Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: All Decade Busted Prospect Team

With the decade coming to a close, now seemed like a good time to look back on who the best Pittsburgh Pirates prospects were since 2010.  Instead, let’s look at the prospects that never worked out.

The 2010s were much better than the 2000s for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They had multiple winning seasons and made the post-season on three separate occasions.  Part of this was because of the farm system that Neal Huntington and company built up.  As is with any small market team, the Bucs saw their core players come up through their own organization.

Furthermore, Neal Huntington committed to tearing down the team when he first was hired.  This was important because not only was the major league club in turmoil but so was the farm system that Dave Littlefield left behind.  It was important to find someone who would commit to rebuilding the Pittsburgh Pirates in the correct way.  Yes, it took a couple of years for Huntington’s plan to kick in, but the team and the fan base were rewarded with three straight playoff appearances.

While Huntington had top draft picks during his first few seasons as Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager, he ended up having more picks outside the top 10 than inside.  This played a large role in his demise as General Manager.  Huntington’s initial plan had a lot of success but ultimately led to his dismissal due to a failure in continuing to find those top prospects who would make an impact at the Major League level.

With that being said, who were the top prospects in the 2010s that were promised to be the next star player for the Pittsburgh Pirates?  Let’s take a look at each position.

The outfield was always one of the strong parts of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.  It seemed every year there was another outfield prospect to get excited about.  Still, there were plenty of busts among those prospects as well.

Barret Barnes

Willy Garcia

Casey Hughston

Barrett Barnes was the Pittsburgh Pirates top draft pick to sign back in 2012.  After the team took pitcher Mark Appel with the eighth overall pick, the team turned to Barnes with their supplemental first-round pick.  Barnes was viewed as a potential five-tool outfielder coming out of Texas Tech.  Injuries derailed Barnes’ Pittsburgh Pirates career and he averaged just 64 games over five years.

Willy Garcia was one of the most projectable power bats in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.  The big outfielder always had swing and miss issues but was viewed as a potential plus defender with 25 home run power from the right side of the plate.  As Garcia moved up the minor league ladder his flaws started to show more and more.  His last season saw him bat a mediocre .245 with an ugly OBP of .293.  The Bucs DFA’d him that offseason.

Casey Hughston might be the most unfamiliar name on this list to Pittsburgh Pirates fan.  Hughston was a third-round pick out of the University of Alabama during the 2015 draft.  He was considered to be a projectable left-handed hitter who could handle all three outfield spots.  Hughston struggled to make consistent contact posting a career .215 batting average and .277 OBP.  The third-round pick never made it above Single-A.

If there was one area that Neal Huntington focused on it was drafting pitchers.  Huntington tried to build the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system into a pitching factory.  Instead, many of his top picks did not work out, especially the starting pitching prospects.

Luis Heredia

Nick Kingham

Yeudy Garcia

Luis Heredia was one of the top pitching prospects available during the 2010 July 2nd International Signing period.  Heredia got a franchise-record deal for an international amateur free agent at $2.6 million. He projected to be a front of the rotation type arm because at 16 he was already standing at 6’5” and had a fastball in the low 90s.  Instead, Heredia never developed anymore and had trouble staying in shape.  He is now pitching in Mexico’s professional league.

Nick Kingham was on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Drafted in 2010 along with Jameson Taillon, Kingham was viewed as a high upside projectable prep arm.  He actually outperformed Taillon as they moved up the minor league levels.  However, he had to get Tommy-John surgery in 2015 which greatly affected him.  His fastball used to sit around 94-95, but after surgery, it sat in the lower 90s.  The Bucs DFA’d him this past season.

Yeudy Garcia signed out of the Dominican Republic at 20 years of age, which is relatively late for an international amateur.  However, he immediately impressed with his power stuff, throwing a fastball in the mid to upper 90s and a sharp breaking pitch.  Garcia has yet to pitch above Double-A and has put up an ERA over 5.00 each season since 2017.  He is now 27 and has transitioned to the bullpen.

Closer: Stetson Allie

Stetson Allie is likely the biggest bust in the 2010s from the draft ranks. The Bucs gave Allie $2.25 million out of high school and hoped to utilize him as a future closer with a fastball that was clocked at 100 miles per hour.  Instead, Allie’s command issues showed up immediately, walking 29 batters in his first 26 innings of work.  The next season he walked eight in 2/3 of an inning causing the Bucs to promptly move him to another position.  Allie was released after 2015.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a lot of hope during the 2010s.  They regularly had a top 10, if not top five, ranked minor league system in baseball.  However, what led to the last few years of missing the playoffs and ultimately the demise of the previous regime was the inability to get the prospects to perform to expectation.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had some top prospects pan out, but for the most part, many of the “top” prospects have not worked out.  Hopefully, under new leadership, the Pittsburgh Pirates can turn their farm system into a top-rated one but also get continuous production out of it over the coming years.