Pirates Top 30 Prospect Trend Report

10-6-21 – By Justin Verno – @JV_Pitt on Twitter

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Here we are, at the end. There will be no more walks, or homeruns or wins for the Bucs or any of their affiliates. So I present you with the last installment of the Top 30 Trends.

But don’t worry, Fall and Winter ball are just around the corner!

But I digress! Most of the players seasons have been over, But there were a few that were in AAA and 2 that were in the majors that we get to have fun with here. If the players season was over and there’s no iupdate it’s noted.

1-Henry Davis – 50 FV        SEASON OVER

	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   SEASON OVER

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K	BB
Season	97.2	3.04	4.08	4.26	1.24	.285	24.1%	9.6%

Quinn was terrific for Greensboro in game 2. Going 5 innings, striking out 7 while giving up 1 ER to an ERA of 1.80.

3 – Roansy Contreras – 50 FV  ARROW UP X2

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
MLB	3.0	000	1.50	3.27	1.33	.429	33.3%	25%
AAA	3.2	2.45	0.91	3.35	1.36	.444	37.5%	6.3%
Season	54.1	2.65	2.74	2.93	.90	.262	37.5%	6.3%

4- Liover Peguero – 50 FV  SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
PLAY OFFS	250/357/250	.607
Season	270/332/444	.776	.174	.338	108	7.9%	25.2%

5-Miguel Yajure – 50 FV  SEASON OVER

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Week	3.2	7.36	11.62	8.38	1.91	.250	10.5%	10.5%
Season	43.2	3.09	4.35	4.16	1.05	.239	23%	7.5%
MLB	13	4.05	7.01	5.59	1.15	.182	18.9%	9.4%

6- Oneil Cruz – 50 FV  ARROW UP

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
MLB	333/333/667	1.000	.333	.418	.364	0%	44.4%
AAA	429/579/1.071	1.650	.253	.647	308	26.3%	26.3%
Season	292/346/536	.882	.244	.377	136	7.3%	23.4%

7-Tahnaj Thomas – 50 FV SEASON OVER

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Season	60.2	5.19	6.49	5.80	1.58	.289	22.1%	12.5%

8-Nick Gonzales – 50 FV SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
PLAY OFF	143/386/429	.797
Season	302/385/565	.950	.262	.405	150	10.8%	27.4%

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

10-Bubba Chandler – 45 FV SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Season	167/324/300	.624	.133	.325	80	13.5%	43.2%

11-Ji-hwan Bae – 45 SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Season	278/359/413	.771	.134	.343	114	10.4%	22.7%

12-Brennan Malone – 45 FV SEASON OVER

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
CPX	10.1	5.23	4.15	3.46	1.16	.194	27.3%	15.2%
Week – A	3.2	0.00	7.61	9.12	2.45	.333	10%	25%

13-Hudson Head – 45 FV  SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Play Off	200/273/200	.473
Season-	213/362/394	.755	.181	.364	113	15.7%	31.6%

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

15-Maikol Escotto – 40+ FV SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Play Off	417/462/667	1.128
Season-	234/354/347	.701	.113	.344	100	14.2%	30.4%

16-Anthony Solometo – Nothing Yet

17-Jarred Jones – 40+ FV SEASON OVER

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Season	66	4.64	3.91	3.75	1.47	.385	34.1%	11.3%

18-Carmen Mlodzinski – 40+ FV

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
AAA	2	4.50	4.34	4.00	2.50	.317	18.2%	9.4%
Season	49.1	3.28	4.35	3.99	1.22	.298	32%	9.4%

19-Canaan Smith-Njigba – 40+ FV ARROW DOWN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
AAA	095/174/095	.269	000	.141	-24	8.7%	39.1%
Season	274/398/406	.830	.141	.180		15.4%	46.2%

20-Lonnie White – 40+ FV – SEASON OVER

	BA/OPS/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Seaon	258/303/516	.819	.258	.364	108	6.1%	42.4%

21-Rodolfo Castro – 40+ FV ARROW EVEN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
AAA	286/342/657	.999	.371	.419	158	7.9%	28.9%
Season	242/295/425	.719	.182	.311	92	6.1%	23.1%
MLB	198/258/395	.653	.198	.282	75	6.5%	29%

22-Diego Castillo – 40+ FV  ARROW UP

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	286/286/571	.857	.286	.362	121	0%	28.6%
Season – AAA	278/414/500	.914	.222	.400	146	18.6%	18.6%
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 SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Season	284/409/552	.961	.269	.436	150	15.9%	26.2%

24-Jared Oliva – 40+ FV ARROW DOWN x2

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
Week	133/235/333	.569	.200	.252	48	11.8%	17.6%
Season	249/321/364	.686	.116	.308	86	7.6%	26.9%
MLB	175/233/225	.458	.050	.215	20	7%	23.3%

