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Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Prospects to Watch at Florida Complex League
The Florida Complex League has been underway for over a month now. So let’s take a look at a few prospects who are doing well with the Pittsburgh Pirates two affiliates.
While for Low-A on up the minor league season has been in full swing since early May, the Florida Complex League only started a few weeks ago. Every team has completed about 25-30 games. Though the Pittsburgh Pirates have two Florida Complex League teams. The FCL Pirates Black and FCL Pirates Gold.
The Pittsburgh Pirates Black have played 25 games while their Gold squad have played 24 contests. Between the two affiliates, the Gold affiliate has done better with a 16-8 record to an 11-14 record. The two FCL teams have some noteworthy prospects between them.
Today we will highlight a few prospects from these two teams who are playing well. Most players at this level are very young, so most aren’t very high-ranking prospects. But in many cases, they really haven’t played much, been given a chance to prove themselves or show off what they can do. All the players I will be talking about today are 20-years-old or younger.
With some context out of the way, let’s take a look at the first player we’ll be highlighting today.
Po-Yu Chen
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Po-Yu Chen at the 2020 International Deadline in October. The Pirates used the bonus slot money they got from the Chicago White Sox in the Jarrod Dyson trade to land the Taiwanese right-hander. This trade was one I recently covered.
Coming out of Taiwan, Chen was one of the country’s top high school prospects. He displayed a solid three-pitch mix. He isn’t a hard thrower with his four-seam fastball coming in around the 88-92 MPH range. Though he has strong control and command with the pitch. His slider and curveball are also considered good breaking pitches. We’ve covered Chen here recently as an underrated prospect.
So far, Chen has displayed strong command over his offerings. He’s pitched 21 innings with the Pirates Black and has yet to give up a walk. He’s also struck out 33.3% of all the batters he has faced. Chen has allowed only 1 earned run. Plus, he’s inducing ground balls at a rate well above 50% (56.8%). Combined with a sub-10% ground ball rate (8.1%) it’s no wonder why he’s done so well this year.
Chen currently ranks as the 51st best Pirate prospect by FanGraphs. Not very high ranking, but you have to remember he’s only 19 and won’t turn 20 until October 2nd. By the time Chen is 22 or 23-years-old, he could see a small uptick in velocity and have more movement on his pitches because of just having more strength and coaching.
Juan Jerez
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Juan Jerez in July 2018. Jerez played with their Dominican Summer League team in 2019 where he put up solid numbers. He batted .272/.324/.469 with a .371 wOBA, and 114 wRC+. He walked at a very low rate of just 5.5%, though had a sub-20% strikeout rate (18.8%). But he showed off a decent amount of power. He hit 7 home runs and racked up 12 doubles in just 254 plate appearances. All told, he had a .197 isolated slugging percentage. Plus he showed some prowess on the base paths with 6 stolen bases in 12 attempts.
Jerez has continued to hit well this year. In 107 plate appearances, Jerez is hitting .275/.387/.451. Jerez’s walk rate skyrocketed this year, all the way to 15.3%. He’s still showing plus power as well with a .176 isolated slugging percentage. Though he’s striking out a ton, at least compared to 2019. His 27% strikeout rate is a large uptick from 2019. But overall, he’s been a good hitter, posting a wOBA approaching .400 (.396) and 125 wRC+.
Jerez has mainly played third base this year. Though he played both middle infield spots in 2019. As an overall fielder, he’s about average with an average arm. Though Jerez is more of a hit-over-power kind of player, he’s shown some solid power. His walk rate is also promising, but he needs to strike out less.
He’s still 19 and won’t turn 20 for a few more months, November 28th to be exact. Jerez still has a while before he reaches the major leagues, though he could become one of the team’s more notable infield prospects within the next few years.
Joelvis Del Rosario
Joelvis Del Rosario is a 20-year-old right-hander in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. Del Rosario previously pitched with the Pirates’ Dominican Summer League affiliates in 2018 and 2019 while putting up solid numbers. His 2021 season with the Pirates Gold has been the best.
Del Rosario has pitched 25.1 innings with a 3.55 ERA, but an outstanding 2.69 FIP, and 1.105 WHIP. Del Rosario has struck out 33.3% of all the batters he has faced so far, a 13.8% increase from 2019. His walk rate has also taken a decrease, going from 7.2% to 4.8%. Plus he’s given up just one home run.
Del Rosario could improve as well. His .355 batting average on balls in play is a tad high, especially considering his 49.2% ground ball rate and 16.4% line drive rate. He has a 34.4% fly ball rate, but his 42.9% infield fly ball rate is outstanding.
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Del Rosario looks like a solid arm in the minor league system. He’s still very young and a raw talent. Though he’s put up the numbers and looks like he has the stuff to rise through the Pirates’ prospect system over the course of the next 2-3 years.