Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Cal Mitchell Ranked a Top Outfielder

The Pittsburgh Pirates have always been a team known for developing outfielders.  The team might have another top outfield prospect on the way.

In 2017, the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted outfielder Calvin Mitchell in the second round.  Mitchell was at one time viewed as a potential first-round pick but had a rough senior year in high school which affected his draft stock.  Due to this, the Bucs got him in the second with the 50th overall pick.  As of now, it looks like a very good find for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 6’0” and 210-pound outfielder took a $1.3 million signing bonus to have Mitchell join the Pittsburgh Pirates and not play at the University of San Diego.  Calvin Mitchell has played a season and a half in the Pittsburgh Pirates system.  In his first taste of professional ball, Mitchell batted a decent .245/.351/.353.  He had two home runs and 11 doubles in 43 games while only striking out 35 times.  A solid first season for the California native, and he built on it this past year.

Mitchell joined shortstop Oneil Cruz at Low-A West Virginia for the 2018 season.  Like Cruz, Mitchell had his breakout season in Low-A.  Mitchell hit a strong .280/.344/.427 with 10 home runs and 42 total extra-base hits.  Also, he once again showed decent plate discipline striking out 109 times in 119 games. Strikeouts were a concern for Mitchell coming out of high school, and so far has only struck out 144 times in 163 career games.  While it’s not extremely impressive, it is positive and encouraging.

Since then, Mitchell has started to gain some recognition as an up and coming prospect.  He actually showed up on Baseball Prospectus’ Top 101 list.  While he did not make Baseball Americas’ Top 100 list, he did show up on another one of their lists.  Baseball America is currently releasing their Top 20 prospects at each position.

Mitchell played a majority of his game in right field playing 100 games there.  He played another 11 in left field.  With that being said, Mitchell is not a centerfielder and because of that was listed on Baseball America’s Top 20 Corner Outfield List.  Mitchell, the Pittsburgh Pirates second best outfield prospect, comes in ranked at number 13 overall on the list.  This is pretty good considering that the top four prospects are some of the top prospects in baseball.

Mitchell is the Pittsburgh Pirates second best outfield prospect.  He is also their best corner outfield prospect and has some of the best power potential in the system.  He will likely start the year in High-A Bradenton.  Hopefully, he continues to grow and progress as a hitter and moves up to the top 10.