Pittsburgh Pirates: Examining Potential 2023 Bullpen Arms

PITTSBURGH, PA - AUGUST 08: Nick Mears #70 of the Pittsburgh Pirates makes his major league debut in the sixth inning during the game against the Detroit Tigers at PNC Park on August 8, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - AUGUST 08: Nick Mears #70 of the Pittsburgh Pirates makes his major league debut in the sixth inning during the game against the Detroit Tigers at PNC Park on August 8, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /
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Pittsburgh Pirates
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 01: A member of the Pittsburgh Pirates watches from the stands as his teammates take on the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on August 01, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Yerry De Los Santos

2023 Opening Day Age: 25

Yerry De Los Santos might just be the team’s most underrated pitching prospect. He currently comes in as the team’s 33rd best prospect, but he put up some wild numbers at Single-A, and, yet, hasn’t received much attention as a potential future closer option for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Last year was the first full season Santos worked as a relief pitcher, and he was outstanding. Despite making his professional debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, the right hander is still just 22-years-old. Through 50 innings at Greensboro, Santos worked a 1.44 ERA, 2.37 FIP and an extremely impressive WHIP of just 0.88.

Santos struck out 38% of the batters he faced. While Mears and Cederlind both had walk rates above 8%, Santos had a walk rate of just 6.3%. To go with his outstanding control and strikeout rates, he allowed just three home runs with a 55.4% ground ball rate.

The young Pirate prospect works with two pitches. That being a fastball with a future 60 grade, and current 55 grade, and slider with current 50 and future 55 grades. His fastball right now sits in the 93-97 MPH range and tops out in the upper-90s with average spin.