Pirates Top 30 Prospect Trend Report

9-14-21 – By Justin Verno – @JV_PITT on Twitter

Another week down and still no changes to the Buccos system. No one got bumped or even moved up or down while keeping their FV numbers. I have to admit, I’m honestly surprised by this. Gonzales, Priester and Cruz seemed primed and now overdue to get the bump to a 55 FV. Other bump candidates that now seem overdue? Endy Rodriquez, Carmen Mlodzinski, Diego Castillo, Jarred Jones and Cal mitchel all come to mind.

And so I don’t give the appearance of being a fan boy I need to point out there are some guys that are due to lose an FV grade. Tahnaj Thomas I think is a good bet here. As is Tucapita Marcano, Mason Martin(and I say that as a fan), Oviedo for MLB results, Travis Swaggerty and Cody Bolton are candidates but that’s due to injury?

I suppose that Eddie Yean and Hudson Heads are possibilities here. But I think Head’s walk rate and power combined with youth have him hold steady there. As for Yean , ay 20 and in high A he’s ahead of schedule. He likely keeps his 40+ as well.

With out further ado, here’s the weekly updates…

1-Henry Davis – 50 FV        IL

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
CPX	429/429/1.143	1.571	.714	.663	283	0%	28.6%
Season	263/375/684	1.059	.421	.424	162	16.7%	33.3%

 2-Quinn Priester – 50 FV ARROW UP X3

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week	4	2.25	3.03		2.00	.412	14.3%	4.8%
Season	95	2.65	3.96	44.13	1.19	283	24.6%	8.7%

3 – Roansy Contreras – 50 FV ARROW UP

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week	3	0.00	0.84		.33	143	36.4%	0
Season	51	2.29	2.47	2.78	.88	265	35.6%	5.4%

4- Liover Peguero – 50 FV ARROW DOWN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	176/222/235	.458	.059	.209	25	5.6%	33.3%
Season	268/328/450	.778	.182	.328	107	7.7%	25.8%

5-Miguel Yajure – 50 FV

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week	5	3.60	6.36		1.60	294	9.1%	9.1%
Season	37	3.58	4.74	4,24	1.09	.237	22.5%	7.9%
MLB	9.1	3.86	5.21	4.51	.86	.143	23.5%	8.8%

6- Oneil Cruz – 50 FV ARROW UP X2

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	333/368/500	.868	.167	.376	134	5.3%	5.3%
Season	293/348/522	.869	.228	.373	132	7.5%	22.5%

7-Tahnaj Thomas – 50 FV IL

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week IL
Season	60	5.19	6.80	5.85	1.58	.289	22.1%	12.5%

8-Nick Gonzales – 50 FV ARROW DOWN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	154/368/154	.522	.000	.284	73	26.3%	26.3%
Season	296/371/557	.928	.261	.396	142	9.6%	28.1%

9-Travis Swaggerty – 50 FV – Out for the year

10-Bubba Chandler – 45 FV – ARROW DOWN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	000/125/000	.125	000	.097	-49	12.5%	87.5%
Season	172/294/310	.604	.138	.296	68	14.7%	44.1%

11-Ji-hwan Bae – 45 FV ARROW UP

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	333/391/333	.725	.000	.335	107	8.7%	8.7%
Season	276/358/396	.754	.119	.338	109	10,4%	22.1%

12-Brennan Malone – 45 FV ARROW UP, incomplete

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
WEEK	3	000						0
CPX	10.1	5.23			1.16	.194	27.3%	15.2%
Week – A	3.2	0.00	7.61	9.12	2.45	.333	10%	25%

Quick note, fangraphs has not updated Malone since his Monday start. 3 IP no runs, one hit, 5 K’s and BB. Great work, arrow up!

