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Pittsburgh Pirates: Previewing 2022 Triple-A Roster

By Noah Wright

PITTSBURGH, PA - OCTOBER 03: Oneil Cruz #61 of the Pittsburgh Pirates takes the field for the first inning during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park on October 3, 2021 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - OCTOBER 03: Oneil Cruz #61 of the Pittsburgh Pirates takes the field for the first inning during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park on October 3, 2021 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /
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Christian Bethancourt of Aguilas Cibaenas of the Dominican Republic bats against Caribes de Anzoategui of Venezuela during the Caribbean Baseball Series at the Charros Jalisco stadium in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on February 3, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ULISES RUIZ (Photo credit should read ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Christian Bethancourt of Aguilas Cibaenas of the Dominican Republic bats against Caribes de Anzoategui of Venezuela during the Caribbean Baseball Series at the Charros Jalisco stadium in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on February 3, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ULISES RUIZ (Photo credit should read ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images) /

Catcher

The Indianapolis Indians mainly used a combination of Christian Bethancourt and Taylor Davis to handle things behind the dish in 2021. Clearly, that was more of a depth option than having a top prospect at the position. While the Pirates have added a significant amount of catching prospects to the system over the past 12 months, most haven’t even reached High-A yet.

Now while the Pirates don’t have to rush any of their top catching prospects to the majors with Jacob Stallings under control for a handful of more seasons, that doesn’t mean that they won’t have at least one quality depth option to start the season for the Indians who could be called up to help the major league picture.

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently promoted Eli Wilson from High-A Greensboro all the way to Indianapolis. The backstop was the Bucs’ 16th round pick in 2019, but he had quite a decent year. He only stepped to the plate 219 times but put up a strong .286/.425/.440 line with a .387 wOBA. Wilson drew a walk in 16.4% of his plate appearances, though his strikeout rate was a bit high at 26.9%. Wilson wasn’t a big power hitter with just 4 home runs and a .154 isolated slugging percentage, but still good numbers.

Wilson may not be a top prospect, but if your best depth option was putting up an OPS above .850 and wOBA above .380 between Low-A and High-A, was reaching base at a strong rate and was promoted to Triple-A, it’s not a bad thing to have. Now granted, whether or not the promotion was more of a “we want this kid to keep playing” rather than them thinking he was ready for Triple-A action and will report to Double-A to start 2022 will remain to be seen. However, I believe that Wilson will probably share the bulk of the playing time behind the dish unless he becomes the major league team’s second catcher at some point next season.

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