Five Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects 2015: Where Are They Now?

Jordan Luplow

The Pirates drafted Jordan Luplow as a third baseman in the third round of the 2014 draft. But he only played third base during his first full season of professional play. After that, Luplow was used solely as a corner outfielder.

Luplow didn’t really do all that much with the bat in his first few seasons in the minors, occasionally showing some speed and power potential. But it was 2017 when the slugger really broke out. In 470 plate appearances split between Double-A (288) and Triple-A (182), Luplow batted .302/.381/.527 line, and slugged 23 home runs. Although Luplow didn’t do much in his first taste of major-league action, it was still a small, 87 plate appearance sample size.

In 2018, Luplow was putting up some pretty decent numbers at Triple-A again with a .287/.367/.462 line, 8 long balls, and a 134 wRC+. When he was called back to the majors, Luplow only collected 17 hits, 3 of which were home runs and 3 of which were doubles, in 103 plate appearances. Although he wasn’t that big of a batter in 2018, he showed he could handle the glove in the outfield with +4 DRS, 4.3 UZR, and 4.1 arm runs above average.

Luplow was sent to the Cleveland Indians with Max Moroff for three players: Dante Mendoza, Erik Gonzalez and Tahnaj Thomas. Luplow did miss a good chunk of August, but when he was healthy, he was extremely productive with the bat.

In 261 plate appearances, Luplow batted for a strong .276/.372/.551 line, and 15 home runs with a 136 OPS+ and 137 wRC+. He continued to show pretty good defense with +3 DRS, 2.6 UZR, and 3.2 arm runs above average. Although Luplow has become a regular outfielder for the Indians, the trade isn’t a total bust as Tahnaj Thomas looks like a promising pitching prospect.

Willy Garcia

In 2015, outfielder Willy Garcia ranked as the team’s 12th best prospect. After the first few seasons of his career between 2010 and 2013, Garcia finally broke out with the bat in 2014. The Dominican born outfielder batted for a solid .271/.311/.478 line, and 114 wRC+ in 474 plate appearances at Double-A. He also crushed 18 long balls. Not only was Garcia considered a decent power hitter in the minors, but also a solid fielder with a 65 arm grade, and 50 fielding grade.

Going into 2015, Garcia looked like he was building off his 2014 season when he got off to a .314/.353/.441, start at Double-A. But after the outfielder was moved to Triple-A, things went sour. In 291 plate appearances, Garcia had a .246/.285/.424 line and 103 wRC+.

In 2016, Garcia’s stock fell even further when he posted a sub-.700 OPS season, clocking in with a .659 OPS and 87 wRC+. Garcia was designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates on the last day of 2016 and was claimed by the Chicago White Sox on January 6th, 2017.

Willy Garcia started the year at Triple-A where it looked like he was going to bounce back, and then some. His slash line in 134 plate appearances included a .286/.396/.473 line and a 146 wRC+. When he was called to the majors, Garcia struggled, collecting just 25 hits, and striking out 31 times in 119 plate appearances.

Garcia is still active, as he was last seen playing for the independent league Winnipeg Goldeyes. He actually did pretty well too, hitting for a .310/.376/.548 line and mashing 17 home runs in just 375 plate appearances. Garcia’s biggest issue with minor league affiliates was his strikeout rate. Oftentimes, he would strikeout nearly or more than 30% of the time, but walk only 5 or 6% of the time. With the Goldeyes, he still had a high strikeout rate of 25.8% but walked far more often with a 9.06% walk rate.

Harold Ramirez

Harold Ramirez was another top outfield prospect in the Pirates system, ranking as their 7th best prospect. Ramirez was your proto-typical speedy, light-hitting outfielder. In 2013 and 2014, Ramirez had a BA/OBP of .285/.354 and .309/.364. He also stole 23 and 12 bases in a limited amount of time. But in both seasons, he had a really low slugging percentage. Overall, he was an average fielder with a 50 fielding grade and 45 arm grade.

In 2015, things would be basically the same as they were in 2013-2014, but he would improve on his power hitting. Through 344 plate appearances at High-A ball, Ramirez put up a slash of .337/.399/.453 with 22 steals, 13 doubles, and 4 long balls. That accumulated into an outstanding wRC+ of 163.

So understandably, he was considered a top 100 prospect by sites like Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. And Ramirez continued to hit, just not as good as one would hope. He basically returned to how he hit in 2013-2014, coming in with a .306/.354/.401 line, and 112 wRC+ in 414 plate appearances.

