Pittsburgh Pirates: Four Prospects to Watch the Rest of the 2022 Season

Outfielder Rodolfo Nolasco

One of the Pittsburgh Pirates most underrated prospects is Rodolfo Nolasco. He’s a guy who could consistently hit .280 with 30+ home runs in the future. He’s still relatively young, being just 20 years old at Low-A Bradenton. He also got off to a slow start to the season but has quickly turned things around recently.

Up until June 15, Nolasco was batting .190/.271/.328 with a .238 wOBA and 75 wRC+. While his 9.5% walk rate was solid, he struck out in over a third of his plate appearances, clocking in with an insanely high 35.7% strikeout rate. Granted, a low .284 batting average on balls in play wasn’t doing him any favors, but no player will ever be productive with that high of a strikeout rate.

However, something clicked with Nolasco, and he’s been batting like early-2000s Barry Bonds for the last month. Since June 16th, Nolasco is hitting .373/.488/.756 with a .539 wOBA and 241 wRC+. He has raised his walk rate to 17.9%, and while his strikeout rate is still a tad high, 26.2% is a massive improvement from what he had. He’s hit a home run in five of his last six games as well, and his K-rate is ever improving. Since the start of July, he’s gone down on strike three in just 20.4% of his plate appearances. He’s also relying less on BAbip luck this month, having just a .375 BAbip compared to his .368 batting average.

When I said that Nolasco has been producing like early-2000s Barry Bonds for the past month, I wasn’t exaggerating. He has a 1.234 OPS, .539 wOBA, and 241 wRC+ in this time. In 2002, Bonds had a 1.381 OPS, .544 wOBA, and 244 wRC+. Very similar numbers if you want a better context as to how good Nolasco has been recently.

Nolasco has done a complete 180 after a terrible start to the season. Now, he’ll look to continue to produce in the second half of 2022. If he continues to cut down on his strikeouts and keeps producing at a high level, you may see him shoot up prospect boards.