Pittsburgh Pirates: Examining MLB Pipeline’s 2020 Top 30 List

The Pittsburgh Pirates will always need to build through their minor league system.  Here are some thoughts on their updated top 30 prospects list.

Last season the Pittsburgh Pirates saw a lot of young, new faces make their Major League debuts.  Prospects such as Bryan Reynolds, Cole Tucker, Mitch Keller, Nick Burdi, and Jason Martin all got chances to make an impression at the big league level in some capacity.

The only prospects on that list to lose their prospect eligibility were Cole Tucker and Bryan Reynolds, who put together one of the best rookie seasons ever by a Pirate.  The team has plenty of MLB close prospects who could make an even bigger impact this year.  They also have plenty of young prospects with tremendous upside down in their lower levels.

The team at MLB Pipeline has released their 2020 top 30 prospects lists for each Major League Baseball team.  The list looks quite different compared to last year’s and one can already see that the system has the potential to trend up.  Whether it has been because of some young prospects breaking out, or from the team acquiring some high upside players, the Pittsburgh Pirates list seems to be stronger this year than last.

Overall, the Pittsburgh Pirates have five new players on the updated top 30 list compared to the 2019 list.  They also have several new prospects ranked inside their updated top 10 list.  Here are some thoughts on the updated list: