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

With the second half of baseball about to start, who are some Pittsburgh Pirates prospects to watch in the later half of summer?

The first half of the 2022 minor league season saw many Pittsburgh Pirates prospects perform well. Matt Gorski, Ji-Hwan Bae, and Mike Burrows are just three of the many names that did well. But as we head into the second half of the 2022 season, many more prospects could make a name for themselves.

Last year, the Pirates had many top prospects perform much better down the stretch than they did at the start of the season. There’s still plenty of season left for some of these prospects to turn things around. With that being said, who are some prospects we should keep an eye on as the second half of 2022 rolls around?

RHP Quinn Priester

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ top pitching prospect Quinn Priester did not pitch much in the first half of the 2022 campaign. He missed the first two months of the season due to an oblique injury. Since returning, he has only pitched 27 innings.

But Priester looks like he’s back to full strength. Since reaching Double-A, Priester has tossed 21.1 innings allowing just five earned runs, having a ground ball rate of 52.6%, and no home runs. He’s struck out 24.4% of batters faced while having a 7% walk rate. Overall, pretty good numbers in his return to Altoona.

Priester also pitched well in the second half of last season. Outside of one clunker start at the very end of 2021, Priester had a 2.08 ERA, 3.40 FIP, and 1.06 WHIP. The talented right-hander struck out 27.3% of batters faced while having a solid 8.3% walk rate. Priester has always been great at inducing ground balls and had just a 0.52 HR/9 in this time.

Priester has the potential to become a long-term rotation anchor for the Pirates. He has one of the best curveballs in the minor leagues, and his other stuff looks decent but could be better. Either way, a big second half from Priester could put him on track to make his big league debut this year and become a key part of the rotation in 2023.

RHP Jared Jones

The first half of 2022 hasn’t treated Jared Jones well. In 80.2 innings, the hard-throwing right-hander has a 4.80 ERA, 4.47 FIP, and 1.38 WHIP. Granted, he does have a strong 29.3% strikeout rate, but a sub-par 10.3% walk rate and 1.23 HR/9. Jones had a high ERA last season, but many underlying factors, such as a .385 batting average on balls in play massively inflated his surface numbers.

Jones went into the break with two good games, pitching 12.1 innings, struck out 14 batters, and allowing just 3 earned runs and zero home runs. This kept his ERA and FIP below 3.00. It’s an extremely small sample size but could be the start of a hot streak for Jones. He also has a 3.56 FIP through his last 28 innings.

It’s also worth noting that Jones is young for his level. He’s just 20 years old, and the average pitcher age at High-A is 23.1 years old. The average hitter age is 22.6 years old. Priester was the same age as Jones was when he was at Greensboro, and it took him until the second half to get fully acclimated to the competition.

Jones has one of the best pitch arsenals in the Pirate farm system. He throws an upper-90s fastball along with a great slider. His curveball is another above-average pitch he can rely on. His changeup projects to be average. When the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Jones, they knew they were taking some risk with a high school arm with some command issues, but walks haven’t been a significant issue for him.

Jones arguably has a higher ceiling than Priester. He has better overall stuff but a bit more risk. Still, I think Jones could have a big second half of 2022. He has the talent and just needs consistency. Maybe after getting familiar with the new level, he’ll figure things out during the rest of July, August, and September.

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.