs and an RBI on Friday night against Kansas State. Johnson was a well-regarded prospect basically as soon as he reached high school, and there were scouts who were so excited when they first watched him hit that they considered him a future top 5-10 pick when he was only a freshman. After pitching well at the U-18 World Championships and at a Nike showcase in Asia, he signed for about $1.25 million, which is pretty sizable for a late-market signee. A second base-only defensive fit puts the onus on Pegueros bat to perform at an everyday level. Once-Loved Outfielders 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. Davis plate crowding helps enable his pull-heavy approach. 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. 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. Born Harrison Michael Ford, in Atlanta, 20 years ago this week, the right-handed-hitting catcher is the son of English immigrants. How impactful a starter may depend on how his changeup, currently a tertiary offering, develops at the big league level. Spotty command and limited fastball utility push Mlodzinski into a multi-inning relief role. He has the stuff to continue developing as a starter just in case things click, but the bullpen is Jimenezs more likely future destination. The barrel-chested Smith-Njigba has huge strength-driven power and a patient approach that borders on passive. He has an interesting long-term body projection and breaking ball combination. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Blake Cederlind, RHP The high-waisted Lopez has a wide range of athletic/mobility outcomes that will impact where he ultimately ends up on defense. 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. When healthy, he was a hard-throwing 40 FV reliever. His 2022 was not as remarkable from a walk and strikeout standpoint but it was still good, as he hit .270/.376/.418 with 38 extra-base hits (pretty good for the Florida State League) and 33 steals at Low-A Bradenton. 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. 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. 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. Alessandro Ercolani, RHP 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. 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. 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. 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. He stayed healthy throughout 2022, throwing 70.1 innings, and was more effective out of the bullpen than in his late-season starts. 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. He is a 6-foot-5 20-year-old, after all. 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. A proactive bullpen move could put him in position to debut in 2024. The site listed four Dodgers prospects on their list. 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. He doesnt always look comfortable out there, but his speed makes him viable at all three spots, solidifying his role as a heavily-used role player even without the power production. 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. 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. 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. 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. Hes an arm strength reclamation project with a shot to pitch in Pittsburghs bullpen. His acrobatics and creativity at third base make him a plus defender there. Theyre finding them. 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. Still, his tendency to roll his wrists over early in his swing, breaking up his attack angle, resulted in a groundball rate above 50%. Barco is a low-slot lefty with advanced command and several underlying pitch traits that give clubs hope of more upside even though he looks like a lower-variance backend starter prospect on the surface. Before he was drafted he was considered, at least at FanGraphs, a more likely reliever due to the quality of his stuff. This is the case with De Los Santos. Flowers velocity has never really popped in a big way despite some of the late projection because of his conversion.
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