Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Travis MacGregor Developing

In 2016, the Pittsburgh Pirates invested their second round pick in prep right-handed pitcher Travis MacGregor.  He is starting to show why.

When the Pittsburgh Pirates announced Travis MacGregor with their 68th overall pick, there was not much immediate excitement.  The analysts at MLB Network had him ranked as a day two pick, while fans had a hard time finding big scouting reports on him.  However, the former Clemson commit ended up being tagged as one of those quick and late rising prospects.  This means that as the draft approached, he showed an uptick in performance and teams started to really take notice of him.  Obviously, the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of those teams that really liked what they saw, and they gave him $900,000 to sign, albeit that was below the slot value.

MacGregor has since been watched by fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.  Being such a high pick, the expectation is for him to not only develop into a big league starter, but to be an important part of a future rotation. The 6’3” right-hander is pitching in his first full professional season this year.  He is the so called “ace” of the Low-A West Virginia Power.  So far he has shown that he deserves the title.

2018

MacGregor started off the season with a very impressive start throwing 5.1 innings and striking out 12 batters.  He walked one, and he only gave up one earned run.  He has followed that up with seven innings over two games in which he yielded no runs and struck out eight more.  So through his first 12.1 innings, MacGregory only gave up one run while striking out 20 total hitters. By far the best run in his short career thus far.

Most Recent Start

Last night he made another start for the Power.  He pitched against the Rome Braves of the Atlanta Braves system.  He once again had a quality performance.  The righty threw five innings.  Although he gave up a season high three earned runs, he still struck out eight hitters.  Meanwhile, he only walked one batter.  This performance pushed his earned run average (ERA) to just over 2.00, with it now sitting at 2.08 for the season.

Next: Domingo Robles Looking Good

MacGregor has pitched well in all four of his appearances.  He could be showing that he is advanced for his age and level, similar to what Mitch Keller did in his same aged season at Low-A.  The former Clemson commit has struck out 28 batters in just 17.1 innings.  Meanwhile, he has only walked five total batters this season.  Although it is only four starts, MacGregor looks like he could be the next pitching prospect to get excited about.