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

Number 2: Roansy Contreras

Earlier, we talked about Miguel Yajure. Yajure is an extremely talented pitcher. He was also part of the return for Taillon. But he wasn’t even the best part of that trade. That would be right-hander Roansy Conteras. Contreras was an international signee by the New York Yankees in 2016. After a few solid seasons, he was included in the deal for Taillon. However, since that deal, Contreras has significantly boosted his stock this past season.

Before heading to the Pirates, Contreras was only averaging out in the 90-94 MPH range while topping out at 96-97 MPH. However, 96-97 MPH has been very much the norm this year for Contreras. He’s even been able to hit triple-digits. He already had plus-spin before this year with about 2400 RPM. While FanGraphs currently has it as a 55-future offering, they haven’t upped his grades despite bumping him up significantly throughout their prospect rankings. Based on the velocity and spin, they could bump it up to a 60, or even possibly a 70-future grade. Just in terms of spin and velocity, you’re looking at an offering similar to two former Pittsburgh Pirates, Gerrit Cole, and Tyler Glasnow. Most pitching prospects with similar velocity and spin rates have a 60-70 future grade on their fastball.

His breaking ball has been seen as both a slider and curveball at times. Though it has also shown much improvement with sharper break. Again, they could bump his future projected grade up to a 60, but it currently comes in with a 55. His changeup has always looked like a plus offering, coming into 2021 with a 55-grade.

Despite the huge uptick in velocity and movement on his breaking pitch, Contreras’ command hasn’t suffered. It still projects as a 50-grade weapon by FanGraphs, and he’s even put up a lower walk rate this year compared to 2019.

Contreras is a bit on the smaller side, standing in at 6-foot, 175 pounds. He could get to the 6-foot/200 LBS mark to help build up some stamina and more durability, but other than that, his massive spike in his prospect stock is extremely promising. He’s pitched extremely well at Double-A, but he is only 21-years-old. With his injury keeping him out a few weeks, we probably won’t see him until 2022, but he has a good chance of locking down a rotation spot before the mid-season mark next year.