Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: 2022 Minor League Statistical Leaders

Strikeout Rate (Starter)
Luis Peralta

A young right-hander that pitched at Bradenton, Luis Peralta has some true talent that has yet to be fully tapped into. The right-hander had his fair share of struggles at Bradenton this year but also ran into some pretty bad luck. If he can get his command under wraps and run into some better luck, he might see a noticeable uptick in stock.

The southpaw pitched 60.1 innings with a 6.41 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, and 4.88 FIP. Where Peralta struggled, the most was with free passes. He had a 15.5% walk rate, but the defense didn’t help him out all that much. He had a .387 batting average on balls in play, the highest among all Pirates minor league pitchers. He also had a 20% HR/FB ratio, which is completely unsustainable. Between these two numbers, Ortiz had an xFIP of 3.95.

But on the plus side, Peralta struck out over a third of the batters he faced with a 34.3% strikeout rate, the best that any starter had to offer in the system by over 5%. Burrows’ 28.2% strikeout rate was a distant second.

Despite his numbers, Peralta isn’t a hard thrower. He’s quite athletic despite his more diminutive stature (5’11”, 170 LBS), so his command issues could be resolved in the future. He also has clean mechanics, according to FanGraphs, so with more experience and coaching, Peralta may see that walk rate decrease in the future.