13-Hudson Head – 45 FV ARROW UP X2

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week-	211/400/474	.874	.263	.412	141	20%	28%
Season-	210/364/398	.762	.189	.367	114	16%	31.6%

14-Cody Bolton – 45 FV -out for the season

15-Maikol Escotto – 40+ FV ARROW UP

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week-	313/389/375	.764	.063	.372	117	5.6%	27.8%
Season-	243/368/357	.726	.113	.355	107	15%	30.7%

16-Anthony Solometo – Nothing Yet

17-Jarred Jones – 40+ FV ARROW DOWN

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week	1.2	27.00	12.81		3.00	.286	0%	25%
Season	62	4.50	3.95	3.76	1.47	.396	30.7%	9.3%

18-Carmen Mlodzinski – 40+ FV IL

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week IL				
Season	49.1	3.28	4.35	3.99	1.22	.298	32%	9.4%

19-Canaan Smith-Njigba – 40+ FV

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week – (IL)							
Season	.286/.403/.427	.830	.141	372	132	16.1%	25.8%

20-Lonnie White – 40+ FV – ARROW DOWN

	BA/OPS/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	000/125/000	125	000	.097	-49	12.5%	50%
Seaon	174/240/391	.631	.217	.286	68	8%	44%

21-Rodolfo Castro – 40+ FV

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	188/278/313	.590	.125	.269	64	11.1%	27.8%
Season	258/314/458	.771	.200	.332	105	6.6%	20.9%
MLB	198/258/395	.653	.198	.282	75	6.5%	29%

22-Diego Castillo – 40+ FV ARROW DOWN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	182/250/455	.705	.373	.304	83	0%	25%
Season – AAA	308/441/615	.1.057	.308	.446	176	17.6%	14.7%
Season – PIT	282/342/445	.787	.164	.343	112	8.3%	7.4%
Season-NY	277/345/504	.850	.228	.367	128	8.4%	12.7%

23-Rodolfo Nolasco – 40+ FV ARROW DOWN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	167/231/500	.731	.333	.315	79	7.7%	30.8%
Season	266/395/508	.902	.242	.416	138	15.9%	27.4%

24-Jared Oliva – 40+ FV ARROW UP

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	409/435/591	1.026	.182	.448	177	0%	22.7%
Season	274/340/397	.737	.123	.328	99	7.1%	27.9%
MLB	175/233/225	.458	.050	.215	20	7%	23.3%

25-Endy Rodriguez – 40+ FV ARROW UP X3

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	387/457/677	1.135	.290	.510	210	11.4%	14.3%
Season	294/384/508	.893	.215	.410	140	12.2%	18%

26-Mason Martin – 40+ FV ARROW DOWN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	200/261/250	.511	.050	.234	40	8.7%	30.4%
Season	249/327/494	.820	.244	.351	119	8.3%	33.7%

27-Jose Soriano – 40+ FV – Out for the season

28-Luis Oviedo -40+ FV – MLB

29-Cal Mitchel – 40+ FV ARROW UP

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	400/538/400	.938	.000	.440	177	23.1%	7.7%
Season	285/337/441	.778	.156	.339	110	6%	16.4%

30-Eddy Yean – 40+ FV ARROW DOWN

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week	1	18.00	6.81		6.00	.556	0%	10%
Season	64	5.34	5.32	4.71	1.41	.268	24%	13.4%

I’d consider this to be a tougher week for the top 30. A few good weeks out there though. This was aa long weekend so I’ll keep the highlighted prospect short and sweet.

When the Joe Musgrove trade broke Joey Lucchesi a LH starter was reportedly headed to Pittsburgh as part of the return. When the smoke cleared and the details become official Lucchesi headed to the New York Mets and they sent one Endy Rodriguez back to Cherington to complete the deal. This final detail looks better and better as the weeks go on. Endy is an extremely athletic guy behind the dish and it looks like the Bucs will take advantage of that athleticism and move him to OF or 1B. (Side note, the development of Eli Wilson, trade acquisition of Carter Bins and drafting Davis make his an easy choice)

The power is developing for the 21 year old back stop/1B/OF. With 43 extra base hits good for an OPS of 893 backed by a solid ISO of .215 and a 140 wRC. Over the last few weeks Endy has really started to click. His slash line over the last 3 weeks:

385/481/708 with an OPS of 1.188

His approach appears to be a big part of his success with a walk rate of 12.2% to an excellent 18% K rate showing he has patience and great eye. His BABIP is at .335 and is in line with his .294 bating average, so we aren’t looking at luck here. These are stats we can sink our teeth into making Endy a great candidate for a FV bump and I wont be surprised to see an aggressive bump to a 45+.

That’s it. See ya in a week as we approach the end of the MiLB season!