The Royals designated Webb for assignment in mid-November and he elected free agency before signing with the Pirates. While especially adept at launching pitches on the inner third, Johnson also shows some ability to shorten up and cover the top and outer edge of the strike zone. To be fair, he was only about average in terms of OAA. He has the strength to do damage the other way, but save for the occasional pitch on the outer edge, hes geared to pull. 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. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb. Once-Loved Outfielders 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. They have Hunter. Pathways toward a more impactful role are most likely to be carved by Harringtons command outperforming this projection. 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. It sounds like Brannigan is going to develop as a two-way player. Lopez swings exceptionally hard and makes some mechanical compromises to do so, but not in a way that has impacted his performance yet. Uribe, 20, is a projectable lefty with a 92-93 mph fastball and high-spin breaking ball. His command and changeup are both still works in progress, but his 2022 fastball strike% (68%) is an encouraging sign, and again, Jones has a special level of athleticism that should enable him to hone both over time. 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. On Friday, FanGraphs released updated rankings. 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. Bins is athletic for a catcher and has a good arm, but his receiving and contact skills are both 30s. His range and footwork are great, while his actions and arm are fine. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Righties get a nice long look at everything Solometo does, and he could be very platoon-vulnerable against big leaguers. Its a pretty big lost year of reps for a multi-sport player looking to get traction with the bat in pro ball. When Smith-Njigba takes a comfortable, max-effort hack, its obvious that he has big power, and his exit velo data reinforces the visual evaluation. 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. When healthy, he was a hard-throwing 40 FV reliever. 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. Smith-Njigbas on-base skills drive an above-replacement forecast here, but its tough to project a real big league role, and he may be an interesting candidate for teams in Asia. Jones checked all but two scouting boxes as a high school pitcher. The average draft position (ADP) included is from Draft Champions leagues from January 19 to February 19 at the NFBC, which you can find here.These leagues draft 50 players and that's all they get for the year no pickups or drops. He has above-average bat-to-ball skills and very little power. He finished 2022 at Altoona and has a chance to be in the big leagues at some point this season. Cy Nielson, LHP Top Prospects. 2018 Brewers batting, pitching, and fielding traditional and advanced stats. in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. The clubs hit rate on these trades per prospect isnt great, but the hit rate per trade has been better than that because of their risk-mitigating approach. Cristofer Melendez, RHP Either way, he played over half the season in the outfield and was roughly average, which is much better than I would have expected after the reporting on him previously called him a positionless defender. John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. Grant Hartwig is one of the most promising under-the-radar prospects in the New York Mets system. While prospect list ultimately isn't what makes a player great, it is . 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. Still tracking like a high-probability backup catcher, Gutierrez set a career-high in homers in 2022 amid an uptick in strikeouts that his underlying data (just a 10% swinging strike rate) indicates will bounce back to career norms. 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. Pittsburgh Pirates: Top 10 Players Under Age 26 (as of 4/1/11) 1. The emergence of a consistently above-average third offering reignited Burrows projection as a starter (he had been projected as a reliever here in previous seasons, in part due to injuries), and of his 24 outings in 2022, only two came out of the bullpen and just four were shorter than three innings. ago They do not like solemeto or Gonzalez. While his walk and strikeout rates were both descent through the first half of 2022, only nine of his 57 hits through mid-June went for extra bases (eight doubles and a home run). Could Solometo eventually throw harder? But at other times, he had difficulty maintaining the velocity as the innings wore on, which was compounded by his ongoing command inconsistency. The barrel-chested Smith-Njigba has huge strength-driven power and a patient approach that borders on passive. 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. 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. This also may have been part of why the Pirates lost so many players (11!) His feel for throwing strikes would come and go, and hes only 6-feet-1, a little smaller than the prep pitching prototypes who you often see getting $2 million or more in the draft. