Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: All Decade Busted Prospect Team

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.