Pittsburgh Pirates Top 30 Prospects: Ranking from 18-13

With the season approaching, we have started breaking down our Pittsburgh Pirates top 30 prospects. Next up will be numbers 18-13 in terms of prospect rankings. All six are currently in the minor leagues, including two draft picks from 2016.

Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington has done a very good job lately of drafting.  Early on in his tenure as General Manager, Huntington was criticized for his drafts.  However, since 2010 he has seemed to find multiple good prospects in each draft.  His drafts have seemed even better since the league instituted the draft bonus rules.  One area that he has really drafted strong has been high upside prep pitchers.  On this list, there are two prep arms from last years draft.

Also, as noted before, the Pittsburgh Pirates have done a solid job of finding talent in the international market.  Rene Gayo, who is the Pirates’ head scout in the international market, is known for the hitters that he has found.  This list includes Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, and Alen Hanson.  However, Gayo has found a few pitching prospects that have worked their way up the system.  There are going to be three pitchers on this list who were all signed by Rene Gayo out of Latin America. With that, here are Rum Bunter’s 18-13 prospect rankings.

#18, Right-Handed Pitcher, Yeudy Garcia

Yeudy Garcia was signed by Rene Gayo out of the Dominican Republic in 2013.  He signed as a 20-year-old, unlike most international players.  The Pittsburgh Pirates were intrigued by Garcia’s power arm, and have used him as both a starting pitcher and out of the bullpen.

Last year Garcia started in 25 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates High-A affiliate.  He did pitch one game out the bullpen also, but that was in long relief, which was an abnormal situation.  Garcia is noted for his power fastball that has some sink on it.  This pitch sits from 95-97 when he starts.  In 2015, Garcia pitched nine games out of the bullpen.  His fastball sat at 98-99, and unofficially hit 100 a few times.  He also has a slider that should be a plus pitch at the next level.  His last pitch is a changeup, but that still needs a lot of work if he wants to be an effective big league starter.

Garcia was quite impressive in his 2016 season.  According to MLB Pipeline, he finished the season ranked in the top five for earned run average in his league.  He posted an earned run average of 2.76. Although, he did have a FIP of 3.41 which still is solid, but suggests he did have some good defense and luck behind him.  One thing he is known for is his ability to strikeout hitters.   He averaged just about a strikeout per inning pitched, racking up 127 in 127.1 innings pitched. Also, he had a strikeout percentage of 22.7, while walking 9.7 percent of hitters.

Future Potential

With his power fastball and impressive strikeout rate, Garcia might be best suited as a back-end of the bullpen arm.  His lack of an effective changeup will likely hold him back from being an effective starter. This is very similar to current Pittsburgh Pirate former starter turned reliever Juan Nicasio, who also lacks an effective third pitch. However, Garcia will continue to get a chance to develop as a starter in Double-A this year.

#17, Second Baseman, Kevin Kramer

The Pittsburgh Pirates made Kramer a second round draft pick in 2015.  Kramer, who mainly played shortstop at UCLA, was moved to second base immediately due to 2015 first round pick Kevin Newman manning shortstop. Kramer also projects better at second base going forward anyhow.

Kevin Kramer was penciled in as the everyday second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates High-A affiliate.  In his first full season in the organization, Kramer had a successful campaign.  On the year he posted a slash line of .277/.352/.378.  Although he did not show a lot of power, he did show the ability to get on base.  He had an above average wOBA of .342. Furthermore, his walk rate was relatively average at 9.4%, but he showed strong contact ability by only striking out 12.3% of the time.

Future Second Baseman?

Kramer does not project to be a future all-star player at the big league level. However, a good everyday player will do. He does play solid defense as a second base, and although does not have the best range, is a clean fielder on the plays he should make. Furthermore, he is a disciplined enough hitter to get on base and hit for an above average batting average.  If he can continue to add muscle as he climbs the system, he should have a good shot at making the big leagues as an everyday second baseman.  Kramer will likely start the year in Double-A Altoona.

#16, Right-Handed Pitcher, Luis Escobar

Luis Escobar is an intriguing prospect who is on the rise in the Pittsburgh Pirates system.  Escobar first became notable when MLB Pipeline ranked him as a top 25 prospect entering the 2016 season.  Signed by Rene Gayo, Escobar hails from Colombia.  Originally a middle infielder, Gayo saw his plus arm and frame and felt he could develop into a solid pitching prospect.  So far this seems to be the case.

Escobar has yet to pitch with a full season minor league team.  Last season he pitched for the Short-Season A team, the West Virginia Black Bears.  This team plays in the New York-Penn League, and it is typically made up of college draftees (Newman and Kramer started there in 2015). Escobar threw 67.2 innings and collected a 2.93 earned run average.  He did a great job of working out of innings by stranding 76 percent of runners on base.  This is around average, but Escobar should still regress some, but 76 percent can be sustainable.  One area that could be a concern is the 9.9 percent walk rate, which helped cause his FIP to be at 3.84, well north of his ERA.  However, Escobar does miss some bats, striking out 21.6 percent of hitters last season.

