Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects Who Could Join FanGraph Rankings

Adrian Florencio

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Adrian Florencio during the February 2019 international signing deadline. Florencio didn’t get off to a great start to his pro career back in ‘19. He only pitched 47.1 innings at rookie-ball but posted a poor 4.75 ERA, 5.93 FIP, and 1.58 WHIP. He had a walk rate above 10%, a strikeout rate below 20%, and only an HR/9 of 1.33.

However, 2021 would be a different story for the right-hander. Florencio pitched to the tune of a 2.46 ERA, 3.25 FIP, and 1.05 WHIP in 95 innings with the Bradenton Marauders. Florencio struck out just under 30% of all batters faced. He had a 29.8% strikeout rate but also paired this with a solid 7.6% walk rate. Home runs were pretty much a non-issue for Florencio. He had an HR/9 of just 0.47

Now there were a few minor concerns about Florencio’s campaign. For one, he had an opponent 25.8% line drive rate and 39.7% ground ball rate. In terms of batted ball rates, there was nothing he did overly well, nor was there anything he excelled at. Still, it’s only a minor knock on an overall good season.

Florencio has a big, 6’6″, 202-pound frame, but isn’t the hardest thrower. He only averages out in the 92-95 MPH range with his four-seamer. His primary secondary pitch is a slider with nice movement. Florencio also will throw a change-up, but his fastball/slider is his bread and butter.

Next year will be the big right-hander’s age-23 season. He could arguably skip High-A Greensboro and jump directly into action at Double-A. The Pittsburgh Pirates did a similar thing with Roansy Contreras last season, putting him at Double-A and skipping High-A ball. 23-years-old is more than old enough to justify him starting at Altoona.

Florencio’s big breakout season at Bradenton won him the Pitcher of the Year honors in his league. He wasn’t the only Marauder to win a player of the year honor as backstop Endy Rodriguez took home MVP. Florencio also won the Pirates’ top minor league pitcher of the year award. While he might not be as highly touted as Quinn Priester or Roansy Contreras, Florencio is a potential starting rotation arm in the very near future.

Juan Jerez

Back at the July 2018 international signing deadline, the Pirates picked up a very young infielder by the name of Juan Jerez. During 2019, his age-17 campaign, Jerez posted a solid .272/.324/.469 batting line, .371 wOBA, and 114 wRC+ with 7 home runs in 254 plate appearances. This marked a decent start to his pro career.

Jerez followed up his 2019 season with an even better 2021 season. The infielder spent all 181 plate appearances at the Florida Coast League where he batted .296/.394/.500 with a .400 wOBA, and 136 wRC+. Jerez blasted 6 home runs while improving his walk rate from a measly 5.5% to a phenomenal 13.3% mark. Though his strikeout rate did move from 18.9% to just 25.4%. Plus he showed some prowess on the base paths swiping 10 bags in 14 attempts.

Jerez has shown some pop, but the rate at which he showed it last year was a bit strange. He only had a 28.4% flyball rate, leading to an insanely high 24% HR/FB ratio. His ground ball rate remained relatively the same from 2019 (43.4% to 43.2%) while his line drive rate rose from just 14.5% to 28.4%.

Jerez has experience at both middle infield positions and third base. Last year, he was mainly used at the hot corner. The Pirates do have a ton of SS/2B prospects in the system, but his versatility is always nice to have. 2022 will be the infielder’s age-20 campaign. Given his good work at Rookie-Ball and the FCL, he has a fair chance of starting 2022 at Low-A Bradenton.

Logan Hofmann

The Pittsburgh Pirates picked right-hander Logan Hofmann in the 5th round of the 2020 draft. Hofmann turned in some impressive work at the Northwestern State University of Louisiana. In 28 innings, Hofmann allowed zero earned runs, a single long ball, 5 walks, and 38 strikeouts. He had a phenomenal 36.1% strikeout rate to end his college career.

The ability to get a lot of strikeouts carried over to pro-ball. He posted a strong 29.9% K-rate through 82.2 innings of work. This also came with a solid 3.59 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. Hofmann did run into some minor troubles with command and home runs. He had a 9.6% walk rate and 1.31 HR/9. Still, he had a 16.7% line drive rate and 44.3% ground ball rate. His solid batted ball rates led to a 4.05 xFIP, noticeably lower than his actual 4.68 FIP.

Hofmann isn’t a flamethrower. He only throws in the low-90’s. But he has excellent spin on his four-seamer. His 12-6 curveball gets a lot of swings-and-misses on. He’ll mix in a change-up to his arsenal as well. Overall, a solid pitch mix that gives him a starter’s projection, but could also work out of the pen.

Hofmann and Florencio are probably the Pirates’ two best-unranked pitching prospects. Hofmann has really good raw stuff and only minor command issues. Next year is his age-22 campaign. He should easily start the year at Greensboro and if he gets off to a hot start, maybe one of the first prospects promoted to Double-A.