Pittsburgh Pirates: Top Five Prospects LHP

#1: Steven Brault

Steven Brault is a left-handed prospect who was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in the Snider trade.  Brault is 6’1″and 165 lbs and was an 11th round draft pick in 2013.  On the site he is ranked as the #10 prospect.  Brault has gone from an 11th round pick to developing into a pitcher who is closer to cracking the big leagues.

Brault has posted a 2.53 ERA with a 1.06 WHIP in his 3 minors league season. With that he has shown strong command striking out 3.5 batters per 1 one walk.  Brault has never gotten much press because he lacks intangibles like size and arm strength.  Brault is a generous 6’1″ and throws around 90-91.  However, one can look past the intangibles when a player knows how to use and command his pitches.  Brault knows how to do this and because of this has become one the Pirates’ best pitching prospects.

So far this year in AAA Brault has been very good.  Brault did struggle some at first as he did not make it a full five innings in either, but since then he has been very dominate.  On the year he has made 5 starts and owns a 3.04 ERA with a 1-2 record.  So far he has struck out 30 batters while walking nine. He boosted those numbers on April 27th when he struck out 11 batters and walked only one in six innings.

Brault will never be a top-of-the-rotation arm.  But there is something to be said for consistency.  As mentioned above, Brault has very good mechanics and the ability to command his pitches.  Being that he is not an over powering pitcher he will not have the ability to blow people away.  With that Brault’s ceiling is a solid #3 type starter.  If he continues to show good command and mechanics the Pirates will be very happy to plug him in the middle of the rotation for many years.

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