Top 15 Prospect Update

6-1-22 By Justin Verno (aka @JV_PITT on Twitter)

Before I get this started, I have a question: why do fans actively root against their own prospects? Since I’ve been giving these updates, I’ve seen fans root against a lot of them. Nick Gonzales is a big one. Also Oneil Cruz. I’ve seen guys pit Quinn Priester vs Michael Burrows, going out of their way to make one sound bad and the other great. I’ve seen fans hate on Henry Davis. Liover Pegeuro is another one I see hated on a lot. Personally, I’ve been accused of doing this with Marcano Tucapita, and it’s true: he’s not my favorite prospect, but I’m not rooting for him to fail.

I’ve even seen people root against every single one of Neal Huntington’s or Ben Cherington’s kids. The latest is Mason Martin. People either love or hate this kid; there really doesn’t seem to be a lot in between.

I’d love to hear what everyone thinks. Are people wanting to sound smart? Do they just want to be able to tell us they told us so? Are people just miserable? I’m telling you, I’d love some input.

In the meantime, here’s how it went last week:

1-Oneil Cruz

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
Week	.333/.400/.667	1.067	.333	.457	181	6.7%	26.7%
Season	.220/.330/.401	.732	.183	.332	100	12.6%	25.1%

2-Henry Davis

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
Week	.200/.500/.800	1.300	.600	.537	243	12.5%%	0%
AA	.200/.500/.800	1.300	.600	.537	243	12.5%%	0%
A+	.341/.450/.585	1.035	.244	.462	179	8%	18%

3-Roansy Contreras

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BB%	k%
week	10	1.80	3.74		1.10	7.5%	20%
AAA	14.2	2.45	4.54		1.16	16.7%	33.3%
MLB	17.2	2.55	3.76	3.57	1.02	8.5%	25.4%

4-Liover Peguero

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
Week	.350/.381/.600	.981	.250	.425	166	4.5%	22.7%
Season	.321/.351/.527	.878	.206	.380	137	4%	20%

5-Quinn Priester-no stats yet

6-Nick Gonzales

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA+	wRC+	BB%	K%
week	.250/.357/.292	.649	.042	.312	92	7.1%	32.1%
season	.250/.366/.382	.748	.132	.343	113	13.1%	32.8%

7-Endy Rodriguez

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wWR+	BB%	K%
week	.263/.263/.421	.684	.158	.302	78	0%	26.3%
season	.268/.342/.472	.814	.204	.365	118	7.6%	27.2%

8-Matt Fraizer

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
week	.211/.286/.474	.759	.263	.329	104	9.5%	38.1%
season	.196/.247/.324	.571	.128	.256	56	5.1%	31%

9-Jared Jones

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BB%	K%
week	5	1.80	0.37		1.40	5%	50%
season	38.2	5.35	4.88	3.90	1.37	9.5%	32%

10-Bubba Chandler No stats

11-Ji-hwan Bae

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wWRC+	BB%	K%
week	.370/.433/.667	1.100	.296	.472	191	10%	20%
season	.301/.381/.503	.884	.203	.388	137	11.9%	17%

12-Michael Burrows

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BB%	K%
week	7	0	1.71		0.43	4.3%	34.8%
season	42.2	1.90	2.63	3.97	0.87	7.2%	32.5%

13-Travis Swaggerty

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
week	.250/.294/.375	.669	.125	.298	79	5.9%	23.5%
season	.248/.323/.359	.683	.111	.312	87	9.9%	29.8%

14-Miguel Yajure

*no stat this week*

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BB%	K%
week
AAA	2.2	6.75	8.32	4.06	2.25	28.6%%	42.9%
MLB	10.1	11.32	5.89	6.67	2.13	11.3%	7.5%

15-Anthony Solometo- No stats

MY FIVE

16-Kyle Nicolas

	IP	ERA	FIP	xFIP	WHIP	BB%	K%
week	5	3.60	2.17		1.20	9.5%	38.1%
season	36.1	4,21	4.03	4.01	1.18	11.89%	31.8%

17-Maikol Escotto

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
week	.071/.071/.143	.214	.071	.092	-54	0%	57.1%
season	.173/.228/.362	.590	.189	.263	54	5.1%	36.5%

18-Mason Martin

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
week	.178/.273/.500	.773	.321	.326	97	12.1%	42.4%
season	.241/.317/.566	.884	.325	.373	127	9.5%	33.3%

19- Hudson Head

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
week	.176/.263/.176	.440	.000	.227	31	0%	42.1%
season	.246/.364/.373	.737	.127	.347	107	9.9%	37.1%

20-Connor Scott

	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	wRC+	BB%	K%
week	.294/.294/.412	.706	.118	.309	91	0%	29.4%
season	.293/.343/.423	.766	.130	.340	111	6.6%	23.5%

A Few quick thoughts-

Why are you still here?

Liover Peguero continues to be the model of consistency. His BA, OPS and slugging have moved an average of a point a week the last three weeks. His K rate has dropped 4%. His wRC+ has been between 142 and 137 the last four weeks. Why on earth is he still in AA?

Michael Burrows has been just dominate. His ERA and WHIP have dropped to 1.90 and 0.87 on the season. Look, I get he’s had some injury concerns and they will likely limit his innings while building his arm. He’s barely been challenged in AA. He looks like a top 100 starter and we should be seeing a bump to 50 or even 55 soon here. Get him to AAA.

Ji-hwan Bae. Along with Peguero, he’s been steady as can be, even raising the ante here. Earlier in the week someone on Twitter made fun of Mason Martin noting that Bae, “LOL” as they put it, now had a higher OPS. Here’s the thing: Bae’s OPS is .884 and in making that joke they are ignoring that Bae looks good. He’s looking like a 50 FV prospect. Whatever was holding the scouts back on giving Bae a 50 grade, it’s time to reevaluate. Get him to PNC.

Connor Scott. Scott hasn’t been as good as the first three I mentioned, BUT he looks good and an argument could be made he’s ready for the next step.

Well alright then,

Travis Swagerty. Not that Travis ripped it up this week, but all in all the resurgence is still on track. I’m not sure what ailed him earlier. Timing? But he seems on track now.

Jared Jones. 50%. That’s the percentage of hitters he faced that he struck out in his last outing. Jones stuff is simply fantastic but he HAS to find the plate more consistently. Once he does that? Look out.

Does anyone have the time?

I do. It’s time to call up you know who. Stop looking at his battering average on the season as it’s going to disappoint you. Here’s what we need to know: his plate discipline is back and he’s hitting the ball hard. It’s not just that his walk rate is up to 12.5%, he’s also got that K rate down to 25.1%. I think it’s clear he was pushing to get back to Pittsburgh with every swing early on.

Don’t worry about his glove. His errors are mostly throwing errors and that’s something they can work on to PNC. His range is actually pretty good.

The sooner you get the kid to Pittsburgh, the sooner you can get that extension agreed on, right? #FreeOneilCruz