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In recent years, the Pirates have brought up an overload of catcher prospects. The first was Henry Davis, who has played three years and 108 games since coming to the big leagues. The former first overall pick in 2021 has slashed .189/.279/.305 in his career so far, overall being a pretty big disappointment for Bucs fans.
The next was Endy Rodriguez, who came up in 2023. The switch-hitting catcher missed the entire 2024 season with an elbow injury and came back in 2025, but is injured once again. Rodriguez is slashing .212/.280/.312 in just 72 games.
The best has come from a guy who wasn't ever a Pirates prospect: Joey Bart. Bart was traded to the Bucs last season after a lackluster start to his career in San Francisco. Bart was picked No. 2 overall by the Giants in 2018.
Bart hit just .219 with a .623 OPS in his four seasons with the Giants, but has boosted those numbers to .271 and .803 with the Pirates. This trade was a miracle win for the Bucs. And the good news is that there are reinforcements beyond Bart if Davis and Rodriguez continue to prove they won't pan out.
2 Pittsburgh Pirates catching prospects are off to great starts in 2025
Omar Alfonzo
Alfonzo is the Pirates' No. 19-ranked prospect in the farm system. The catcher and first baseman is 21 years old and has been with the Pirates since 2021. Alfonzo has bounced around between Single-A Bradenton and High-A Greensboro for the past few years, but currently plays for the Grasshoppers.
In 2025, his .273 batting average and .870 OPS are career-highs for him since rookie ball in the Pirates system. In addition to his three home runs, Alfonzo has nearly a 20% walk rate on the year.
According to MLB.com, Alfonzo's ETA remains at 2027, but if he can keep up the strong start to this season, we could see him making the move to Altoona later this year.
Axiel Plaz
Plaz is the No. 29-ranked prospect in the Pirates' farm system, and he's also having a career year thus far in Bradenton.
Playing predominantly catcher, Plaz is in his second season in Single-A ball since being acquired in 2022. Plaz immediately tore up the DSL for the Pirates Gold in 2022, hitting .382 with a whopping 1.206 OPS in rookie ball.
Since then, Plaz hasn't been great, but this year is the uptick the Pirates have needed to see from the 19-year-old. So far, Plaz is hitting an impressive .290 with a .761 OPS. The catcher is still struggling to hit for power in the minors — an aspect that would unlock his game completely.
At just 19 years old, Plaz's ETA is also 2027. When Davis and Rodriguez essentially came up to the big leagues at the same time, Pirates fans assumed both players would be stars. In 2027, both Plaz and Alfonzo will come up to the bigs, and hopefully, they can right the wrongs from the Pirates' first double-catcher promotion in the early 2020s.