His Pitches

Still, he is only 20 years of age and has a fastball that sits around 95 miles per hour.  Obviously, being he is inexperienced, he still has ways to go on developing his secondary pitches, but he does throw a curveball and changeup.  His curveball is considered to show enough to be a plus pitch, and it should only continue to improve with experience. With a power arm, Escobar could settle into the bullpen by the time it is all said and done.  However, this will be a big year as he makes the jump to full season ball to Low-A West Virginia Power.  If he shows improvement on his secondary pitches, then Escobar could very well be a future starting pitching prospect to keep an eye on.

#15, Right-Handed Pitcher, Travis MacGregor

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted and signed three interesting prep arms with their top 12 picks in the 2016 draft class. Braeden Ogle was one who we have ranked as the Pittsburgh Pirates 20th best prospect.  The second one of the three ranked is Travis MacGregor, who had his name called during the second round.  The right hander did have a college commitment to Clemson, but he saw his name fly up draft boards after an impressive Spring. Although he was ranked by Baseball America as the 186th best player on the draft board, the Bucs made him the 68th overall pick. This speaks of how high the Pittsburgh Pirates organization was on him.

MacGregor signed for a bonus of $900,000, which was considered below slot, but much more than he probably thought he was going to receive.  The righty immediately showed why the Pittsburgh Pirates took the rising prep arm in the second round.  The Florida native made nine starts in the Gulf Coast League and totaled 31.2 innings. In those innings, he had a 3.13 earned run average.  MacGregor also proved that he could induce groundballs, as he averaged 1.70 groundouts for every air out, a number that is considered above average.

His Pitches

MacGregor has a three pitch mix that already looks to be above average.  His fastball sat between 91-94 last year in starts, and according to some reports hit as high as 95.  The big thing about his fastball is that it has good sinking action on it already, something that the Pittsburgh Pirates love their pitchers to do.  The fact that he already is throwing an effective sinker at such a young age is great news.  In addition to his sinking fastball, MacGregor also possesses a changeup that he is comfortable throwing, something else that is rare in a pitching prospect of his age.  His worst pitch is his curveball, he struggles to throw it consistently for a strike, but it does have good movement to it.  As he continues to gain experience he should get more consistent with it.

#14, Right-Handed Pitcher, Max Kranick

Kranick was the last of the big three prep pitchers who the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted and signed.  With that being said, he very well could be the quickest to the big leagues out of the three.  Although he was drafted in the eleventh round, Kranick was ranked by Baseball America as the 84th best prospect in the draft.  Getting him in the eleventh round could be a big time steal if he develops the way many expect.

The Pennsylvania high school arm was sent to the Gulf Coast League for his first taste of professional ball. Kranick appeared in nine games and made six starts.  He reached 33.1 innings pitched in these appearances.  He was quite impressive, pitching to a 2.43 ERA, 2.82 FIP, and struck out 21 while only walking 4.  This is a strikeout to walk ratio of 16.2 percent, a number that could rise as he learns how to strikeout batters.  The big thing is the command he showed.  For a young pitcher, it is quite impressive that he only walked four hitters in nine appearances.

His Pitches

Kranick has a general three pitch mix.  His fastball sits 90-93, but likely will end up sitting around 93 or 94 consistently as he matures.  He also has a plus changeup.  Like MacGregor, Kranick is ahead of most young pitchers who struggle to develop changeups early on.  Kranick focused on using a changeup and not a curveball in high school in hopes that it would keep his arm healthier in the long run.  Due to this, he has a below average breaking pitch right now.  Still, with a 6’3” frame and only weighing 175 pounds, there is a lot of room to grow yet.

#13, Right-Handed Pitcher, Edgar Santana

Santana has moved the fastest out of any prospect on this list.  Last season he pitched at three minor league levels, from High-A to Triple-A.  The Pittsburgh Pirates typically do not move players up through their ranks unless they are absolutely confident that he is mentally, physically, and in a pitcher’s case, mechanically ready.  Santana showed this as he dominated through High-A and Double-A.

Last year, Edgar Santana started the season at High-A throwing in nine games.  He was very impressive in his extended relief outings, throwing 22.1 innings while only giving up two earned runs.  With an ERA below one, the Bucs felt he was ready to move up to Double-A.  Santana proved he belonged there as well.  He spent the most time in Double-A in 2016, throwing 41.2 innings in 21 games. In those innings, he had a 2.86 earned run average, and he had a strikeout rate of 8.06 per nine innings pitched. Pretty solid numbers for an inexperienced pitcher who signed as a 21-year-old in 2014.

Santana finished the year in Triple-A where he did have some challenges. In just 16 innings he posted a 5.06 ERA, but his FIP was at 3.61 suggesting he pitched better than his ERA shows.  However, this was expected, as it is hard to climb up three levels, with little experience, and be effective.  However, this does show what the Pittsburgh Pirates feel they have in the young power righty.

His Pitches

Santana has the makeup of the back-end of the bullpen candidate.  He is a true power arm, that not only has a power fastball, but also a power slider.  His fastball this spring has been anywhere from 95 to 98 miles per hour.  On top of that, he has a wipeout slider, that as he continues to throw with more consistency with experience.  It definitely is a pitch that should allow him to pitch in the 7th inning or later in tight games.