Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Rum Bunter’s Top 5 Pitching Prospects

The Pittsburgh Pirates farm system’s biggest strength is their pitching depth, but who are their top 5 pitching prospects?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a ton of young pitching all throughout their minor league system. Their pitching depth is probably their farm’s biggest strength. They have a handful of young and exciting pitchers to keep an eye on over the coming years.

Today, I want to take a look at the best pitching prospects the Pittsburgh Pirates have ranking the top 5. These rankings were put together by our staff. Each writer got to name their top 5 Pirate pitching prospects with each spot being assigned a point value. The #1 spot being worth 5 points, the #2 spot being worth 4 points, so on and so forth.

So with the system explained on how we ranked the Pittsburgh Pirates top 5 pitching prospects, let’s get into a few honorable mentions before we get into the #5 prospect. These players got some votes, but not enough points to make our top 5 list. (note, our honorable mentions aren’t in any particular order)

Tahnaj Thomas

The flamethrowing Tahnaj Thomas has a blazing fastball along with an outstanding breaking pitch. He gets spotty with command but gets a lot of swings and misses. The development of his change-up and refinement of his control could be the deciding factors as to whether he ends up as a starting pitcher or late-inning bullpen arm. Overall, he’s still very talented and has shown the dedication to improving his craft.

Eddy Yean

Eddy Yean is one of the Pirates’ high-ceiling starting pitching prospects. He’s only 20 but has shown a ton of talent, just hasn’t gotten good results. Yean has a three-pitch mix with a fastball, slider, and change-up. All three offerings project as above-average pitches. He’s shown some decent stuff this year but hasn’t gotten good results.

Bubba Chandler

Bubba Chandler was the third-round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in last month’s draft who they got for a huge over-slot deal. Chandler is a two-way high school star who projects to have an above-average fastball, curveball, with an average slider and changeup. Though he does have plus control. Chandler is also a highly athletic shortstop with some pop.

Jared Jones

Another flamethrowing right-hander, Jared Jones was the Bucs second-round pick in 2020. He’s displayed an upper-90’s fastball despite being just turning 20-years-old. He also has an above-average curveball, slider, and an average change-up. His command can get a bit inconsistent, but again, he’s in his age-19 season and at A-Ball. He has plenty of time to fix that before he gets to the majors.

Anthony Solometo

The Pirates picked Anthony Solometo with their second-round pick, giving them a left-handed pitching prospect. Coming out of Gloucester Catholic High School, Solometo was projected to go early in the draft. The southpaw has high-end control over his fastball, slider, and change-up. All three of his offerings also project as above-average offerings. He also has a delivery that helps his three pitches play up. He’s only 18-years-old but could rise to the top of the system in a few seasons.