Pittsburgh Pirates: Next Wave of Top Pitching Prospects

Honorable Mentions:  This will be pitchers who will likely help the Pirates rotation, but will never be top flight prospects (kind of the Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault types of this year).

Stephen Tarpley, left-handed pitcher, High-A Bradenton

Yeudy Garcia, right-handed pitcher, High-A Bradenton (like Hearn, maybe a bullpen piece)

Drew Hutchinson, right-handed pitcher, Triple-A

J.T. Brubaker, right-handed pitcher, High-A

Brandon Waddell, left-handed pitcher, Double-A

Clay Holmes, right-handed pitcher, Double-A

These players should give quality depth.  The biggest upside arms on this list are Stephen Tarpley, Yeudy Garcia, and Clay Holmes.  Those three could be consistent parts of the big league rotation, but most likely will never be more than back-end options.  Garcia could be better suited for the bullpen, as his fastball reaches the upper 90s consistently.

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Although the Pittsburgh Pirates are seeing a lot of their young pitchers reach the majors, they still have plenty left.  With only a few top of the rotation type arms in the minors, they need some of the other intriguing arms like Hinsz and Hearn to turn corners.  If they can, they will have another crop of high upside prospects and depth pitching prospect knocking at the door by the end of 2017 and 2018 season.