Pittsburgh Pirates Top 20 Prospects: Number 17 Overall

With Spring Training underway, we have started to rank the Top 20 prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. Here is number 17 overall.

Over the years, the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system was considered one of the best farm systems in baseball.  However, after enjoying a period of playoff baseball, and in turn picking lower in the draft, they have seen their system fall toward the middle of the pack.  Still, rankings by scouting websites are not everything.  They have plenty of intriguing prospects who could break out just as much as a team with a top farm system.  With that being said, we have come up with our top 20 prospects for the 2018 season.  The articles will look at each player, starting at 20 and working toward one. So far we have looked at Clay Holmes at number 20, Gage Hinsz at number 19, and Travis MacGregor at 18.

Number 17 Prospect: Left-Handed Pitcher Braeden Ogle

Rum Bunter ranked prospect Travis MacGregor as the number 18 prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.  MacGregor was a second round pick in 2016 and was part of a trio of prep pitchers that the Buccos obtained that year.  The Pittsburgh Pirates fourth round pick in 2016 was Braeden Ogle, and he comes in ranked as Rum Bunter’s number 17 prospect.

2016

Ogle was a rare draft selection by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The club rarely drafts left-handed pitchers toward the top end of the draft, but Ogle was the second left-handed pitcher taken in as many years.  The lefty played high school ball in Palm Springs, Florida.  He signed for a significant bonus of $800,000, which was almost $375,000 above his assigned slot value.  Obviously this was a significant bonus, and it was given Ogle to lure him away from the University of Florida.

The Pittsburgh Pirates assigned Ogle to the Gulf Coast League along with the two other prep pitchers.  He was just as impressive as MacGregor, if not more.  He made eight appearances which all came as starts.  The southpaw covered 27.2 innings and posted an ERA of 2.60.  Furthermore, he held opponents to a .188 batting average along with a 1.05 WHIP.  He struck out 20 batters and walked 11.

2017

This past season he moved up to Short Season-A Bristol.  He made 10 starts in the Appalachian League compiling 43 innings.  Ogle produced a solid 3.14 ERA along with 1.30 WHIP.  Also, he held batters to a batting average of .243, struck out 35 batters, and walked 16.  One thing is his ground ball percentage declined.  In 2016, he produced a solid 49.3 percent, but last season it dropped down to 40 percent.  That is one area that the Bucs would like to see improvement, as they are a ground ball first organization.

Next: #18 Overall Prospect

The interesting thing is Braeden Ogle is ranked number 30 on MLB Pipeline’s updated list.  Now, this is partially because he has shown some inconsistencies, such as his ground ball rate, and velocity.  Specifically with his fastball velocity, as MLB Pipeline notes that in some games he sits around 94 consistently while in other games he floats around 90.  However, he is just 20 years of age and was considered one of the more raw prep pitchers in his draft class, and he is still developing into his 6’3” and 170 pound frame.  The upside is what knocked him into our top 20.  He has a power fastball from the left side, a plus breaking pitch that will produce swings and misses, and a changeup that is developing but he can command it well.  Ogle is your prototypical young pitching prospect who has a very high ceiling if he can put it all together.