Five Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects That Could Make Their MLB Debut In 2020

BRADENTON, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Ke'Bryan Hayes #77 of the Pittsburgh Pirates poses for a portrait during the Pittsburgh Pirates Photo Day on February 20, 2019 at Pirate City in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
BRADENTON, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Ke'Bryan Hayes #77 of the Pittsburgh Pirates poses for a portrait during the Pittsburgh Pirates Photo Day on February 20, 2019 at Pirate City in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Pitcher Blake Cederlind

MLB teams can never have to much bullpen help. The Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen appears to be in flux with Felipe Vazquez sitting in jail and Kyle Crick potentially being on the trading block. This creates a big opportunity for the hard throwing Blake Cederlind in 2020.

Cederlind can routinely hit 100+ MPH on the radar gun, and this is something that MLB trams crave. In 45 2/3 innings of work with Double-A Altoona in 2019 Cederlind posted a 1.77 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 8.7% walk rate, and a 22.7% strikeout rate.

His performance at Double-A led to his first career promotion to the Triple-A level. With Triple-A Indy, Cederlind struggled. It was in a very small sample size, though. In just 6 innings of work he posted a 7.50 ERA. Cederlind walked two batters and stuck out five in these 6 innings of work.

This offseason Cederlind has been pitching in the AFL. Through his first seven AFL games Cederlind has been dominant. He has allowed just 1 run on four hits, zero home runs, six walks, and eight strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings of work. He is already making his case for a bullpen spot in 2020.

Teams are always in search of bullpen arms, especially ones that throw as hard as Cederlind. Due to this, there is zero doubt that the Pirates will call upon Cederlind at some point in 2020. When they do, hopefully, he will be ready to go.