Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Pitchers who are Performing

The Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation has anchored them all season long.  However, they have had plenty of strong starting pitching in the minors as well.

One thing that has always been very important to the Pittsburgh Pirates has been strong starting pitching.  Every year they invest a large portion of their draft picks in projectable pitchers.  Through this they have found solid starting pitching prospects from the early rounds to the late rounds.  The team also invests in starting pitching on the international market and in trades as well.  So who are some of the top performing pitching prospects so far?

The first pitcher that has been dominant, is our number 15 rated prospect on our 2019 Top Prospect list.  Cody Bolton is currently pitching in High-A Bradenton and has quickly become the ace of their staff.  The righty was drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 draft from a high school in California.  Early on in the season Bolton has made three starts for the Marauders and owns a 2-0 record.  The 6’3” pitcher has a 1.13 ERA in his 16 innings of work and has struck out 17 batters already.

The next pitcher of note is 23-year-old right-hander Osvaldo Bido.  The Dominican native signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an International free agent back in 2017.  He is built tall and lanky standing at 6’3” and weighing just 175 pounds.  Even with that, his fastball already can hit as high as 96 miles per hour.  Bido is currently pitching in Low-A and had led their staff thus far.  He has made theee starts and has compiled 17 innings, owning a 0.53 ERA and has  14 strikeouts to only two walks.

The last pitcher who is off to a notable start is Triple-A right-hander J.T Brubaker.  Like Bolton, Brubaker was a sixth round pick.  The Pittsburgh Pirates took him in the 2015 draft out of the University of Akron.  The righty stands at 6’3” and weighs at 185 pounds.  He has quietly become one of the team’s best starting pitching prospects.  He is showing why this year.  Through his first three starts for Triple-A Indianapolis this year he owns a 2-0 record.  To go with this record, he has a 1.69 ERA and has 15 strikeouts in 16 innings.

All three of these pitchers have one overarching thing in common, none of them were heralded as prospects when first brought into the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.  Bolton and Brubaker were both sixth round picks while Bido was an International signing at the age of 21.  However, all three are off to a strong start and look to be developing into players who could help the Pittsburgh Pirates at some point.