Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Franchise Affiliates Playing Well

Minor league teams of the Pittsburgh Pirates were the main focus of 2021, and, thus far, they have performed well on the field

The Pittsburgh Pirates went into a rebuild at the start of the 2019 offseason. They completely changed the look of the front office and coaching staff, traded many of their veteran players, and revamped the farm system. To say the rebuild has looked good so far would be an understatement. Ben Cherington took a middling team with an average farm system to a franchise with a decent future.

While the Major League club hasn’t looked good for much of this season, much of the focus of the 2021 season was going to be on the minor league side of things. Aside from a few players on the major league roster who are likely going to be part of the long term plan, many of the Pittsburgh Pirates key players are spread throughout their minor league affiliates. All of the Pirate minor league affiliates are also playing good baseball.

Let’s start out with Low-A Bradenton.

The Marauders currently own a strong 32-16 record, which is just a half game behind the Yankees’ Low-A affiliate for the division lead. A handful of notable position player prospects are at this level. That includes catcher Endy Rodriguez, outfielder Hudson Head, and infielders Maikol Escotto and Alexander Mojica.

However, there are a lot more worthwhile pitching prospects at this level. Santiago Florez is having a fine breakout season, having a 1.51 ERA and 2.08 FIP. Three 2020 draft picks of the Pittsburgh Pirates are also at this level. That’s Nick Garcia, Logan Hofmann, and Jared Jones. All three have pitched decently this year, but have run into some trouble limiting walks. Aside from that, they’re all striking out a ton of batters, and have only allowed 4 home runs in 63.1 innings between the three. Adrian Florencio is also another noteworthy pitcher who has a strong 2.03 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 31 innings.

Moving on to the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers, we knew this team could be a really good group of players. They’re currently 28-20, which is good for second place in their division. Many of the Pittsburgh Pirates best prospects are at this level. 2020 first-round pick Nick Gonzales was doing outstanding before he got hurt. However, he returned on Saturday where he went 2 for 5 with a home run.

Liover Peguero has been on a tear lately. However, they’ve gotten plenty of help from some under the radar names. Matthew Fraizer has an OPS over .900 and wRC+ at 150. Lolo Sanchez started to show some power to go with his solid plate discipline. Fabio Macias has a .904 OPS and 149 wRC+.

Quinn Priester is currently the team’s highest ranking prospect and although he hasn’t put up ace-like numbers, he’s still an extremely exciting pitcher to watch. Michael Burrows has been outstanding at Greensboro as he’s been one of the Pittsburgh Pirates many breakout arms this year. He has a 2.41 ERA and 2.96 FIP. Undrafted free agent J.C. Flowers was recently promoted to High-A and has done well in his short stint there so far. Tahnaj Thomas and Omar Cruz have shown some promise, but have been struggling to keep batters off base via free pass, and limiting home runs.

The Double-A Altoona Curve rivals the Grasshoppers in terms of talent. Currently, the team is 27-20, which only ranks fourth in their division, but it’s a close race as the Curve are still just 1.5 games out. They’re tied with the Akron Rubber Ducks while the Bowie Baysox and Erie Seawolves are both tied for fist. However with prospects starting to turn things around, they could be the best team in their division very soon.

The Curve lineup has been powered by strong seasons from Oneil Cruz and Rodolfo Castro. The two currently have a wRC+ of at least 140. However, they’ve been far from the only contributors to their success. Canaan Smith-Njigba has a 134 wRC+ since the start of June. Mason Martin has also looked better since the mid-point of June, raising his wRC+ to 124 and wOBA to .361. Calvin Mitchell and Brendt Citta have also been two under the radar performers so far at Double-A.

The pitching has been phenomenal. Roansy Contreras has been dominant with a 2.00 ERA and 2.33 FIP this year. Travis MacGregor’s stats are a bit misleading. Five of the thirteen earned runs he’s given up this season came all in one blow-up start. Aside from that one game, he’s been a high-quality starter. Rule 5 pick Jeffrey Passantino has silently been doing well. He has a 41 ERA and 2.53 FIP and 5.13 K/BB ratio this year. They’ve also gotten quality innings from Osvaldo Bido, as well as relievers Cam Alldred and Hunter Stratton.

Triple-A Indianapolis Indians probably have the least amount of young talent among the organization’s four minor league affiliates. However, they’re still doing solid with a 25-22 record. That’s good for second place in their division. Much of their success has been because organizational depth pieces have been performing really well. Anthony Alford, Christian Bethancourt, Joe Hudson, Cole Tucker, Will Craig, and Dustin Fowler (before going on the IL) are putting up league average or better numbers.

This extends to the pitching staff as well. Tyler Bashlor has a 1.76 ERA and 2.80 FIP this season  as the team’s closer. Kyle Keller, James Marvel, and Shea Spitzbarth have given their Triple-A team quality outings this year.

Overall, it’s promising that the Pirates’ minor league affiliates are doing as well as they are. It’s a good sign for the Pittsburgh Pirates future as many of the players they likely see as potential key pieces of their next competition ready core are doing well at their respective levels.