Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: High Praise for Top Prospects

The Pittsburgh Pirates farm system received high praise from a major prospect site.  Here is what was said about their top prospects.

While the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system is not what it once was under Neal Huntington, the team stills boast plenty of intriguing prospects.  The system itself is actually back on the upswing and could start to trend back in the top 10 in baseball by the end of 2019.

Part of what has hurt the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system over the last two years has been the number of players they have graduated to the big league level, prospects traded away at the 2018 Trade Deadline, and in general drafting later in rounds during the playoff years.

However, even with all the turnover, the team continues to bring in upside talent.  Just last year the Pittsburgh Pirates brought in top 15 prospects in the form of Bryan Reynolds and Jason Martin.  They also grabbed a top five prospect in Travis Swaggerty and top 15 prospect in Braxton Ashcraft during the 2018 MLB Draft. Meanwhile, they have plenty of young players in the lower minors who are starting to make names for themselves, like Calvin Mitchell, Max Kranick, and others.

While developing prospects is important for the big league team, what is the most important is making sure that the so-called “can’t miss” prospects do not miss.  These are the blue chippers, the prospects that most fans know the names of, the top prospects in the farm system. The prospects who team’s look as future players to build around.

According to Jonathan Mayo at MLB Pipeline, the Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the best top prospects in the division.  The writer over at MLB Pipeline compared the top five prospects of each team in the National League Central.  Mayo said that the Pittsburgh Pirates have the second best top five to only the Cincinnati Reds.  Although Mayo did say it was close, here is a little bit of what he said in his “Inbox Article”:

"“It’s close at the top for me, but the Reds currently have four guys on the Top 100, while the Pirates have just three. The Senzel-Trammell-Greene trio, all in the top 25 overall, is tough to beat, as good as Keller and Hayes are at the top of the Pirates’ list.”"

Mayo lists Mitch Keller and Ke’Bryan Hayes as the Pittsburgh Pirates top two prospects, both who fall inside of MLB Pipeline’s current Top 100 Prospects list.  After those two he lists outfielder Travis Swaggerty, Oneil Cruz, and Cole Tucker to round out their top five.  Swaggerty is ranked at number 75 overall, while Oneil Cruz and Cole Tucker do not appear on the list.  Of course, Cruz and Tucker, especially Cruz, have a chance to show up on the pre-2019 list.  It is really positive to see that the Pittsburgh Pirates still have a higher ranked farm than their other division rivals.