Pittsburgh Pirates: 5 Prospects in Baseball America’s 2021 Update

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
2 of 3
Next
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

The Pittsburgh Pirates have really put together a quality farm system. It starts at the top.

It is that time of the year again. Major national baseball websites are going to start releasing their midseason prospect ranking updates. Obviously, for the Pittsburgh Pirates, this will be one of the more intriguing things to follow. Of course, they just had a very strong draft and will be acquiring some more prospects over the coming days.

Baseball America posted their 2021 midseason top 100 prospect update. This update includes players’ performance so far this year as well as signed draft picks. So a point of interest for Pittsburgh Pirates fans especially is going to be where first overall pick Henry Davis ranks on this midseason update. Also, are there other new additions to the list?  The Pittsburgh Pirates have had quite a few prospects put together impressive 2021s such as Roansy Contreras, Canaan Smith-Njigba, and Carmen Mlodzinski.

Overall, the Pittsburgh Pirates have five players ranked on Baseball America’s new top 100. This is an impressive hall as most teams who have good farm systems typically have around five to seven top 100 players. The Pittsburgh Pirates definitely have more players who just miss the list and could appear on the top 100 by the end of the season. With that, here are the Pittsburgh Pirates who rank in Baseball America’s new Top 100 list:

(Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
(Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images) /

Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects: The Pittsburgh Pirates

Baseball America rated five of the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects in their new Top 100.  The first player ranked is Oneil Cruz.  Cruz of course was having a monster season for Double-A Altoona before an arm injury shut him down.  Up next on the list is Henry Davis.  The Pittsburgh Pirates first overall pick in the 2021 Draft is already considered one of the elite prospects in the game. Following Davis is 2019 first-round pick Quinn Priester. Priester had a rough start to his year at High-A but has really put it together since.

Pittsburgh Pirates Rankings: Oneil Cruz #32 Henry Davis #51 Quinn Priester #62 Nick Gonzales #64 Liover Peguero #88 For the full list, analysis, and change in rankings go to Baseball America (subscription required)

Nick Gonzales finds himself as the Pittsburgh Pirates fourth ranked prospect on the list.  Liover Peguero is the fifth and final player ranked. The last two Pirates ranked are the potential middle infield of the future.  Both of these prospects saw their stocks slide some in this update.

The main reason is that both players suffered significant injuries at crucial times of the season.  Both Peguero and Gonzales were off to hot starts and both suffered injuries that sidelined them for over a month.  Both seemed to struggle upon return, but have been getting back into their grooves of late.

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Overall this list is good news for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  They continue to hold one of the best farm systems in Baseball and it starts at the top.  This is modest also.  The Pirates definitely have other prospects who have the potential to eventually reach this list.

The one new addition to the Pittsburgh Pirates Top 100 group is Henry Davis.  It is impressive to see him ranked at number 51 overall without playing a game.  Why this is even more intriguing is because there are questions about whether or not Davis can stick behind the plate, so this ranking really speaks to Davis’ potential with the bat.

Next. Pittsburgh Pirates sign another top pick. dark

Going into the final stretch of the minor league season it will be interesting to see how this list will change by the end of the year.  Can Gonzales and Peguero put together a strong second half and boost their stock?  Will the Pittsburgh Pirates have any players really breakout and join the list? The goal of course is to do what the team just did, have more Top 100 prospects than the previous list. Hopefully, this will be the case for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Next