Pittsburgh Pirates: Tucupita Marcano Has Value to Add

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently acquired Tucupita Marcano, but the prospect is more talented than you may think he is.

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently traded their now former All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier to the San Diego Padres. When the return was announced, many criticized it. Even I’ll admit the return looked thin on paper. The headliner was Tucupita Marcano, not necessarily the most household name when it comes to prospects.

Even his overall stats didn’t stand out. Marcano has put up solid numbers at Triple-A, but nothing that shouts all-star. He’s hit .272/.367/.444 with a .352 wOBA, and 101 wRC+. Marcano has walked a ton, putting up a 13.6% walk rate. Though this also came with a strong 12.6% strikeout rate.

Marcano is mostly a hit-over-power kind of prospect, but he did start to show signs of pop in his bat this year. He has a .172 isolated slugging percentage. For comparison, that’s above the MLB average of .164. Solid overall numbers, but his bottom line doesn’t tell the entire story of what kind of player he is, and how good he can be.

So, what makes Marcano better than he looks?

His elite hand-eye coordination. Scouts love Marcano because of his ability to cover the plate and put the barrel on the ball. Marcano has a 70 plate coverage/barrel accuracy grade on FanGraphs. His ball/strike recognition is considered average, but remember. He draws walks quite often and isn’t a big strikeout guy. He has a 126-to-101 BB/K ratio throughout his entire minor league career.

He can also hit to all fields. He has gone to the opposite field 36.7% of the time, while pulling the ball 36.1% of the time. He goes up the middle 27.2% of the time. Now yes, right now, he only has 30-projected game and raw power. But there are plenty of hit-over-power guys like Marcano who don’t end up like Kevin Newman. Since 2018, among the top 15 players in contact rate with at least 1500 PA’s, only 1 has had a wRC+ during this time below 100, or league average, that being Miami Marlin infielder Miguel Rojas.

Now, so far, Marcano has struggled in the big leagues, but in just 50 trips to the plate. You also have to remember, Marcano already has this elite hand-eye coordination and bat to ball skill at just 21-years-old. Most players his age are still at A-Ball. He’s younger than all but one player currently at Double-A Altoona and even younger than most of the players at High-A Greensboro. He’s just 5 days older than the Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 #1 draft pick, Henry Davis, and younger than Nick Gonzales.

The only gripe on Marcano is his power, which isn’t something that he can’t improve. Many teams focus on players who have above average hand eye coordination, plate discipline, and plate vision. Those are all three things Marcano excels and then some. It’s easy to develop power, it’s hard to teach someone to hit a 90+ MPH baseball at a 85%+ rate.

Overall, Marcano is better than what many think. Sure he isn’t the big standout bat with gaudy numbers, but he could easily develop into David Fletcher 2.0 but with a higher OBP. If he adds just a little bit of power, or the power he’s shown at Triple-A can translate into the big leagues, he could be a Nick Markakis type of hitte.

There’s a lot to like about Marcan that the bottom line just doesn’t tell us. He’s got the hand eye coordination to, at the very least, be an average hitter in the Major Leagues. Overall, that tool is the best in the minor leagues. Adding just a little power, or getting the ball in the air just a little more could lead to a very promising prospect in the near future.