Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Altoona’s Potential Rotation Battle

The Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve could have a rotation battle to start the year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve, will have a loaded roster. They have arguably the best minor league double-play duo in Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero and a phenomenal outfield with Lolo Sanchez, Mike Jarvis, Connor Scott, and Matt Gorski all being potential options.

Their lineup should be solid but their starting pitching staff will be even better. The rotation looks to be headed by the highly touted Quinn Priester and spin rate king Michael Burrows. But after that, it could be a very tough battle for the no. 3-5 spots.

Previously when I previewed what Altoona’s potential rotation would look like, I had Adrian Florencio, Kyle Nicolas, and Ricky DeVito in the 3-5 spots. It’s still entirely possible that they will make up the final three spots. But they won’t be the only ones hunting for a rotation spot at Altoona.

The first guy that I overlooked, as do many, is J.C. Flowers.

lowers pitched a total of 78.2 innings between Bradenton and Greensboro, posting a solid 3.78 ERA, 3.62 FIP, and 1.27 WHIP. This also came with phenomenal peripherals. He struck out 27.9% of batters faced, only allowed 7.6% to reach via free pass, and had a 0.8 HR/9.

While Flowers didn’t do as good at Greensboro compared to Bradenton, he still had solid numbers and was well above the league average. High-A East was a hitter’s paradise in 2021. Plus, he did have some bad luck as, despite a healthy 46.4% ground ball rate and fly ball rate of just 31%, he had a batting average on balls in play of .347.

You can’t talk about Flowers without talking about his fantastic slider. It’s easily the best slider in the Pittsburgh Pirates system and arguably the best breaking ball by any Pirate pitcher right now. It’s truly an elite offering already. He also throws a two-seamer and four-seamer, and both pitches play at an above-average level. Finally, he has a changeup, which he can throw for strikes. Flowers’ high-end athleticism on the mound also helps him.

Flower could be the real deal and might beat out one of DeVito or Nicolas for a spot in Altoona’s rotation. But another player who appeared at Low-A Bradenton in 2021 may also be running for a job at Altoona. That’s Luis Ortiz.

Ortiz played the whole season at Bradenton, like his teammate Adrian Florencio. The reason why both could see regular time at Altoona is that they’re both going into their age-23 campaign, and that’s a highly reasonable age to start the season at Double-A.

The right-hander had a 3.09 ERA, FIP, and 1.26 WHIP in 87.1 innings. Despite losing out to Florencio to pitcher of the year, he had a better FIP, strikeout rate (30.1%), walk rate (7.4%), ground ball rate (49.7%), and xFIP (3.23) to the winner. He also had a similar 0.52 HR/9 rate, though one thing that didn’t work in Ortiz’s favor that did for Florencio is batting average on balls in play. Florencio had a .280 mark, while Ortiz had a .342 BAbip. If Ortiz had a BAbip around .320, he would have been a sub-3 ERA pitcher.

It would be really nice if Ortiz could remain as a starting pitcher long-term. The right-hander throws a fastball that sits around 95-97 MPH. With average spin, it’s an offering that FanGraphs projects to be a 70-grade pitch. Then there’s his slider; that’s another fantastic pitch. It’s a 60-projected by FanGraphs as well. Not only does he have two excellent pitches, but he has solid command over both. The issue is that his change-up is well below average. He can throw it for strikes, but it needs a fair amount of improvement to be a reliable offering.

While he is 23, he’s still relatively inexperienced. This was his second season, and the first time he threw a significant amount of innings. There’s still hope he could continue developing and getting a third solid offering, but he still has a floor of a “dynamite reliever,” per FanGraphs.

But while Ortiz and Flowers are the two most notable names that could make the Altoona rotation a bit crowded, they won’t be the only ones. Braxton Ashcraft, Tahnaj Thomas, and Noe Toribio may also make some starts with the Curve.

Overall, Altoona’s roster will be stacked with talent. There’s so much pitching talent they may have a hard time getting pitching prospects regular starts next season. It’s a good sign of things to come for the Pirates, but Altoona will be one of the Pirates’ best affiliate teams next year.