It’s fairly clear the Pirates know learn how to scout, signal and develop pitching. Simply take a look at the large league rotation led by Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller as examples of various homegrown paths. And there’s extra coming.
Bubba Chandler heads up the brand new Pirates’ High 30 checklist, and after reaching Triple-A, he’s loudly knocking on the large league door. Different arms like No. 3 Thomas Harrington, No. 6 Braxton Ashcraft and even No. 7 Hunter Barco and No. 15 Mike Burrows — all drafted and developed by the group — may affect the large league workers quickly.
That, after all, begs the query: What in regards to the hitters? That’s been a bit slower going, however there are some bats gathering on the higher ranges. No. 5 Nick Yorke, acquired final 12 months within the Quinn Priester commerce with the Crimson Sox, is able to contribute. So is commerce acquisition Billy Cook dinner, the return from the Orioles within the Patrick Reilly prospect-for-prospect deal. Termarr Johnson, the 2022 first-round choose, hasn’t fairly been the hitter anticipated when he went No. 4 general, however he additionally reached Double-A at age 20.
He’s simply getting began, however 2024 first-round choose Konnor Griffin has the type of loud all-around instruments that’s troublesome to not be enthusiastic about, although the Mississippi prepster is a couple of years away. With pitching within the large leagues and pooling up on the higher ranges, it’s fairly evident the large league membership will have the ability to compete due to that workers. How a lot the bats can step up, attain the large leagues and produce would be the figuring out issue of whether or not the Pirates may be concerned within the NL Central race, now and sooner or later.
Listed below are the gamers whose ranks modified essentially the most from the 2024 preseason checklist to the 2025 preseason checklist:
Leap: Jhonny Severino, 3B/SS (2024: 26 | 2025: 12)Initially signed by the Brewers in 2022 for $1.23 million, Severino got here to the Pirates near the 2023 Commerce Deadline within the Carlos Santana deal. He barely obtained to placed on the brand new uniform when a damaged hamate ended his season. Wholesome in 2024, he posted a .918 OPS with 10 homers within the Florida Complicated League to earn a late bump as much as full-season ball, the place hit one other six lengthy balls.
Fall: Lonnie White, OF (2024: 12 | 2025: NR)The uncooked instruments and the athleticism are nonetheless there, as he confirmed in 2023 in Single-A Bradenton in one of many few instances he was wholesome for an prolonged stretch. His 89 video games performed in 2024 marked a profession excessive, however he missed three months with damage. When he was on the sector, it didn’t go effectively with Excessive-A Greensboro, posting a .167/.275/.340 line.
Gamers are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future instruments – 20-30 is effectively under common, 40 is under common, 50 is common, 60 is above common and 70-80 is effectively above common. Gamers in parentheses have the identical grade.
Hit: 55 — Nick Yorke (Mitch Jebb)Energy: 60 — Konnor GriffinRun: 65 — Konnor Griffin (Mitch Jebb)Arm: 70 — Konnor Griffin (Jack Brannigan)Protection: 65 — Tsung-Che ChengFastball: 70 — Bubba Chandler (David Matoma)Curveball: 60 — Levi SterlingSlider: 60 — Braxton Ashcraft (Bubba Chandler, Hunter Barco)Changeup: 55 — Thomas Harrington (Bubba Chandler, Michael Burrows, Carlson Reed)Management: 60 — Thomas Harrington
How they had been builtDraft: 16 | Worldwide: 9 | Commerce: 5
Breakdown by ETA2025: 7 | 2026: 7 | 2027: 8 | 2028: 5 | 2029: 2 | 2030: 1
Breakdown by positionC: 2 | 1B: 1 | 2B: 3 | 3B: | SS: 8 | OF: 4 | RHP: 10 | LHP: 2