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. Drafted as a shortstop, he fell down the defensive spectrum pretty quickly but without finding a way to lift the ball and hit for power in games. The organization will be thrilled if . His low, short-armed slot is like a righty version of Reiver Sanmartins delivery. He also mixes in the occasional changeup or curveball, which accounted for a combined 11% of his offerings at Low-A. Alessandro Ercolani, RHP 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. From 2017-21, Webbs strikeout rate more than doubled as a result of his uptick in arm strength. 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. window.FGWebsite_head_section.buildProspectsListControls(); Massey, going on 23, is a very loose, projectable college prospect from Minnesota. 4/5 starter. 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. These rankings include six Pittsburgh Pirates prospects cracking the FanGraph top 100. From the left side of the plate, Rodriguez has an exceptional ability to rip his hands through pitches on the inner edge of the zone. Their top ten, in. His footwork on throws to second is clunky and variable, which often impacts his throw times and accuracy, but the pure arm strength is in there. Gorski had a nutty statline at Greensboro and indeed has plus raw power, but its tough to project a real role for a 25-year-old who struck out as much as he did at High- and Double-A. Solometos fastball sits in the 88-92 mph range. Pre-draft rumors pegged Kennedy as a tough sign given a strong commitment to LSU. 2023 Opening Day Tracker. 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. Hes poised for a big league bullpen role this season and has a repertoire thats deep and nasty enough that he should be considered a late-inning option. Pittsburgh to add him to their 40-man roster after the season, indicating that hell be a big league relief option in 2023. Not Quite Enough Hit Tool Even with that in mind, any team would be happy to sign a teenager with this kind of stuff for just $750,000 of their bonus pool. 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. 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 . 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. For the second straight year, he allowed a high rate of home runs, which inflated his ERA. Format = Team Position Player | Age on 4/1/23 | Highest level played | ETA. 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. FanGraphs released their top 100 prospect rankings on Wednesday. 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. How impactful a starter may depend on how his changeup, currently a tertiary offering, develops at the big league level. Enmanuel Terrero, OF Nunez started 2022 at St. Louis Double-A affiliate before being dealt to Pittsburgh as part of the Jos Quintana deal at the trade deadline. 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. Davis skills and offensive style are tailored like those of Evan Gattis. Very Young Prospects to Monitor Reports, tool grades, . His size creates some stiffness and imbalance during his swing, which can lead to him putting suboptimal contact in play. 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. 2023 Updated In-Season Projections 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. He spent much of the season leading off for Altoona, where he slashed .282/.376/.419 and stole 24 stolen bases. 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. Nicolas spent most of his college career in the bullpen, but hes held up well as a starter in pro ball, developing two distinct breaking balls that hes using much more than he did at Ball State. That said, it's getting harder. 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. Andres Silvera, RHP. The 11-15 group consists of Jared Jones, Ji-hwan Bae, Anthony Solometo, Kyle Nicolas and Jared Triolo. On defense, Rodriguezs size is both a feature and a bug. by Retrosheet. Oliver Mateo, RHP 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. Pegueros lack of throwing accuracy from shortstop is concerning. His overall pitch recognition, especially against breaking balls, has become a more noticeable issue. This was a four-year rookie-level player who had suddenly been added to the Royals 40-man roster after the 2021 season even though he had all of 32 innings above Low-A. The powerfully built Kelly, 19, is a squat but loose righty who sits 93-95 mph and throws quality strikes with his fastball. While he has a low three-quarters slot that creates natural tail on his heater, Kennedy can still create riding life at the letters. 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. He sits in the upper 80s right now but has promising underlying traits and plenty of time to develop. He had all the markers of a major league-ready Top 100 prospect prior to the injury, largely due to the progression of his changeup and its usage. Terrero is a compact outfielder with a well-rounded skill set and strong rookie-level line. That's nearly 30% of all their picks coming up as noteworthy prospects. Acquired in a. It could stand to have more consistent depth, but the flashes are there, and remember that Kennedy is barely 18. Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports. Drafted 91st overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021 out of a Huntington Beach junior college, the 20-year-old southpaw not only finished last season in Double-A, he dominated at all three levels where he saw action. 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. Injured Arms There were some signs of offensive progress in 2022. His four-seamer was around the same velo as it had been at the alt site, sitting comfortably at 93 mph and maxing out at 95. Hes on track to debut in 2025 as a starter if those issues improve and as a reliever if they do not. He walked more than a batter per inning in 2022. Jose Tabata / OF. Hes an arm strength reclamation project with a shot to pitch in Pittsburghs bullpen. A much deeper overview can be found here. Still, the teenage pitcher demo is bust-prone and, anecdotally, this seems especially true when the prospect in question already throws really hard at age 17 or 18. 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. 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. 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. Barring a velo bump or another significant alteration to some of the more concerning elements of his profile, he looks like a single-inning up/down reliever. 2023 Offseason Tracker. Priesters four-seamer is divisive. Matt Fraizer, CF Spotty command and limited fastball utility push Mlodzinski into a multi-inning relief role. Its a shorter, less natural looking delivery than what Flowers had as an amateur, but hes been able to throw strikes with it. If you want to read me wax poetic about that you can check out my end of year review. His low-80s slider, which has late, two-plane bite, has improved considerably and is now an above-average big league pitch. 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. March 3, 2023. 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 showed a velo spike (92-96) at the onset of the 2022 college season before his arm strength and command regressed. Hes a fun one cause he had 20 grade defense apparently but scored positive defensively and 30 grade speed but ran nearly 29 feet/second. 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. Hard-Throwers Endy had an incredible 2022 statline .323/.407/.590 most of which was generated at hitter-friendly Greensboro. 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. You can really see his athleticism and remarkable hip/shoulder separation on his throws down to second. . 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 can already land his breaker in the zone and its angle should help it become a viable back-foot offering to righties. He moved into a minor league relief role in 2022. His quality of contact is very good when he does make it, and is already on par with the typical starting major league second baseman even though hes barely 22. The type of contact he makes is unlikely to ever lead to home run power commensurate with a true everyday player, but Bae makes enough stinging, all-fields contact that he projects to hit plenty of doubles and triples. He spent more of his big league time in the outfield than at his native second base. His fastball velocity is down, in the 92-94 mph range, a far cry from Priesters upper-90s peak. 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. The top 38 spots on the list are all 55 FV or higher. Solometo was a very high-profile amateur pitcher, drafted in the second round but given a bonus commensurate with the 24th overall pick ($2.8 million) as one of several exciting high schoolers who Pittsburgh landed with the pool space freed up by Henry Davis under slot agreement. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he . 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. Diego Cartaya (37) - Catcher Cartaya is listed a little higher in The. He pairs it with two above-average secondaries: a high-80s slider with sharp, downward movement that garnered a 48% chase rate against righties, and an 11-5 curveball with a shape that mimics the slider, only slower and looser, which helps keep batters off balance and enables him to pitch backwards. Youll occasionally see a low-90s changeup from Hernandez as well, but hes a relief prospect all the way and likely to stick in Pittsburghs bullpen despite below-average command. Axiel Plaz, C Prospects Coverage | FanGraphs Baseball In addition to sending Bradley back to Boston, the Milwaukee Brewers are also sending two of their top-30 prospects. He spins the hell out of everything that leaves his hand, in particular his slider, which averaged over 2,700 rpm, but his inability to fine tune his command puts a damper on its utility (his walk rate was an untenable 12.4% across his 75.2 innings of work). In cases like these, sometimes the things that initially pique your interest, like data and/or available video, are enough to excite on their own even as you acknowledge that the error bars are as wide as can be because of the relative dearth of reinforcing club opinions. So the question is, was there actual improvement in his ability or is this just noise in the signal? Those risks apply here. We. Mason Martin, 1B Cubs pitching prospect Hayden Wesneski is proving he belongs in his latest Spring Training outing. 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. Campana, soon to be 21, is the youngest of this group. Both feel like high-floored backend or long relief types who need to walk an atypical path to an impact role. 