25-Endy Rodriguez – 40+ FV  SEASON OVER

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
PLAY Off	462/500/538	1.036
Season	294/380/512	.892	.218	.410	140	11.5%	17.7%

26-Mason Martin – 40+ FV  ARROW EVEN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
AAA	240/296/600	.896	.360	.377	131	3.7%	37%
Season	242/318/481	.799	.239	.342	113	8.1%	34.2%

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

28-Luis Oviedo -40+ FV – MLB

29-Cal Mitchel – 40+ FV ARROW EVEN

	BA/OBP/SL	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC	walk	K
AAA	250/286/300	.586	.050	.268	59	0%	19%
Season	280/330/429	.759	.149	.332	106	5.7%	16.9%

30-Eddy Yean – 40+ SEASON OVER

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BABIP	K%	BB
Play Off	3.2	000			0,55
Season	66.2	5.27	5.27	4.71	1.43	.274	23.3%	13.2%

So most of the updates here had SEASON OVER as the headline. The handful of players still going were mostly “a cup of coffee” call up. Most had 20-30 trips to the plate. So we don’t want to get carried away with what we saw one way or the other. Nobody is getting DFA’d or headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame over a cup of java.

But it’s really easy to get excited with what we saw out of Oniel Cruz and Roansy Contreras! Both are likely to stat in AAA and both could be fast tracked to Pittsburgh, perhaps we could see both in early May? Cruz really looked the pat of a major leaguer.

Another kid that continues to impress is Diego Castillo. Is he ready to start in the majors next year? If not the Bucs need to find room on the 40 man for him. His control of the zone is simply fantastic and the power is developing. At the worst he looks to be a super utility player, at best a solid 2B.

Part of me wants to give my “player of the year” awards to a few guys and while I had the pleasure to view a good deal of the MiLB games this season for the Bucs I would be lying to say I saw enough of the games to do that. (Speaking of that, the MiLB package was the best $40 I spent this year and I highly suggest it. I think it’s only $10 right now at https://www.milb.com/live-stream-games/subscribe) So I will skip that, BUT, I did see enough to make some predictions that are bound to be wrong.

Here are my probably wrong predictions on some of the changes to the Bucs top prospect lists(Fangraphs only) Here I will list some changes I see happening and some raisers and guys that could fall. I won’t be guessing their whole list, just some changes.

Let’s start with the obvious-Hoy Park will graduate due to plate appearances.

The top 10.

– Oneil Cruz, Roansy Contreras, Quinn Priester and Nick Gonzales all get a bump. With Cruz, Contreras and Priester 55 or even a 60. Gonzales will cap at 55.

– Miguel Yajure, Liover Peguero and Travis Swaggerty hold steady at 50. I considered moving Swaggerty down but he was raking before the injury, I think he hold at 50 FV.

-Tahnaj Thomas takes a hit here. Maybe all the way to a 40+.

-Matt Fraizer and Endy Rodriguez are the biggest raisers. I can see both hitting the top 10 and will go as far as saying both could be on Fangraphs Top Prospects List with a 50 FV. But at the least a 45 FV would seem a must for both guys. Followed by Po-Yu Chen who could see a solid jump to a 40+ or 45.

-Ji-hwan Bae could see a bump to a 45+ as he showed a ittle pop in the bat with a .771 OPS.

-Jared Jones, Carmen Mlodzinski, Maikol Escotto all get a bump to 45 FV. Outside shot at getting a 45 FV bump include Diego Castillo and Rodolfo Castro.

-Jose Soriano, Luis Oviedo, Max Kranick, Steven Jennings and Jared Oliva all come off the list for different reasons.

-Tucapita Marcano gets lowered to a 35+.

-Jackson Glenn, Jared Triolo, Austin Roberts and Michael Burrows are guys who’s age could prevent a bump. All would need to really move thru the system but have shown some upside. Do we get a surprise bump in this group?

-I have 6 guys that will be falling off the list? Fear not I have 6 names I feel will be added! Matt Fraizer is already listed and should see a big time jump. But here are some other name to watch for.

Geovanny Planchert, he will likely see the second or third biggest jump in the system. At just over 20 years old he destroyed the CPX slashing 321/398/464 with an OPS of 862. He has a great feel for the zone walking 12.2% of the time while striking out 23.5% of his trips to the plate. He could see a significant jump, 40+ maybe.

The others? Dariel Lopez, Tsung-Che Cheng, Jauri Custidio and Omar Cruz. Omar is likely the most recognizable name in this section. Acquired in the Joe Musgrove deal Cruz has been a solid piece of that trade and he’s LH to boot.

Let’s revisit this in a few weeks after Fangraphs releases the update so we can all laugh at how wrong I was! See you then and thanks for reading along.