Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: 2022 Minor League Statistical Leaders

The Pittsburgh Pirates had many prospects who performed well throughout the minor league system, but who was the leaders in the most important catergories?

The Pittsburgh Pirates wrapped up their 2022 season on Wednesday, and the last game of the minor leagues was on September 28th when the Indianapolis Indians fell to Columbus Clippers 3-11. It wasn’t the most fabulous send-off, but that doesn’t mean that the Pirates didn’t have many good seasons from their system this year.

Today, I want to take a look at each of the Pirates’ minor league statistical leaders. There are many stats to evaluate players, but for batters, we’ll look at wRC+, OBP, slugging percentage, OPS, wOBA, walk rate, strikeout rate, and BB:K ratio. For pitchers, we’ll evaluate them through ERA, FIP, xFIP, WHIP, walk rate, K:BB ratio, and opponent average. Last year when we looked through the Pirates’ minor league statistical leaders, we only looked at position players and starting pitchers, but we will also look at relievers this season.

For this, I am looking at batters with at least 300 plate appearances, so you won’t see any prospects from the Dominican Summer League or Florida Complex League. For starting pitchers, I am considering arms who started 12 games, and for relievers, we’re looking at guys with at least 50 IP out of the bullpen and less than three starts.

So without further ado, let’s look at our first leader.

wRC+, wOBA, OPS, OBP
Endy Rodriguez

Endy Rodriguez led all Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguers in nearly every single meaningful statistical category. We’ll first start with wRC+, or weighted runs created plus. This puts his wOBA (weighted on-base average) on a scale of 100, where 100 is the league average. 101 is 1% better than league, 99 is 1% worse than league average, and so on. With a 166 wRC+, Rodriguez outdid Matt Gorski by 13%. Rodriguez had a 222 wRC+ from the All-Star break to the end of the minor league season (122% better than the league average).

Then you have his wOBA or weighted on-base average, or wOBA. This gives every hit a specific weight, along with walks and hit by pitches. For reference, it’s on the same scale as on-base percentage. Rodriguez clocked in with a .434 wOBA, which was by far the best among all Pirates minor leaguers, with Matt Gorksi in second place behind Rodriguez at .411.

Although Rodriguez didn’t lead the Pirates in slugging percentage, he ranked second behind Gorski by just eight points. However, his on-base percentage was 25 points better than Nick Gonzales, which gave him the lead by a wide margin. With his elite OBP and SLG, Rodriguez led the Pirates in OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).

Endy had one of the most exciting minor league seasons a Pirate prospect has had in a while. Going into his age-23 season next year, he’ll be knocking on the major league doorstep. He reached Triple-A this year and collected ten hits in just 23 plate appearances, including two doubles, a triple, and a home run.

Walk Rate (Batter)
Brenden Dixon

Brenden Dixon is an unlikely name you probably didn’t think you would see today. Dixon was drafted out of Weatherford College as the 20th and final round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021. Dixon made a great first impression in 2021 with a 1.082 OPS through his first 43 plate appearances as a pro baseball player, but 2022 wasn’t as kind to him.

Dixon played the entire season at ALow-A Bradenton, where he slashed .208/.337/.346. He had just a .329 wOBA and 102 wRC+, making him just 2% better than the league average. The utility infielder had a .138 ISO and struck out just over 30% of the time with a 30% strikeout rate. Not the best season, but he did lead all Pirates minor leaguers in walk rate.

With 52 walks in 347 plate appearances, Dixon clocked in with a 15.3% walk rate. He outpaced the second-place finisher, Andres Alvarez, by 0.9%. Despite his poor strikeout rate, Dixon still had a BB:K ratio of just over a half at .51.

Dixon may not be a top prospect, but for a 20th-round pick, he hasn’t been terrible. He’s seen time all over the infield, playing at second base, third base, first base, and saw time at shortstop in college. Next year he’ll likely be a part of Greensboro’s infield rotation.

Strikeout Rate (Batter)
Jacob Gonzalez

Another unlikely hero from the Pirates minor league teams this year was Jacob Gonzalez. The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Gonzalez this past offseason from the San Francisco Giants in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Gonzalez was originally a second-round pick, but after struggling mightily for a handful of years, the Giants decided he wasn’t worth the 40-man roster protection, given he never even made it to Double-A.

