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

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.