Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Minor League Statistical Leaders

Walk Rate (batter)
Hudson Head
15.7%

Outfielder Hudson Head was another player coming over to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Joe Musgrove trade. Head was a highly touted high school outfielder going into the 2019 draft. While he fell to the third round, he arguably has mid-to-late-first round talent but fell because scouts didn’t get a good look at him with Head also playing football.

Head’s first full season as a professional ballplayer was a bit odd. Overall, he hit .213/.362/.392 with a .364 wOBA, and 113 wRC+. His walk rate was the best among Pirates’ minor leaguers at 15.7%. No other Pirate prospect came within 1%. Plus he had 15 long balls and a solid .181 isolated slugging percentage. But it came with the caveat of a 31.6% strikeout rate.

Head had a solid 22.1% line drive rate, 42.3% ground ball rate, and 35.6% fly ball rate. Those aren’t awful numbers, but clearly, the issue this year was the swings and misses. In his defense, he ended the season on a high note, putting up a strong .259/.380/.517 line, .410 wOBA, and 141 wRC+ through his final 71 plate appearances of the season (August 29th through September 19th).

Head has the potential to be a five-tool player. He’s shown solid pop, good speed, a plus glove, and plus arm out in the grass. If he can make more consistent contact, he can reach that high-water mark. He’s only 20-years-old, so he has a few more years to figure things out. Though if he can, he could be one of the Pittsburgh Pirates best prospects.