But Gonzalez would go on to have a career year in 2022. In 480 total plate appearances, the first baseman slashed .305/.377/.459 with 13 round-trippers. He only had a 7.5% walk rate, but his overall output was encapsulated in a .381 wOBA and 132 wRC+.

However, Gonzalez struck out at an impressive clip in which he only went down on strike three 13.1% of the time. Ji-Hwan Bae had the second lowest strikeout rate at 16.9%, which, while still significant, was a far cry from Gonzalez’s rate. When everything was said and done, Gonzalez was one of just 61 total players with a strikeout rate below 15%.

Gonzalez is going to be 24/25 next season (he turns 25 on June 26th), so he’s pretty old for a ‘prospect.’ But he did quite well at Greensboro and Bradenton this year, so he’ll probably find himself as Altoona’s regular first baseman until he proves otherwise. It would be a nice story if he had another excellent season and made the major leagues in 2023.

Walk-To-Strikeout Ratio
Jared Triolo

When you have flashy infield prospects like Nick Gonzales, Liover Peguero, Ji-Hwan Bae, and Termarr Johnson, it’s easy to overlook Jared Triolo. Since making his debut in 2019, he’s had a wRC+ of at least 110 and strikeout rate below 20% in each of his three seasons. This year was arguably his best season yet.

In just under 500 trips to the plate for Altoona, Triolo batted .282/.376/.415. While his power output decreased from 2021, Triolo had a big second half in which he had a .279 isolated slugging percentage. He had a remarkable 12.7% walk rate and a healthy 17.6% strikeout rate, both of which ranked top 10 among all Pirates farmhands.

Because of his great walk and strikeout numbers, Triolo had a BB:K ratio of 0.72. That outpaced Bradenton infielder Tsung-Che Chang who had a .66 BB:K ratio on the season. Both Chang and Triolo had almost identical seasons, but Triolo did it at Double-A.

Triolo will surely be part of Indy’s infield at the start of 2023. He’s the best defensive infielder the Pirates have to offer right now, and he’s expanded his capabilities, seeing more time at shortstop and center field. He’s fast enough to play both positions as he has swiped 24 bases this season. With 2023 being his age-25 campaign, I wouldn’t rule out Triolo breaking camp with the Pirates if he is healthy and performing well during Spring Training.

ERA, HR/9, and Batting Average against (Starting Pitcher)
Cody Bolton

Cody Bolton just barely squeaked out the ERA title for Pittsburgh Pirates minor league starting pitchers. Not only did he barely meet the requisite number of starts with 14, but he also didn’t have the lead until the very last game of Indianapolis’ season. Because Preister surrendered four earned runs in 4.1 innings in his final game of the season, Bolton just overtook the top 100 prospect.

Bolton had a solid return to the mound after sitting out 2020 because of the pandemic and 2021 because of a season-ending knee injury. Despite not pitching competitively for two seasons, he came back in 2022 to have a 3.09 ERA, 3.81 FIP, and 1.28 WHIP through 75.2 innings of work.

The right-hander struck out just over a quarter of the batters he faced with a 25.4% strikeout rate and only allowed four home runs all season, which was the second stat that Bolton led all Pirates minor league starters in. But the downside included a 12.4% walk rate and 4.85 xFIP, which stems from his 5.1% HR/FB ratio. Batters had a hard time getting hits off of Bolton, who held opponents to a .205 batting average against.

Bolton was used in a swing-man role, starting only 14 of the 30 total games he appeared in. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible for the second year in a row, but after his solid year at Triple-A, the Pirates may decide to protect him. After all, he would be a better option in the bullpen next year than Duane Underwood Jr. and a better roster filler than many of the depth arms they currently have on the 40-man roster.

Earned Run Average (Reliever)
J.C. Flowers

J.C. Flowers is one of the more interesting prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. Drafted in 2019, the right-hander didn’t become a pitcher until his final season at Florida State. Flowers has bounced between the rotation and bullpen but only made two starts the entire 2022 season, where he pitched well in a long relief role.

