Pittsburgh Pirates Top 30 Prospects: Ranking from 24-19

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Mar 5, 2017; Tampa, FL, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Clay Holmes (68) throws a pitch during the sixth inning against the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

#22, Pitcher, Clay Holmes

Clay Holmes is another example of the Pirates taking a big arm out of high school based on the way they project. Holmes, who is 6’5″ and 230 pounds, was drafted in the ninth round of the 2011 draft, the same year the Pirates selected Gerrit Cole and Josh Bell.

The big righty missed all of 2014 with Tommy John surgery, so his development was delayed, but the club protected him from the Rule V draft this offseason by putting him on the 40 man. Holmes’ numbers are not that impressive, as he has not missed many bats and is rather wild. Last season, Holmes walked 10.7 percent of the batters he saw and struck out only 16.9 percent. But this was his first full season back from Tommy John, so the hope is he will improve control. That said, his walk rates were 12.3 percent and 13.1 percent in 2012 and 2013, his first two seasons with the organization.

There is hope for Holmes, however. That hope mainly relies on his ground ball ability, as he produced a 2.94 groundout to air out ratio in 2016, and has a career mark of 2.14. His velocity also shows some hope, as Nick pointed out after his outing against the Yankees

"“His fastball was consistently hitting 95 and 96 miles per hour, and reached as high as 97 on the gun. At first, it seemed like the gun may have been ticked up a little. However, after going back and looking, Kingham’s velocity was only 92-94 and Taillon was hitting 94-95 routinely, both velocities that these pitchers are accustomed to. So it seems that Holmes’ velocity was accurate.”"

Due to his control and not missing many bats, Holmes future likely lies in the pen. His ability to get hitters to put the ball on the ground, combined with his velocity, would allow Holmes to be a solid bullpen option in the future.

#21, Pitcher, Trevor Williams

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The Pirates acquired Trevor Williams for Richard Mitchell (essentially payment for Jim Benedict) on October 24, 2015, from Miami. The former Marlins second-round pick made his major league debut last season but posted a 7.82 ERA in 12.2 innings. This season, Williams looks to compete for the number five starter in the Pirates rotation.

It was a small sample, but last season in Pittsburgh Williams featured four pitches, a four-seam, sinker, slider, and changeup. His four-seam averaged 94.20 miles per hour, with his sinker at 92.37 per Brooks Baseball. Williams won’t blow the ball past hitters, relying more on locating and hitting his spots. This limits Williams’ ceiling to a back-end of the rotation arm, but one in which he should achieve.

Williams showed good control last season with the Indianapolis Indians, walking only 6.5 percent of hitters. The problem is he did not miss bats, striking out just 16.1 percent. One thing Williams did do well was getting ground balls. In Indianapolis last season, Williams had a 1.38 ground out to air out, has a career minor league mark of 1.56. In Pittsburgh last season he got ground balls 45.5 percent of the time.

He’ll never be much more than a back-end starter or long reliever type, but these pitchers do carve out major league careers, and Trevor Williams has an opportunity to start his full-time major league career this season.

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