Pittsburgh Pirates: New Regime More Aggressive in Prospect Promotions

The new regime of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been more aggressive in prospect promotions and this was evident last season

One thing that many fans criticized the last Pittsburgh Pirates regime of was keeping prospects down too long. While there were a few instances of this, the new regime doesn’t seem to have this promotion. So far, Ben Cherington and co. have been reasonably aggressive in promoting prospects, especially with their higher-ranking ones.

Last season we saw the Pittsburgh Pirates have Travis Swaggerty skip Double-A, Roansy Contreras and Oneil Cruz make their debut in the last week of the 2021 campaign after starting the year at Double-A, and Quinn Priester start at High-A after pitching just four innings above Rookie-Ball. That’s far from the only instances of prospects making quick jumps throughout the system.

They started Nick Gonzales at Greenboro, along with Liover Peguero. Carmen Mlodzinski made his Triple-A debut after being teammates with Gonzales, Priester, and Peguero at Greensboro for most of the year. Despite being high-school-aged, they started Jared Jones, Maikol Escotto, and Alexander Mojica at A-Ball Bradenton.

Just by looking at the projected Double-A and Triple-A rosters, you can tell the new front office has their sights set on massive improvement over the next two seasons. Indianapolis’ opening day roster could house Swaggerty, Contreras, and Cruz, all three of which are potential early season call-ups. They’d join Mlodzinski, Matt Fraizer, Tucupita Marcano, Diego Castillo, Rodolfo Castro, Mason Martin, Jack Suwinski, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Cody Bolton, Austin Roberts, and Ji-Hwan Bae.

Double-A Altoona could look even better. Their roster will house Gonzales, Peguero, and Priester and be flanked by Jared Triolo, Lolo Sanchez, Connor Scott, Michael Burrows, Jackson Glenn, Mike Jarvis, Kyle Nicolas, and Ricky DeVito. There’s going to be a lot going for the Pirates down at Double-A. Their top players from Double-A will be promoted to Triple-A as early as June.

As we saw last year, they were willing to promote two of their best prospects to the major leagues at the very end of the season. I don’t see why they wouldn’t keep being more aggressive with prospect promotions to the majors throughout next season, given the amount of talent in the minor leagues. This is especially true once you look at the upper minors.

We’ve previously looked at how the 26-man roster can have massive turnover, even by the All-Star break. Many of the notable players at Triple-A could be in the majors by the end of May. At the very least, many more will make their debuts in June/July. There’s a lot to look forward to because the new regime has been more willing to move prospects up the system faster.

Now that’s not to say they should be rushing prospects, but if a near-MLB-ready prospect is doing well at a level of the minor leagues for a month up to a half-season, is it genuinely rushing them through the system? Some prospects might take more time than others, and not every prospect will come up to the next level or the major leagues and hit or pitch like an All-Star. But it’s silly to think that all prospects getting promoted will struggle to find their footing in their first taste of the majors.

So when you consider everything, many prospects have a good chance of becoming regulars in the majors next year. Both the starting rotation and lineup will not only be improved but put the team in a good position for the future. With the new regime being more aggressive with promotions, we won’t have to wait that much longer to watch a fine MLB roster.