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. He has become meaningfully stronger over the last year and has more of a balanced, low-ball swing now, as opposed to the slash-and-dash style of contact in his pro debut. For instance, hes struggled badly on defense, wracking up 46 errors combined the last two seasons. A successful 2022 pro debut (47.2 IP, 9.63 K/9, 3.59 BB/9, 2.64 ERA) driven by very advanced fastball command contrasts with skepticism about how Solometos stuff will play against older and better hitters. 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. Webbs velocity began to climb in 2019, when he went from sitting 89-92 mph to sitting 90-94 and touching 96. DeVito brandishes a five-pitch arsenal headlined by a filthy splitter, but he struggled to locate any of his pitches well enough for them to really complement each other. His carrying tool is still his defense, especially his receiving, which is crafty and advanced. Quick backfield looks at him have his tools in more of an extra outfielder bucket for now. as compiled by Ben Clemens and the FanGraphs staff. 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. This time around, the Top 100 has even more Moreno types, prospects who combine . Might the changeup develop over time into a plus pitch? Moreover, he has one of the more unusual profiles in professional baseball. RotoGraphs. Scouting reports were. Last year, Fraizers 2021 performance at Greensboro (which included 20 homers) convinced us that he had a chance to be a big deal, but his plate discipline was a big problem against Double-A pitching. Tony Sanchez / C 6. 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. Thats something to watch as Jones continues to progress through the minors. As a wrap-up, the Pirates have. 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. His delivery has a relief-only look to it. 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. JP Massey, RHP He went 2-for-4 with two singles, two runs and an RBI on Friday night against Kansas State. The timing of his surgery is more detrimental than that of the other college pitchers, as it ups the odds that he wont (or will barely) pitch in 2023. In some ways, this makes aspects of De Los Santos data even more impressive, because hes turning around soft DSL pitching with ridiculous pace. Instead, Triolo looks like hell be a superutility guy. Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2023 4:51 PM ET, Park Factors 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. Oneil Cruz, SS Video Signed: July 2nd. But theres big arm speed here and big riding life to Shims fastball. Hunter Stratton, RHP 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. Podcasts: . His mother spent her childhood in London, while his father "a real Brit; he still has an . Burrows had success as a starter throughout a 2022 season split between Double- and Triple-A before shoulder inflammation effectively ended his season. Despite all of that, Priester took a hit in a lot of the national prospect outlets, dropping off quite a few Top 100 lists. Neither his slider nor changeup is fully baked quite yet, but if either (or both) become viable, they would bring with them a higher probability that Priester slots in as a mid-rotation starter. Neil Walker / 2B 5. As the Pirates improve and fall into the middle of the draft order, opportunities to do this might dwindle since they cant create a big pool space surplus as easily, but their steady stream of competitive balance picks should give them at least some opportunity to explore creativity in the draft room just about every year. Even though both Davis and Rodriguez are near-ready catching prospects, they arent redundant, and in fact they complement each other well. Hes already taken a sizable step in the breaking ball department in just two pros seasons. Here's a link to the Top 25.. Link to the Top 50.. Link to the Top 75.. 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. He stayed healthy throughout 2022, throwing 70.1 innings, and was more effective out of the bullpen than in his late-season starts. If it does, he should be a 50, and that grade was discussed during the Pirates list-making process. 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 commands it consistently enough to his glove side to project as a starter. The site listed four Dodgers prospects on their list. Before he was drafted he was considered, at least at FanGraphs, a more likely reliever due to the quality of his stuff. 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. As a right-handed hitter almost all of Endys damage is done on outer-third pitches that he can get fully extended against. He and Solometo have the same flavor of stuff wrapped in different packages. 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. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every teams list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. If he does end up having relevant chase issues, he might track like a left-handed hitting Brendan Rodgers, but Johnsons makeup and personality are so universally lauded that its fair to expect him to make relevant adjustments and become a key cog on Pittsburghs next competitive team.