Pittsburgh Pirates: Five Forgotten Position Player Prospects

Catcher Carter Bins

Carter Bins was acquired as one of the two players in the Tyler Anderson trade. Bins was drafted in the 11th round of the 2019 draft but despite being drafted pretty late into the draft, he’s considered a solid catching prospect.

Bins is an on-base machine. Through 294 plate appearances, Bins had a strong .384 on-base percentage. The backstop drew walks at a strong 17.7% pace. Though he only had a .234 batting average and a .387 slugging percentage. He got off to a good start to the 2021 season, batting .284/.422/.493 with a .410 wOBA, and 147 wRC+ with the M’s High-A team.

Though once he got promoted to Double-A, he struggled with both the M’s and Pittsburgh Pirates affiliates. He put up a sub-80 wRC+ with both teams, albeit in a small sample size of 109 plate appearances. Bins has swing-and-miss in his game, striking out 29.3%, but has shown some solid pop throughout his career.

According to FanGraphs, Bins has a 55-raw power grade. He is a solid defender behind the dish with a powerful, 60-grade arm. He’s also really athletic for a catcher as he’s not a terrible runner either. There’s a fair amount of raw strength in Bins.

Obviously, Bins isn’t going to be giving someone like Henry Davis, or Endy Rodriguez a run for their money for the team’s best catching prospect. But Bins has some solid power potential and isn’t a terrible defender either. If all he turns into is an all-or-nothing power hitter with solid on-base skills, that wouldn’t be the worst 2nd catcher, especially if his defense can play well behind the dish.