Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Underrated Pitchers to Watch

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a farm system littered with highly touted pitching talent. That said, there are also underrated pitching prospect in the Pirate system that fans should be monitoring.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the best farm systems in al of baseball. This farm system includes a deep, talented group of pitchers. This pitching staff is also one that is top heavy with well known prospects.

Quinn Priester, Miguel Yajure, Roansy Contreras, and Carmen Mlodzinski, among others, are among the top pitching prospects in the Pirate farm system.This gives the Pittsburgh Pirates a very talented group of pitchers who are rising through the farm system.

While the Pirates have plenty of well known pitching prospects rising through their farm system there are also underrated pitching prospects fans should be watching. Today, we will take at three underrated pitching prospects in the Pirate system.

These three pitching prospects, despite being underrated, could have a big future with the Pirates. Each one could also play a large role in the future of the Pirates organization. All of that said, let’s dive in and examine these three underrated Pirate pitching prospects.

Left-handed pitcher Omar Cruz

The Pittsburgh Pirates a queried Omar Cruz in the Joe Msugrove trade this past offseason. Cruz started the season with High-A Greensboro and has since been promoted to Double-A Altoona. At both levels, Cruz has pitched well this season.

Cruz posted a 3.45 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 11.9% walk rate, 32.2% strikeout rate and a home run rate of 1.26 HR/9 in 28.2 innings pitched across 7 innings at High-A this season. With Double-A Altoona, Cruz posted a 3.41 ERA, 4.27 FIP, 7.4% walk rate, 18.45 strikeout rate and a home run rate of 0.74 HR/9. While Cruz’s strikeouts have dropped at the Double-A level, his walk and home run rates have both improved.

With a strong month o September Cruz could set himself up to start the 2022 season with Triple-A Indianapolis. At worst, he should once again be with Double-A Altoona to start the season with a promotion to Triple-A looming.

This offseason Cruz is Rule 5 Draft eligible. He appears to be a slam dunk to be added to the 40-man roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Assuming this happens, with a strong start to the 2022 season Cruz should be set up to make his MLB debut at some point during the season.

Right-handed pitcher Logan Hofmann

With the 138th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft the Pittsburgh Pirates selected right-handed pitcher Logan Hofmann. When Hofmann was selected he appeared to have a long-term future as a reliever. Through his early professional career this has continued to be true.

Hofmann has pitched in 19 professional games thus far with 10 of them being starts. In these 19 outings Hofmann has logged 68.2 innings with the Low-A Bradenton Marauders. This has flashed the positional flexibility of Hofmann, as well as his ability to pitch effectively in multiple roles.

In his 68.2 innings pitched this season Hofmann owns a 3.15 ERA and 4.21 FIP. He has walked 8.9% of batters faced, which is more than good enough, while striking out a healthy 29.6% of batters faced.

Opposing batters are hitting just .188 off of Hofmann and he’s allowing line drives at just a 15.5% rate. He is inducing ground balls at a 46.6% rate, which is not terrible but you would like to see that number get above 50%.

Hofmann was viewed as a pitcher who could quickly climb through the farm system when he was drafted. He will likely open the 2022 season up with High-A Greensboro, if he pitches well it would not be a surprise to see him climb to Triple-A Indianapolis by the end of the season. By the summer of 2023 Hofmann could be a key cog out of the bullpen for the Pittsburgh Pirates.