Pittsburgh Pirates: Five Under-the-Radar Prospects off to a Hot Start

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a ton of top prospects performing well throughout the organization, but let’s take a look at four under the radar names who are doing excellent.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a ton of young talent coming up throughout the minor league system. We all know names like Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, Liover Peguero, Quinn Priester, and Roansy Contreras just to name some of the most notable players currently in the system. But the Pirates have a very deep farm system, so some names are bound to get forgotten or overlooked when taking stock of the organization.

However, while there are a handful of players that are getting overlooked, many are putting up outstanding numbers at their respective levels. They could see a promotion soon as well. We’re just over a month into the minor league season and while we’ve already taken a look at the Pirates’ best minor league performances of May, I want to take a look at what have been some of the best performances so far this year that haven’t gotten much attention.

To start, none of these prospects are high-ranking names in the Pirate system. Most are flying under the radar in terms of where they are seen among other prospects and how they are performing. So with that out of the way, let’s look at our first under-the-radar minor leaguer of the season so far.

Infielder Rodolfo Castro

Among all the players we talk about today, infielder Rodolfo Castro is likely the most noteworthy. He currently ranks as the team’s 34th best prospect on FanGraphs but is unranked on MLB Pipeline’s top 30 Pirates prospects. Regardless of that, Castro is having a career year at Double-A Altoona.

Castro has collected 117 total plate appearances so far and is batting .279/.350/.471 with a .362 wOBA, and 117 wRC+. His .822 OPS would fall just a single point short of his career-best, which he set in 2017 at the Gulf Coast League.

Castro has seen a slight improvement in plate discipline. So far, he’s walking at an 8.5% rate. This is currently the second-best mark of his career. In 2016, his first professional season, Castro had an 11.7% rate. However, he’s also striking out just 21.4% of the time. Again, this would be his next best mark since 2016.

However, these are massive improvements compared to 2018-2019. Between these two seasons, Castro only had a 6.4% walk rate and 26.3% strikeout rate. He essentially sold out for power, blasting at least a dozen long balls in both seasons while having a .164 isolated slugging percentage in 2018, and then a .214 mark in 2019. But he’s still providing some good power this year with a .192 ISO, 4 home runs, and 6 doubles. At his rate, he’s on pace for 20 home runs and 30 doubles across a 600 plate appearance season.

Castro has mainly played third base this year but has seen an ample amount of time at both middle infield positions in the past. He’s considered an average defender and above-average runner. Castro has already made his major league debut where he went 0-3. But given his great start to 2021, we may see him at the tail-end of the season as a utility man.

Catcher Eli Wilson

Although the Pittsburgh Pirates don’t have many notable catching prospects throughout their minor league ranks, backstop Eli Wilson is potentially putting his name into consideration as one of the team’s catchers of the future.

The Bucs selected Wilson with their 16th round pick. After a so-so 2019 professional debut season, Wilson has started the 2021 season at Low-A Bradenton. To say he’s been magnificent would be an understatement.

Through 53 plate appearances, Wilson is batting .395/.556/.605, leading to a tremendous wOBA and wRC+. However, what’s even more impressive has been his plate discipline. Wilson has walked 14 times which comes to a walk rate of 26.4%. However, he’s only struck out 10 times for an 18.9% K-rate. He’s paired his strong plate discipline with solid power, having 2 doubles and home runs, and a .210 isolated slugging percentage.

Wilson was considered a strong defender at the time he was drafted. He’s caught over 30% of runners trying to take an extra-base on him. Minnesota University also described him to have a “strong defensive presence” when he was selected.

Wilson won’t turn 23 until July 6th. Although he likely won’t keep up a 1.171 OPS throughout the entire season, he still should be a productive batter while providing good defense behind the dish. Wilson may even be able to make it to Double-A Altoona before the end of 2021.

Pitcher Jeffrey Passantino

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Jeffrey Passantino in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft. The right-hander was the very last pick in the 2016 amateur draft but has done well every year of his professional career so far. 2021 has been no different.

Through 23.1 innings at Double-A Altoona, Passantino has an outstanding 2.70 ERA, 2.20 FIP and 0.94 WHIP. He’s only let opposing hitters reach base via free pass 6.5% of the time. Meanwhile, he’s punched out 29.3%. His 4.5 K/BB ratio is currently the 13th highest among the 56 Pirates’ minor league pitchers with at least 10 innings tossed.

Passantino doesn’t get many ground balls. He only has a 24.6% GB% this year and only has a 4.11 xFIP. But he’s yet to give up a home run. The 5’10″, 225-pound pitcher isn’t a hard thrower. His cut fastball only averages around the upper-80’s and tops out around the low-90’s. His arsenal also includes a slider and curveball.

Passantino gets outs using his almost laser-like command. He rarely misses his spots. Just by watching some of his highlights from 2019, you’ll see the impressive and consistent command he has. He borders on 80-grade command.

Although Passantino has the mold of a pitcher from decades ago, he’s been effective, can pitch both out of the bullpen and the rotation, and has exceptional command. He is 25-years-old, so he’s a bit old for a Double-A pitcher, but the Pittsburgh Pirates should promote him to the Major Leagues before the end of the season to at least see what they have in him.

Starting Pitcher Adrian Florencio

Adrian Florencio has silently been, arguably, the best minor league pitcher for the Pirates so far this season. The Bucs signed the tall 6’6″, 205-pound right-hander out of the Dominican Republic during the 2018-2019 off-season. After a poor showing at Rookie-Ball in 2019, he’s looked absolutely dominant at Bradenton this year.

So far in 21 innings and five starts, Florencio has a magnificent 0.87 ERA, 2.78 FIP and a 0.76 WHIP. Florencio has not allowed a home run yet this year, in part due to a strong 47.9% ground ball rate. To go with that, he has struck out 30.1% of all batters he’s faced this season, while only having a 4.8% walk rate. Among the 99 pitchers at his level with at least 20 innings pitched this year, Florencio ranks 16th in K/BB ratio with a 6.25 mark.

Florencio has simply been outstanding among his peers in the organization. The only starting pitcher with a lower ERA than him is 2020 first-round pick Carmen Mlodzinski (0.55). He’s 4th in K/BB ratio, and 10th in FIP. His 3.67 xFIP is a little less promising, but it’s still a well above average mark. Just for reference, the league average xFIP mark in the MLB this year is 4.07.

Florencio’s four-seam fastball has increased in velocity from the time he was signed. He ended 2019 hovering around the 90-94 MPH range when he was just 20-years-old. His large frame should help him leverage his pitches more to get more velocity. He also will throw a slider.

Florencio is looking like he could appear on some prospect lists very soon. He’s striking out a ton of batters, keeping walks to a minimum, and has an ERA below 1.00. Although he likely won’t keep up that ERA, he’ll likely end up having a productive season.