Pittsburgh Pirates: Updated Top 100 Prospect List

With the season a third of the way through, Baseball America has put out an update top 100 prospect list.  The Pittsburgh Pirates have a few prospects represented on the list.

At the beginning of the calendar year, Baseball America put out their top 100 prospects for the 2018 season.  Many Pittsburgh Pirates fans were let down when only two Bucco prospects were on the list.  The top-rated prospect was Mitch Keller, who was ranked at number 12 overall.  The other was outfield prospect Austin Meadows, who was rated relatively low compared to previous years at number 41.  On the updated list Keller and Meadows are still represented.  However, a new prospect showed up on the updated list.

Update List

First up is Mitch Keller.  Keller during the preseason was ranked as the number 12 best prospect in baseball according to Baseball America.  The updated list has still has Keller ranked at number 12.  The Iowa native has been pitching at Double-A Altoona this season.  So far he has a 5-2 record with a 3.60 earned run average.  He has pitched 60 innings across 10 starts.  In those innings, he has struck out 55 hitters while walking 22.  Furthermore, he has produced a 55 percentage groundball rate, which is the best in his career.

The second highest rated prospect on the list is current major league outfielder Austin Meadows.  Although he has been lighting up the box scores in his first few weeks of major league action, Meadows is still considered a prospect.  On the preseason list, he was ranked at number 41.  Now he is ranked at number 31.  Before being called up, Meadows was batting .294/.336/.397 with one home run in 32 games at Triple-A.  Those are pretty solid numbers, but he has dwarfed those thus far with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  At the big league level, he has played in 13 games and he is slashing .409/.426/.795 with four home runs.  Obviously, he will not sustain this success, but if he continues to stay hot he will not be a “prospect” for much longer.

Next: New Mock Draft

New Name to Watch

The new prospect to enter the list is 2017 second round pick Calvin Mitchell.  Mitchell was taken with the number 50 pick in last year’s draft.  The left-handed hitting outfielder is currently mashing at Low-A West Virginia.  For the Power, he is hitting .320/.382/.534 across 47 games.  Along with the impressive slash line, he has added six home runs, 14 doubles, and three triples.  He has done this while playing corner outfield spots.  So far he has made 34 starts in right field, 10 in left field, and has been the designated hitter in his other games.  This impressive first season of full-season ball has seen Mitchell become Baseball America’s number 99 overall prospect.