Rum Bunter
FanSided

Pittsburgh Pirates: Best Prospect From Each Country

ByNoah Wright|
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 24: Miguel Yajure #89 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in action against the Philadelphia Phillies during a game at Citizens Bank Park on September 24, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 24: Miguel Yajure #89 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in action against the Philadelphia Phillies during a game at Citizens Bank Park on September 24, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
9 of 12
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 04: Solomon Maguire poses during a portrait session at Castle Hill Knight Baseball Field on September 04, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. MLB club, the Pittsburgh Pirates, have signed 17 year old Maguire in a deal worth almost $1 Million. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 04: Solomon Maguire poses during a portrait session at Castle Hill Knight Baseball Field on September 04, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. MLB club, the Pittsburgh Pirates, have signed 17 year old Maguire in a deal worth almost $1 Million. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Australia – Outfielder Solomon Maguire

Australia isn’t a big baseball powerhouse of a country, with only 33 players appearing in the major leagues from Down Under. Some successful players have come out of Australia, including Liam Hendriks, Grant Balfour, and Peter Moylan. However, despite the few players that come out of Australia, the Pittsburgh Pirates did add a prospect from Australia during the 2019-2020 off-season when they signed outfielder Solomon Maguire.

Maguire was one of their more notable international signings. He signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates for just under $600,000 at $594,000. The athletic outfielder made his professional debut last season at the organization’s Florida Coast League affiliate.

Maguire only had a .580 OPS, albeit in a small sample size of 59 plate appearances. On the plus side, he did have a healthy 16.9% walk rate and was a bit unlucky on batted balls. His BAbip sat at just .156. Maguire was very fly ball heavy with a fly ball rate over 50% at 51.6%.

According to FanGraphs, he’s a crude but athletic outfielder with great bat control. MLB Pipeline also highlighted his power potential. He showed plus potential in the power department and good bat speed for a teenager. Maguire gets good reviews for his speed and projects to stay in center field long term.

Maguire is one of the Pirates’ best-unranked prospects. He and Braylon Bishop are two very talented unranked, highly athletic, centerfield prospects with plus power potential. He’s still young as he’ll turn 19 on March 4th, but it’ll be fun to see what he can do moving forward.

Home/Pirates Prospects

Schedule