In total, he pitched 68.2 innings in just 33 total games. He had a 2.88 ERA and 1.18 WHIP but a less impressive 4.12 FIP. He had a solid 8.4% walk rate and 0.79 HR/9; however, he only struck out 21.8% of the batters he faced, the primary reason his FIP was so high. But Flowers did pitch for the strikeout from June onward.

In the last 38 innings of 20222, Flowers had a 27.3% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate, and .47 HR/9. He still had a sub-3.00 ERA at 2.31 but a much better-looking 3.31 FIP. On top of that, opponents couldn’t touch Flowers. They managed just a .184 batting average against and had a 1.03 WHIP.

Where Flowers ends up, in the long run, is still up for debate. Altoona pitched him three or more innings in a third of his outings and fewer than two innings in just 12 of his appearances. Flowers has one of the best sliders in minor league baseball and arguably the best breaking ball among all Pirates pitching prospects. If you were to ask me, he should start 2023 in Indy’s rotation, but it’s still up in the air as to if he’ll be a starting pitcher or a relief pitcher in the major leagues.

Fielding Independent Pitching (Starter)
Mike Burrows

Mike Burrows made massive strides in 2022. Although his ERA might not reflect it, he had arguably his best season, development-wise. The right-hander went from a reliever outlook to a starter outlook in one season. Burrows made it to Triple-A and will likely make his debut sometime early in 2023.

Again, his ERA doesn’t tell the full story. He allowed six earned runs in his final start of the season, bloating his ERA from 3.46 to 4.01. But he still struck out 28.2% of the batters he faced while having a walk rate of just 7.9%. Burrows’ K:BB ratio was second among all starters, with a 3.58 rate. Plus, he had a solid 0.76 HR/9. This led to a 3.29 FIP, which was much better than his ERA.

Burrows has consistently shown some of the highest spin rates for his fastball and curveball. But his change-up has come a far way since being drafted in the 10th round of the 2018 draft. There were questions as to whether or not he would be able to handle himself at the upper levels of the minor leagues, but he clearly has.

With next season being the right-hander’s age-23 season, we’ll surely get to see him in the major leagues. By the end of the year, he could form a formidable rotation alongside Quinn Priester, Mitch Keller, Roansy Contreras, and Luis Ortiz. That starting five has a ton of potential.

FIP, WHIP, strikeout rate, walk rate, xFIP, K:BB ratio, and BA against (Reliever)
Nick Dombkowski

Nick Dombkowski had a great 2022 campaign. After signing as an undrafted free agent after the ’21 draft, Dombkowski made it all the way to Double-A Altoona after starting the year with Bradenton. He led Pirates relief pitchers in a total of five statistical categories.

The first was FIP (fielding independent pitching) which is how good a pitcher did based on the three true outcomes (walks, home runs, and K’s). Dombkowski clocked in 3.29 mark. xFIP (expected FIP), which measures how good the batter was after normalizing their HR/FB ratio, pinned him at 3.62, which while not as good as his 3.29 FIP, was still solid nonetheless.

Dombkowski both struck out a ton of batters and didn’t allow many walks. His 30.7% strikeout rate was the second best among all Pirate minor league pitchers and the best among all relievers. He was one of two pitchers with a strikeout rate above 30%. His 6.8% walk rate was one of three sub-7% marks in the system. Of course, that means he led all relievers in K:BB ratio at 4.53.

Last but certainly not least, he held opponents to a .213 average against him. The only two notable reliever stats he didn’t lead in was ERA, in which he still had a 3.07 mark, and HR/9 at .94. For an undrafted free agent, he sure had a good year.

With the Pirate bullpen struggling, Dombkowski should surely be in future plans. The southpaw will likely take over a regular role in Indy’s pen to start 2023, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he were given the MLB promotion before summer.

WHIP, Strikeout-To-Walk Ratio and xFIP (Starter)
Luis Ortiz

Luis Ortiz has rocketed up the Pirates system, going from Bradenton at the end of 2021 to the Major Leagues at the end of 2022. Ortiz did face some bumps in the road, but that’s not wholly uncommon for a guy who entirely skips a level of the minor leagues. But by the end of the season, Ortiz established himself as a potential long-term cog of the Pirates’ major league rotation.

