Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Underrated Teenage Pitching Prospects

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BOSTON, MA – AUGUST 14: Ben Cherington, general manager of the Boston Red Sox, responds to a question before a game with the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park on August 14, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. John Farrell #53 of the Boston Red Sox will step down to start treatments Stage 1 lymphoma.(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) /

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a good amount of teenage talent in the farm system, but these three names fly under the radar.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a ton of talent spread throughout the farm system. You have some high-end names like Endy Rodriguez, Quinn Priester, Ji-Hwan Bae, and Henry Davis in the upper levels of the minor leagues, as well as young but highly touted prospects like Termarr Johnson, Bubba Chandler, and Anthony Solometo between the Florida Complex League and A-Ball. It’s a wide range of ages going from late-teens to early-20s as well.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a ton of under-20 prospects to watch because of their draft selections, trades, and international signings. They’ve done a lot to help the near future and the club’s long-term health. There’s arguably more talent down in the low minors than the upper minor leagues for the Bucs.

Still, some names fly under the radar for the team. When you’re on the same roster with guys like Chandler, Johnson, Solometo, or even names like Yordany De Los Santos or Hung Leng Chang, some guys are bound to be merely glanced over. But I want to give some recognition to some of those young players who aren’t necessarily the first names that come to mind when you think of the talent at Low-A and below for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

U-32 senior Owen Kellington fires a pitch vs. Lamoille in East Montpelier on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.Bur Owen Kellington U32 Baseball 7 /

Right-handed pitcher Owen Kellington

Drafted in the 4th round of the 2021 MLB draft, Owen Kellington was picked out of U-32 High School in Vermont. Vermont isn’t typically a hotbed for baseball talent, but Kellington stood out like no other prospect. He had just a 0.22 ERA and struck out 133 batters in just 49 innings of work. That meant that 90.5% of the outs made against him were strikeouts.

Kellington’s mechanics draw comparisons to Ubaldo Jimenez. Like Jimenez, Kellington has a big open-side wind-up and outward tilt to his delivery. But he doesn’t have as much power as the former Colorado Rockie ace.

Kellington currently sits around 88-90 MPH with his fastball but locates it well. It also has very good left-to-right movement. His curveball is really good. It has a quick drop to it that can get a lot of swings and misses. His change-up is still developing, but he has a feel for it. Plus, his command isn’t bad either.

FanGraphs likes Kellington for his “underlying traits.” He’s still only 19-years-old but has a tall frame. He’s 6’3″ 195 pounds, so there’s room to grow here. While he might never be a hard thrower, he has a lot of movement on his fastball, and if he adds another tick or two of velocity, he’ll make an already plus fastball an even better pitch.

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Right-handed pitcher Joaquin Tejada

Joaquin Tejada came over from the Seattle Mariners as the headliner in the Tyler Anderson trade. Tejada signed out of Panama and is considered one of the Pittsburgh Pirates most athletic pitching prospects. That gives him a pretty good outlook for future projection.

Tejada currently averages out in the 90-93 MPH range. That’s not going to make him a flamethrower, but with his projectability and 5’11”, 160-pound frame, there’s plenty of more velocity he could unlock. Give him another few years to physically mature and use his athleticism to clean up his mechanics, and he might be averaging out closer to 94-95 MPH.

That’s a very projectable fastball, but he also has a high-spin curveball that averages out with 2800-2900 RPM. It’s arguably the best pitch in his arsenal but far from the only pitch he throws. He also tosses a slider and splitter, and that gives him the opportunity to have four average or better pitches in the future.

Tejada’s athleticism gives him the chance to have plus command as well. He hasn’t pitched much in 2022, having just 26 innings of work for the Pirate Florida Complex League affiliate, but he does have 27 strikeouts and hasn’t allowed a home run with a 48.2% ground ball rate. But this also comes with 17 walks.

(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Left-handed pitcher Angel Camacho

The Pirates have added some decent left-handed pitching talent in the last few years. In my article ranking the Pirates’ top 5 LHP prospects, all five came in the last two drafts. However, one left-handed pitching prospect they signed in the most recent international signing deadline was Angel Camacho, who could eventually be a noteworthy prospect.

Camacho already has some professional experience under his belt. The Mexican prospect pitched 23 innings as a 17-year-old for the Pioneer League Rocky Mountain Vibes. Granted, he did struggle, surrendering 23 earned runs on 18 walks, three home runs, and just 21 K’s. But that was almost a given, seeing as the average age in the Pioneer League was 24 years old.

Despite being just 18, Camacho already has a fastball that averages out in the low-90s. He has displayed a decent curveball and change-up to go along with it. Like Tejada, Camacho is about projectability. He’s 5’11” but just 150-155 pounds, and he’ll definitely fill out that frame in the coming years.

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Camacho is very young, but definitely a guy to keep an eye on. He has some good stuff already and a lot more projectability, given his frame. Given he stays healthy and progresses smoothly, he could be a fun name to watch at Bradenton sometime next season.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have a good amount of teenage talent in the farm system, but these three names fly under the radar.

Right-handed pitcher Owen Kellington

Right-handed pitcher Joaquin Tejada

Left-handed pitcher Angel Camacho

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