Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Five Best Left-Handed Pitchers

The Pittsburgh Pirates have some quality left-handed pitching prospects in the system, but who are the team’s five best?

A good left-handed pitcher is something all baseball teams love. It’s a trait every team wants, but few have because of the rarity of a southpaw who consistently produces on the mound. The Pittsburgh Pirates definitely have a few lefties in the system who could be key long-term pieces to the pitching staff.

Most of the Pirates’ top pitching prospects are right-handers. Quinn Priester, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, and Mike Burrows are righties. Again, while a good lefty is hard to come by, the Pirates might be able to find a good one from their farm system.

Today, I want to look at the Pittsburgh Pirates five best left-handed pitching prospects. Notably, all of these players were drafted in the last two drafts, making them new additions to the minor league system. With that discussed, let’s look at the fifth best southpaw prospect the Pirates have to offer.

Tyler Samaniego

It’s not often you see relief pitching prospects on top prospect lists. However, Tyler Samaniego has been nothing but dominant since arriving to the Pirates. The high-leverage lefty was selected in the 15th round of the 2021 draft as an under-slot deal, signing for just $75K. The University of South Alabama has been a great use of that under slot pick so far.

Samaniego has pitched 41 innings for the Pirate High-A and Double-A affiliates. He has a 1.76 ERA, 3.01 FIP, and .78 WHIP between the two levels. Samaniego has a 28% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate. Samaniego’s K% dipped from 35.3% to 22.5% when he got promoted, but his walk rate also took a nose dive from 16.2% to 6.7%.

Samaniego gets a decent amount of swings and misses, but his biggest strength has been keeping the ball on the ground and preventing home runs. He has a 59.8% ground ball rate, a sub-15% line drive rate (12.7%), and a sub-30% fly ball rate (27.6%). He’s allowed just a single home run all year, giving him a 0.22 HR/9 rate.

The relief prospect has only had one bad outing all year, with five of the eight earned runs he’s given up coming in just one game. Outside of that one appearance, Samaniego has a .69 ERA. For reference, the lowest ERA ever posted by a reliever in the major leagues is Zack Britton in 2016 at 0.54.

Samaniego has a lower arm slot and averages out in the mid-90s with his heater. He also has a quality upper-80s slider, though that’s all he has. Samaniego looks like he could be setting up games (or even closing them out) for the Pirates for years to come within the very near future. He’s 23-years-old and dominating Double-A batters. It’s only a matter of time before he gets the bump to Triple-A and, subsequently, the major leagues.

Julian Bosnic

The last player to sign from the Pirates’ 2022 draft class, Julian Bosnic, was an excellent use of their 14th-round selection. It is a risk/reward pick, but you can’t ignore the massive upside that comes with Bosnic. While many project his home eventually being the bullpen, this is still a lefty who has a chance to start in the future. He’s arguably the most underrated pick from the team’s ‘22 draft class.

Bosnic finished off a dominant college season for the University of South Carolina. He worked a total of 50.2 innings, posting a 2.84 ERA and .93 WHIP. Bosnic’s 12.1% walk rate isn’t going to impress anyone. But he struck out well over a third of the batters he faced with a 37.9% K-rate while holding opponents to an HR/9 of .36. Bosnic also allowed just 22 total base hits for a 3.91 hits-per-9 rate.

Bosnic’s fastball averages out in the low-to-mid-90s and can crank it up to hit 97 MPH when he needs to. His high-spin curveball gets a ton of swings and misses as well. His change-up displays solid movement, but it’s not a pitch he’s very familiar with. But that’s nothing some coaching likely couldn’t fix.

Bosnic’s command is fringy at best, which was indicated by his 12.1% walk rate but reflected by his athleticism and mechanics. The southpaw has trouble repeating his delivery, partly because he isn’t the most athletic pitcher ever. He has a 6’3”, 215-pound frame but has a high-effort delivery. His stuff looks excellent, but his mechanics are his biggest flaw, which leads to shaky command.

Bosnic’s future will be determined by his physical and mechanical development. He entered the 2021 draft as a potential early-round selection, was selected by the SF Giants in the 16th round, but ended up not signing. He’s previously had Tommy John surgery but looks to be fully healthy and recovered. If the Pirates can tweak his delivery and make it more repeatable, thus helping his command, and get him more used to throwing a change-up, he could be a starting pitcher.

Hunter Barco

Hunter Barco was the 44th overall pick in the 2022 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. A product coming out of the University of Florida, the lefty signed for $1,525,000, making him the second of three players we’ll talk about today from this draft class. There’s a good possibility that Barco increases his stock and goes earlier in this year’s draft had it not been for a poorly timed Tommy John surgery.

Before getting injured he was mowing down SEC batters. Barco had a 2.50 ERA and .894 WHIP through 50 innings on the bump. Barco struck out batters at an impressive 34.3% rate. He also held them to just 11 base on balls (5.5% walk rate). However, his 1.08 HR/9 isn’t going to blow anyone away, though it was above the average for the conference (1.15).

When healthy, Barco sat around 90-93 MPH and topped out at 95 MPH. Barco’s slider is a plus-plus offering with sweeping action, making it the best pitch in his arsenal. His change-up is another above-average offering that he has a good feel for and adds some deception to because of his arm speed.

Barco has a side-arm delivery, which helps all his stuff play up because of the deception and movement it adds. The southpaw showed off quality command over his offerings as well. Many see him as a low-variance starting pitching prospect, projecting as a middle-rotation arm. However, his mechanics and command give him the chance to surpass that and become something greater in the future. Tommy John surgery pushed back his debut to sometime next season, but you should still look forward to what Barco can do on the mound.

Anthony Solometo

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to go over slot with four of their first five draft picks. Among them was lefty Anthony Solometo. Solometo was arguably the best southpaw the 2021 draft class had to offer.

Ranking 17th on MLB Pipeline’s list and 34 on FanGraphs’ list, Solometo went to the Pittsburgh Pirates at no. 37 because of signability concerns. But Solometo forwent his North Carolina commitment for a $2,797,500 signing bonus, which fell just short of $800K over slot.

Solometo’s biggest strength is his command. Gunnar Hoglund was the only pitcher in the 2021 draft who was projected to have better command over their offerings. Solometo has pinpoint accuracy over his four-seamer, slider, slurve, and change-up. He mostly works in the low-90s with his fastball but can increase the heat when he needs to. His breaking stuff has sweeping action, and he has a feel for his change-up. There’s a good possibility of three above-average pitches plus a fourth average offering.

Solometo has gotten his first professional work this year. He’s only tossed 29.1 innings for the A-Ball Bradenton Marauders, but he has a quality 3.68 ERA, 2.90 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP. He has a healthy 25.4% strikeout rate, albeit with a slightly disappointing 9% walk rate (though it is worth mentioning that Low-A does use the automated/digital strike zone, and many pitchers have a tough time adjusting to it, which has caused an uptick in walks at A-Ball). On the plus side, he’s yet to allow a home run and has a 48% ground ball rate.

Solometo has a large 6’5”, 200-pound frame. He has a deceptive motion with a Dontrell Willis-like leg kick and Madison Bumgarner-esque delivery. There are a lot of moving parts, but he makes it work. Solometo is still only 19 years old. I think there’s a plus-plus command pitcher here who consistently operates in the 92-94 MPH range here within Solometo.