But Harold Ramirez was packaged with another prospect we’ll bring up in a little bit just so the Pirates could get rid of Francisco Liriano’s contract. After being sent to the Blue Jays, Ramirez struggled in his first full season in a Jays’ minor league uniform, coming in with a .266/.320/.358 line in 489 plate appearances. Although he would bounceback in 2018 with a .320/.365/.471 line and a 132 wRC+ in 505 plate appearances at Double-A, Ramirez was no longer considered part of the future for Toronto. At the end of 2018, the Jays let Ramirez go, where he signed on with the Miami Marlins.

Finally, in 2019, Ramirez got a shot at regular major league playing time. He received 446 plate appearances with the Miami Marlins where he batted for an unspectacular line of .276/.312/.416, coming in with a 93 OPS+ and 92 wRC+.Although he never racked up high walk totals, he only walked 4% of the time last season whereas his minor league walk % was nearly 6%. He also struck out way more often than he did in the minors with a 20.4% K rate. His minor league K rate was just 15.4%.

He also wasn’t a contributor on defense -4 DRS, -2.9 UZR and .8 range runs above average. However, Harold Ramirez will still get a chance to improve. If there is a 2020 season, it’ll be his age 25 season. Considering the Miami Marlins aren’t really risking anything by running Ramirez out there every day, even if he is a below-average player, it’s not like their other options are all that better.

Reese McGuire

Reese McGuire was the other prospect packaged with Harold Ramirez so the Pittsburgh Pirates could trade Liriano’s contract to the Toronto Blue Jays. McGuire was drafted by the Bucs in the first round of the 2013 draft. Although he never was that big of a batter with the Pittsburgh Pirates, with him batting just .262/.307/.334 in 2014 and .254/.301/.294 in 2015. However, he still was considered a top tier defensive catcher with 60 grades for both his fielding and arm.

In 2016, McGuire wasn’t doing all that great again when he had a 93 wRC+ at Double-A, but that still wasn’t bad for a catcher with his defensive skill. Regardless, the Pirates sent him and Ramirez in a package to Toronto.

After an injury-plagued 2017 where he appeared in just 45 games, McGuire returned for a full year in 2018. Despite his overall lackluster numbers at Triple-A, coming in with a .651 OPS and 86 wRC+, he was still given the call to the majors where he appeared in 14 games and stepped to the plate 33 times. In 2019, McGuire did pretty similar at Triple-A as he did the previous season with a .683 OPS and 73 wRC+.

Regardless of his sub-par numbers in the minors, McGuire has done fairly well for himself in the short amount of time he has seen in the majors. Through just 135 plate appearances, McGuire has collected 38 hits, including 7 home runs and 10 doubles, and a 133 OPS+/wRC+. Although that is fueled by a fairly high .330 batting average on balls in play, and his expected stats are much lower than his actual stats, even if he grades out as a 90-100 OPS+/wRC+, he could still be a good contributor considering he still has 60 future grades for his fielding and arm.

Stephen Tarpley

Acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Steven Brault in the Travis Snider trade, Stephen Tarpley was considered the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 23rd best prospect by MLB Pipeline in 2015. Tarpley was acquired by the Bucs after a season where he pitched 66.1 innings and posted a solid 3.66 ERA, 3.91 FIP, and 3.67 xFIP. Tarpley’s biggest strength was keeping the ball in the park, as he surrendered just 4 home runs.

During his first year in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, Tarpley had an excellent season. With the Single-A West Virginia Power, the lefty starter threw 116 innings. He let up an ERA of just 2.48, a 2.86 FIP, and 1.147 WHIP. Although he posted a decent but not great strikeout rate of 21.3%, he walked only 5.1% of the batters he faced. Like in 2014, Tarpley was immune to the longball, surrendering just 2.

In 2016 at Double-A, Tarpley struggled as his ERA rose above 4 to 4.22 and his FIP and xFIP looked like it did in 2014 (3.93/3.68). Although his strikeout rate only fell by .4%, his walk rate increased to 8.6%. The Pittsburgh Pirates packaged him and Tito Polo together to be sent to the New York Yankees for starting pitcher Ivan Nova.

After the trade, Tarpley made the transition to the bullpen where he did fairly well for himself. In 2017, Tarpley threw 41 innings of .88 ERA, 2.72 FIP ball between High-A and Double-A. The southpaw continued his success in 2018 when he had a 2.20 ERA, .962 WHIP, and a 3.05 FIP in 69.2 innings of work. Tarpley eventually got the call to the show and appeared in 10 innings. Although he struck out 13 batters in 9 innings, he also walked 6.

In 2019, he didn’t do as great compared to previous seasons with a 3.13 ERA and 3.67 xFIP, but 4.04 FIP. At the major league level, Tarpley really struggled surrendering 19 earned runs, 6 home runs, and 15 walks in 24.2 innings of work. The Yanks traded Stephen Tarpley to the Miami Marlins this past offseason to the Miami Marlins in exchange for a minor league third baseman.