Pittsburgh Pirates: Prospect to Watch at Every Position in 2021

PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 22: Ji-hwan Bae #72 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in action during the exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians at PNC Park on July 22, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 22: Ji-hwan Bae #72 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in action during the exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians at PNC Park on July 22, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
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Aug 20, 2020; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings (58) throws to first base to retire Cleveland Indians catcher Beau Taylor (not pictured) during the fourth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 20, 2020; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings (58) throws to first base to retire Cleveland Indians catcher Beau Taylor (not pictured) during the fourth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Catcher: Geovanny Planchart

Currently, catcher is the position the Pittsburgh Pirates have the fewest notable young names. Neither FanGraphs nor MLB Pipeline list a single top catching prospect for the team. But while the Bucs don’t have any top catching prospects, that doesn’t mean they don’t have any young names to keep an eye on. Before the 2020 season, Nick pointed out two intriguing young catching prospects the Pirates had in their farm system. One was Geovanny Planchart.

Planchart was signed out of Venezuela in 2019. The backstop played his first professional season at just 17-years-old, but hit very well. Through 121 plate appearances with the Bucs’ Dominican Summer League affiliate Planchart hit .368/.406/.406 with a fantastic .417 wOBA and 140 wRC+.

Planchart didn’t show much power with an isolated slugging percentage of just .038 and two extra base hits, both of which were triples, but he showed really good plate discipline for a 17-year-old. He walked 9.9% of the time and struck out in just 7.4% of his plate appearances. He did have a high .389 batting average on balls in play, but his 22.9% line drive rate would have been above the Major League average in 2019 (21%). He also showed he can gun down runners with a 42% caught stealing percentage.

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