Pittsburgh Pirates: Top 3 Unranked Prospects

Right-handed pitcher Adrian Florencio

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Adrian Florencio in the 2018-2019 offseason. Florencio’s first season in 2019 wasn’t great. He had a 4.75 ERA, 5.93 FIP, and 1.58 WHIP in 47.1 innings of work. Despite his bumps in his first taste of professional action, this past year has been quite good.

Florencio has a 2.53 ERA, 3.24 FIP, and 1.07 WHIP through 89 innings. The right-hander has struck out over 30% of batters faced this year (30.9%) while having a solid 7.8% walk rate. Home runs haven’t been an issue for him either. His 0.51 HR/9 rate second best mark among Pittsburgh Pirates minor league pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched.

He isn’t getting a ton of ground balls, but his 39.2% ground ball rate could be worse. 32.5% of his fly balls are infield flies. Line drives have been his biggest issue. He needs to lower his 24.5% rate. That’s much higher than you’d like to see from a pitcher, but his batted ball rates are the only poor part of his season so far.

He 22-year-old isn’t ranked by either FanGraphs’ list (which has an impressive 63 players on) nor is he on MLB Pipeline’s top 30 list. Florencio works in the 93-95 MPH range with his fastball while also throwing in a slider and curveball. He gets a lot of swings and misses, evident by his high strikeout rate.

Florencio is a big guy. He stands at 6’6, 205 pounds. He might not have the highest ceiling in the Pirates’ farm system, but he has a lot going for him. Could end up as a quality major league arm. A possible move to the bullpen could see him gain a few MPH of velocity as well.

Outfielder Solomon Maguire

The Pirates signed Solomon Maguire during the 2019-2020 international signing period. The Australian outfielder was one of their highlights from this period. They landed him to a $594,000 bonus, which came as part of the Starling Marte trade. So in the end, the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to get Liover Peguero, a guy who’s now considered a consensus top 100 prospect, Brennan Malone, a very high-ceiling pitcher who was picked with the 33rd pick in the 2019 draft, and one of the draft’s top high school arms, and a noteworthy international outfield prospect in Maguire.

According to MLB.com, Maguire was highly praised for his athleticism. Maguire was heavily watched by scouts, even as early as his middle school-aged days. The outfielder showed what he he could do at the U18 Baseball World Cup where he got rave reviews for his performance.

Along with his athleticism, Maguire showed a strong arm, and some good pop for a then 16-year-old kid who stood at 5-11″, 168 pounds. Maguire generates some of that power through his bat speed, another item that received praise by scouting. Even as he gets bigger and older, many still believe he can remain a center fielder.

Maguire turned 18-years-old at the beginning of March 2021. While his first taste of professional action hasn’t been all that great, it’s a small sample size of less than 20 games and 100 plate appearances, and again, he’s still a very young player. It’ll be a few years before we see Maguire push for a major league promotion, but he should be considered a high-ceiling prospect within the Pirates’ system and one that could rise through the ranks across the next 2-4 years.

Outfielder Braylon Bishop

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Braylon Bishop in the 14th round of this year’s draft. But make no mistake. Bishop isn’t your typical 14th round selection. Despite being the 403rd overall selection, the high school level talent was arguably a top 100 pick. The Pirates signed him to a $258,700 overslot deal, which he agreed to and making him arguably the biggest steal of the draft.

MLB Pipeline ranked the outfielder as the 94th best prospect available in this year’s draft. Highly athletic, Bishop got outstanding grades for his speed and fielding. His run tool was graded out at a 60 while both his fielding ability and arm were 55-grade tools. His speed and fielding prowess allows him to remain as a center fielder, but his arm is strong enough that he can play a corner if the situation necessitates it.

Bishop has some solid pop from the left side of the batter’s box. He generates 50-grade power with his fantastic bat speed. His hit tool is on the fringy side. According to MLB Pipeline, when he’s faced better pitching, he can get prone to strikeouts and ground balls. MLB Pipeline has it as a 45-grade tool.

Bishop has plenty of time to develop his hit tool. He’s only 18-years-old and won’t turn 19 until late April of next season. He’s still a very raw talent, but if he can refine that talent, you’re looking at potentially one of the Pirates’ higher-end prospects within the next two or three years.