This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf’s Pirates Beat publication. To learn the complete publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it commonly in your inbox.
As we glance towards the Scorching Range season and the 2025 marketing campaign, let’s take yet another look again at what occurred within the Pirates’ farm system this season and talk about which gamers are value protecting tabs on transferring ahead.
3 gamers who pressured their approach onto the radar
RHP Thomas Harrington (Pirates’ No. 5 prospect, No. 91 total)Harrington entered the season with some intriguing peripherals and the pedigree of being the No. 36 total Draft choose in 2022, however he was misplaced within the shuffle a bit given the opposite pitching prospects within the system. That modified in ’24, when he recorded a 2.61 ERA with 115 strikeouts over 117 1/3 innings between Single-A Bradenton, Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis. He pitches off his four-seam fastball, which will get loads of motion, and might go right into a six-pitch combine to complete hitters. Others took discover, too, and Harrington is now an MLB Pipeline High 100 Prospect.
OF/INF Billy Prepare dinner (Pirates’ No. 24 prospect)Prepare dinner was picked up from the Orioles on the Commerce Deadline and left impression throughout his September callup, choosing up six defensive runs saved within the outfield with three dwelling runs. There’s nonetheless loads to iron out — together with a 38.8% strikeout fee — however Prepare dinner’s versatility (all three outfield positions, second base and first base) and aggressiveness on the plate have made him a participant to look at.
C Omar Alfonzo (Pirates’ No. 26 prospect)Alfonzo had proven some good hitting traits within the Rookie-level Florida Complicated League — like shedding spin pitches and drawing walks — in 2022-23, and he tapped into some energy as he crammed into his 6-foot-1 body, hitting 13 dwelling runs and 17 doubles over 451 plate appearances for Bradenton and Excessive-A Greensboro. MLB Pipeline has his hit, fielding and throwing software at a 50 grade, all encouraging indicators for a younger catcher, and his left-handed bat could possibly be arrange for an enormous season in hitter-friendly Greensboro in 2025.
2 breakout gamers to look at in 2025
3B/SS Jack Brannigan (Pirates’ No. 14 prospect)Brannigan had a strong cameo with Greensboro late in 2023, and he continued to construct on it this season, hitting 18 dwelling runs with 12 stolen bases in 77 video games. A left shoulder harm sidelined him for many of the second half of the season, however his strikeout fee dipped from 2023 (33.5% to 26.1%) and he elevated the ball extra (a 35.2% ground-ball fee with Bradenton in ’23; 25.6% in ’24 with Greensboro). A 3rd-round Draft choose in ’22, Brannigan all the time had uncooked energy, and it’s beginning to translate extra into video games.
RHP Carlson Reed (Pirates’ No. 30 prospect)Reed, a fourth-round Draft choose in 2023, had a change in function (going from a more in-depth with West Virginia to a starter within the Minors) and mechanics (maximizing his potential vitality by transferring extra instantly towards the plate) in his first full professional season. It labored out terrifically, as Reed pitched to a 2.43 ERA with Bradenton earlier than permitting simply seven runs (three earned) with 34 strikeouts over 31 innings with Greensboro. His slider has the potential to be one of many higher breaking choices within the system, and if he can proceed to develop, he could possibly be an influence arm out of the rotation or bullpen.
1 large prospect query for subsequent 12 months
Can the hitting catch as much as the pitching?Jared Jones. Paul Skenes. Luis Ortiz. Bubba Chandler. Braxton Ashcraft. Harrington. All six had been High 100 Prospects in 2023 or ’24 and are in place to be main contributors to the Pirates in ’25. The wealth of pitching prospects extends past that, with MLB Pipeline naming the Bucs as the highest pitching farm system in baseball, even after graduating Jones and Skenes.
Pittsburgh wants hitters, too. The Pirates have simply 4 of their High 30 Prospects listing who completed with Double-A Altoona or larger (Prepare dinner, No. 3 prospect Termarr Johnson — who’s ranked No. 75 total — No. 6 Nick Yorke and No. 18 Tsung-Che Cheng). Yorke and Prepare dinner are newcomers to the system, having been acquired on the Commerce Deadline.
The Pirates don’t have many bats they will flip to subsequent 12 months that haven’t already made the Majors. That’s an issue for a staff that completed twenty fourth in MLB in runs (665) and twenty seventh in OPS (.672). Normal supervisor Ben Cherington has hinted that the staff may use its pitching depth as commerce items for hitters, however the Bucs additionally want to supply and develop these younger bats, too. It’s an unbalanced farm system for the time being, and the hitters are going to want to interrupt out to repair it.
