Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Player to Watch at Each Level in 2022

The Pittsburgh Pirates have plenty of talent throughout the minor league system, but who are some under-the-radar names to watch at every level?

Minor league baseball is underway with Triple-A having kicked off play earlier this week. The Indianapolis Indians have already played a three games, with the rest of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates playing their first game on Friday night.

The minor league system is completely loaded with talent. Much of that talent is approaching the upper levels of the minor leagues, but there are still plenty of names to watch at every level to start the year. There’s a lot to look forward to in the near future between high-end talents and interesting names.

So today, I want to look at one player to watch on every minor league affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I’m namely looking at guys who aren’t high-end prospects. So don’t expect Quinn Priester or Henry Davis.

Now with that out of the way, let’s go down to Low-A Bradenton and see what they have to offer.

Greensboro Grasshoppers – LHP Reliever Tyler Samaniego

The Greensboro Grasshoppers’ 2022 roster holds one of the best pitching prospects in the Pirate system in Jared Jones and one of the best position player prospects they have to offer in catcher Henry Davis. There’s also a handful of other notable names like Logan Hofmann, Ricky DeVito, Hudson Head, and Endy Rodriguez. But southpaw Tyler Samaniego has a chance to close out games for the Grasshoppers in 2022.

Drafted in the 15th round of last year’s draft, Samaniego is a product coming out of the University of South Alabama. During his age-22 season with Alabama, the lefty tossed 17.2 innings, only allowing a single home run while racking up 27 punchouts. The downside is he also walked nine batters.

Samaniego got his first taste of action at Bradenton last year. He only faced 28 batters but retired 75% of them, with 15 going down on strike three and only allowing two to reach via free pass. As we saw earlier, he did give up a home run, but he wasn’t very home run prone in college.

Samaniego has a four-seam fastball that he can run up into the upper-90s. A lefty who can fire it through the zone in the 95-97 MPH range will always get attention from teams. He also tosses a wipeout slider that he can get his fair share of swings and misses on. It’s a typical relief pitcher arsenal. His ability to locate needs to be sharpened up, though he did walk just 2 of the 28 batters he faced last season in his first sample size of professional playing time.

It’s not often you find a good relief pitching prospect. Most of baseball’s best relief pitchers started their careers out as starters. Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, and Lee Smith were all starting pitching prospects before they were Hall of Fame closers. While that’s not to say that the Pittsburgh Pirates have a potential Hall of Fame closer on their hands or that Samaniego will do poorly because he’s a relief prospect already, he is one of the few quality left-handed pitching prospects in the Pirate system. The fact he has the chance to be a closer makes him a player to watch in 2022.

Altoona Curve – RHP Aaron Shortridge

Altoona’s roster is nothing short of loaded. They have many of the Pittsburgh Pirates highest-end prospects, including Priester, Nick Gonzales, and Liover Peguero. The Curve’s roster also houses Michael Burrows, J.C. Flowers, Luis Ortiz, Jared Triolo, and a handful of others. With that much talent, it’s very easy to overlook Aaron Shortridge.

Shortridge was a 4th round pick by the Bucs back in 2018. After getting his feet wet with a phenomenal 30.1 inning run with Low-A West Virginia, Shortridge was then sent to High-A to continue his progression. His first full season went quite well for the right-hander.

In 135.2 innings of work, Shortridge posted a 3.25 ERA, 3.68 FIP, and 1.14 WHIP. Although his 19.1% strikeout rate wasn’t anything special, he only walked 4.7% of batters faced while only surrendering 13 home runs. Despite his low strikeout numbers, Shortridge still had a solid 3.41 xFIP. Plus, he put up a 29.9% strikeout rate in his first taste of action back in 2018.

Things were trending up for Shortridge until he had to undergo Tommy John surgery in January 2021. That meant we would not see the pitching prospect in 2021. It was a setback for Shortridge, but he’s recovered and looks to put himself on the right track once again.

Shortridge, who’s mostly known for his command, throws in the low-90s with a quality slider and change-up. He has three offerings that he can use regularly and can pound the zone with all three pitches. He also brings some athleticism to the mound, which helps him repeat his delivery.

Hopefully, Shortridge can continue to pitch well. There’s no such thing as too much pitching depth, and a potential long-term starting rotation option is always welcomed. Shortridge has been an effective pitcher so far. Even if he isn’t an overly dominating force, he comes in and gets outs. At 24-years-old, the Pirates might even see him make his debut sometime in 2022.

Indianapolis Indians – Infielder Rodolfo Castro

Triple-A Indianapolis has its fair share of talent. There are the obvious names like Oneil Cruz and Roansy Contreras. But they’re backed by a supporting cast made up of Travis Swaggerty, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Mason Martin, and Ji-Hwan Bae. One of the many notable names at Indianapolis to start out the year is infielder Rodolfo Castro.

Castro has already made his Major League debut. He appeared in 31 games, collecting 93 plate appearances showing off a ton of power potential. He hit five home runs, being the first player to start their career out with five straight home runs. On the downside, he only had six walks and 28 strikeouts.

Castro’s 2021 minor league season was somewhat of a rollercoaster. From the start of the season through July 18th, Castro was hitting .315/.356/.533 with a .386 wOBA and 142 wRC+. However, he was downright awful in the weeks prior to his promotion to Triple-A. From July 20th through September 19th, he hit just .080/.156/.136 with a .144 wOBA and -18 wRC+. For reference, the average wRC+ for pitchers in 2021 was -22. But once he got to Triple-A, he started to turn things around. It was a small sample size of 38 plate appearances, but Castro ended the season on a high note, batting .286/.342/.657 with a .419 wOBA and 158 wRC+.

Castro’s power ability is his best tool. FanGraphs pins his raw power at a 60, though his hit tool only is considered a 35-grade tool. He’s a decent runner but a so-so defender. He has seen time at multiple infield positions, including both middle infield spots and the hot corner. Even if he’s only a .230-.250 hitter, he has the chance to reach double-digit home runs, even in a semi-regular role.

Castro has gotten off to a decent start at Indy once again. In 11 plate appearances, Castro has three hits and a walk. He’s one of the multiple options the Pirates have to keep the seat warm at the keystone until Nick Gonzales is in the major leagues.

Even once Gonzales is in the majors, Castro could be a quality bench bat. Power off the bench is always valuable, and Castro could provide that. He’s also athletic enough that the Pirates could move him around the field if they want and see time in left field and first base.