Pittsburgh Pirates: The All-Under-20 Prospect Team

Left-Handed Pitcher: Anthony Solometo

We come to our last player and fourth player from the 2021 draft. Left-handed pitcher Anthony Solometo was the second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but like Chandler, probably could’ve gone in the mid-first round. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the 17th best prospect. FanGraphs had him bumped down a bit at #34 but was still arguably one of the top 30 prospects available in their eyes.

The southpaw uses three pitches to get players out. A four-seam fastball, slider, and changeup. His fastball comes in the low-90’s, averaging at 90-94 MPH. His slider is a 55-grade offering per MLB Pipeline. It can get a bit slurvy, but he’s shown to be able to throw it with some hard break. His changeup rounds out his arsenal. Right now, it’s only considered average but could improve as he develops. That’s three offerings that project as average or better.

Though he’s displayed outstanding command in high school. He was one of the best pitchers in terms of command going into the draft, only being surpassed by Gunnar Hoglund in terms of FanGraphs’ grades.

But all his offerings play up because of his delivery and arm slot. Solometo’s delivery is somewhat similar to Dontrell Willis, just with a lower leg kick. His three-quarters arm slot is also similar to Willis, but MLB Pipeline also draws the comparison to former San Francisco Giant ace and postseason hero, Madison Bumgarner. Like both Bumgarner and Willis, Solometo uses his command and deceptiveness to get outs rather than overpowering their opponent.

When you consider that he has extreme deceptiveness and outstanding command, you can see how his above-average offerings could play up to a near-elite level. This is all at just age-18 years old. It’s not out of the question that he adds 1-2 MPH by the time he reaches age 22-23.