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.