Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Potential 2022 Rotation at Double-A Altoona

The Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate has a great lineup, but the rotation could be a strong part of the roster as well.

A few weeks ago, we took a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve, and their potential Opening Day lineup. Their stacked line-up holds first-rounders like Nick Gonzales and Connor Scott, high-end shortstop prospect Liover Peguero, and 2021 breakout prospects Jared Triolo and Lolo Sanchez. Altoona may have one of the best minor league affiliate lineups.

But the rotation can hold its own when comparing it to the lineup. The starting 5 have plenty of very talented pitchers, and some of them have the highest ceilings in the organization. This is the upper minors, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates a promising outlook for the near future.

So if the rotation is so good, what are we looking at here? What arms will the Curve be trotting out every game to start?

Quinn Priester

Quinn Priester is the organization’s best pitching prospect. He’s a consensus top 100 prospect who made strides to improve his game over the past few years and he has become one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. He’ll still be pretty young at just 21-years-old, but the talent is there for the right-hander.

Last season Preister spent the entire season at High-A Greensboro. He pitched a total of 97.2 innings, posting a 3.07 ERA, 4.08 FIP, and 1.24 WHIP. He also had a healthy 24.1% strikeout rate, 0.74 HR/9, and 9.6% walk rate. The number of free passes he allowed was a bit high, but not to a worrying degree. Plus, with a 54.7% ground ball rate, home runs were pretty much a non-issue for him.

Priester got better as the season went on. From July 23rd through the end of the campaign, the talented pitcher had a 2.80 ERA, 3.67 FIP, and 1.15 WHIP. His strikeout rate sat at 27% through his final 48.2 innings, and he allowed just two home runs. His walk rate was still a tad high at 9.2%, but it wasn’t anything to worry about again.

Priester throws a variety of offerings. The best is his curveball, which is arguably the best curveball in the minor leagues. He throws it around the low-80’s with break FanGraphs compared to Adam Wainwright’s curve. FanGraphs loves it as it’s an 80-projected pitch. His fastball has seen some improvement since the 2020-2021 off-season and sits around 96-97 MPH with about 2200 RPM. That’s far from the only offerings he throws.

Preister has displayed a strong slider/cutter that FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline see as a third above-average offering. He has a change-up that gives him a fourth average pitch. Finally, there’s his sinking two-seamer that he uses to get a ton of ground balls on.

Priester has everything you want in a starting pitching prospect who looks to be your future ace. He has the size, standing at 6’3″, 210 pounds, the arsenal with three offerings projecting to be 60 or better and two more that project to be 50 or better, and the stats to back it up. Given Priester’s talent, it wouldn’t be a massive surprise to see him at the tail-end of 2022, ala Roansy Contreras or Oneil Cruz.

Kyle Nicolas

The Pirates acquired Kyle Nicolas in the deal that sent Jacob Stallings to the Miami Marlins. Nicolas is a high-ceiling power pitcher who needs to refine his stuff. However, the ability and talent are there for the right-hander.

Nicolas spent the 2021 season with Miami’s High-A and Double-A affiliates. Nicolas didn’t do all that great at High-A, recording a 5.28 ERA, 5.03 FIP, and 1.36 WHIP through his first 59.2 innings of the season. While he struck out nearly a third of the batters he faced (33.2% strikeout rate) while having a solid 9.3% walk rate, home runs were a massive issue. Nicolas had a 1.96 HR/9 due to a 45.9% FB% and insanely high 20.9% HR/FB rate.

Nicolas rose to Double-A, where he put up a much better 2.52 ERA, 3.99 FIP, and 1.22 WHIP through 39 innings of work. While his strikeout rate dipped to 29.9%, he was still getting his fair share of batters out on strikes. Plus, he decreased his HR/9 to just 0.69. However, he saw his walk rate spike to 15%. Despite giving up fewer home runs, he saw his flyball rate skyrocket to 57%. This meant that his HR/FB rate took a nosedive, all the way to 6.1%. Considering his fly ball rate, .233 batting average on balls in play, and 5.01 xFIP, it is safe to say that Nicolas ran into some good luck.

But that doesn’t mean Nicolas is a lousy pitcher with no future. The right-hander has a great fastball which sits in the upper-90’s. He has hit 100 MPH before and can carry the velo late into games. His two breaking pitches are a curveball and slider. His slider sits in the upper-80’s and has reached the 90 MPH range before. Though his curveball isn’t on par with his well-above-average slider, it’s a pitch he has to work on to separate his slider. Though if he can, it’s a third average or better offering. Finally, there’s his changeup. While he has a feel for the offering, there’s a whole lot of work he needs to incorporate into it before using it often.

The second-round pick has some great stuff. He might need to improve his curve to be a starter long-term, but his ability to do so is there. He, after all, was a top 60 ranked prospect going into the 2020 draft and went 61st overall to the Marlins. Even at the worst, he has two offerings that would make him a great reliever.

Adrian Florencio

Right now, I have right-hander Adrian Florencio skipping High-A and getting his start at Double-A. 2022 will be his age-23 season, and that’s a bit old to start at High-A, especially given how well he did. After putting up phenomenal numbers at A-Ball Bradenton, Florencio won his league’s pitcher of the year award.

In 95 innings, Florencio put up a 2.46 ERA, 3.25 FIP, and 1.05 WHIP. He both limited walks and got a ton of strikeouts. Florencio recorded a 29.8% strikeout rate while only allowing 7.6% of batters faced to reach on ball-four. Not only was he walk proof, but he was also home run proof. He gave up just five homers for a .47 HR/9.

The one knock on Florencio is that he didn’t have the greatest batted ball rates. The right-hander gave up his fair share of line drives. His LD% sat at 25.8%, while his ground ball rate was 39.7%. Plus, he had a so-so 34.5% FB%. Though his xFIP, which considers fly ball and HR/FB ratio, was a solid 3.72 mark.

Florencio has a starter’s build. He stands at 6’6, 205 pounds. Though his size might give you the impression of a flamethrower, he only works around 93-95 MPH. He also throws a nice slider with tons of break, and that’s the offering he gets a fair amount of his swings-and-misses on. He’ll also throw a change-up which has come along since the Pirates signed him.

Given Florencio’s age, how he performed at Low-A and the new Pirate regime has been more aggressive with their more talented prospects, it only makes sense to start Florencio at Double-A Altoona. The Low-A pitcher of the year deserves the promotion after his fine season at Bradenton.

Ricky DeVito

Another prospect the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired via trade, Ricky DeVito, was sent over to Pittsburgh, alongside Bryse Wilson, in exchange for Richard Rodriguez. The Braves had selected DeVito in the 8th round of the 2019 draft. While he may not have been an early-round pick, DeVito brings an interesting pitcher to the organization.

2022 will likely be the right-hander’s first entire professional season. Last year, DeVito was limited to just 20.1 innings because of injuries. However, those 20.1 innings were effective. He allowed just 6 earned runs on two home runs, seven walks, and 19 hits. But he also struck out 29.7% of batters faced and induced ground balls 66% of the time.

DeVito throws three offerings, all of which FanGraphs projects average or better. Among the trio of pitches, the most interesting is his splitter. It’s a 60-grade offering in which he throws with great break. DeVito throws around the same speed as Florencio, sitting in the 92-95 MPH range and topping out at 97. He also throws a solid curveball. The ladder two offerings he has come in with 50-projected grades.

The issue is that DeVito’s command is spotty at best, at least right now. That could be a significant deciding factor as to whether or not he remains as a starting pitcher or three-pitch reliever. However, with his three offerings being average or better, it would be great if he remained in the rotation long-term.