Ortiz tossed 124.1 innings for both Altoona and Indy. He only had a 4.56 ERA and 4.40 FIP but had a 1.14 WHIP, the best among Pirates starting pitching prospects. xFIP was much kinder to him, with a 3.75 mark. This mainly comes from the fact he had a 17.4% HR/FB ratio. He also had a great 27.1% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate, leading to a 3.63 K:BB ratio, yet another stat he led all Pirates starting pitching prospects in.

Ortiz made the major leagues and pitched 16 total innings. Although he gave up eight earned runs, six of those came in his fourth start. He still had a 24.6% strikeout rate while allowing a single home run. His 14.5% walk rate wasn’t anything to be proud of, but again, it was inflated by his poor last start of 2022.

Ortiz will look to fully establish himself in 2023. The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t had a starting pitcher with this good of a fastball since Gerrit Cole in 2013. Ortiz consistently hits 98-99 MPH and will hit 100 MPH quite often. He is one of the many prospects with a bright outlook on the future in the Pirate system.

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.

Walk Rate (Starter)
Jerad Eickhoff

Jerad Eickhoff just edged out Joelvis Del Rosario for the lowest walk rate among Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitchers. He surrendered just a single free pass in his last 17 innings and four starts, which gave him enough of a window to overtake Del Rosario.

Now by no means did Eickhoff have a good season. He still had a poor 4.96 ERA, 4.57 FIP, but a solid 1.15 WHIP for Triple-A. He primarily served as organizational depth and made just one major league appearance. Unfortunately for Eickhoff, he surrendered ten earned runs on ten hits and two home runs in just 4.1 innings, which ended up being a historically bad start.

The former Philadelphia Phillies rotation arm had a 22.3% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate, edging out Del Rosario by a tenth of a point. Although Eichkhoff had a 3.57 K:BB ratio, the right-hander struggled with the longball, surrendering 17 in 114.1 innings and leading to a 1.34 HR/9 rate.

The chances that Eickhoff returns to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2023 is slim-to-none. He served his role as organizational and emergency depth and soaked up innings for Triple-A. In 2021, his role was given to James Marvel; in 2019, that role was Eduardo Vera’s. The Pittsburgh Pirates will probably find a replacement for him this off-season in the form of another minor league signee.

But I do think it’s worth at least mentioning Joelvis Del Rosario here, given that Del Rosario is a prospect and Eickhoff has pitched 464.2 innings in the major leagues and is not a rookie. Del Rosario had a 3.68 ERA, 4.53 FIP, and 1.29 WHIP for Bradenton. Del Rosario had just a 6.4% walk rate, but struck out under 20% of the batters he faced (19.5%) while having an unimpressive 1.16 HR/9. Del Rosario will be in his age-22 season next year, so he’s still fairly young and has time to figure it out.

Home Runs Allowed Per-Nine Innings (Reliever)
Cam Alldred

Cam Alldred turned in a solid season at Triple-A Indy. Although he isn’t a top prospect, even among the Pirates’ relief prospects, he was an unsung hero for the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate. He regularly pitched multiple innings and, up until the last few games of the season, had an ERA under 3.00.

Alldred tossed 66.2 innings in 44 games (two starts). His strong suit was preventing the home run, having a 0.68 HR/9 and allowing just five dingers all year. But he also had a solid 8.8% walk rate. His strikeout rate of 21.8% wasn’t awe-inspiring, but overall, he had a 4.02 ERA and 3.88 FIP, plus a 1.37 WHIP.

But as late as September 10th, Alldred had a 2.18 ERA and allowed just one home run in his first 57.2 innings of the season. Alldred just faltered in the last two weeks of 2022, allowing 16 earned runs and four home runs in 8.2 innings. He allowed two fewer runs in the first 57.2 innings of 2022.

Alldred’s last two weeks may have set his season off course, but you can’t ignore the sub-2.20 ERA he had for nearly the first 60 innings of 2022. Although Alldred already made his MLB debut, he pitched just a single inning before being removed from the 40-man roster. With how much the bullpen has struggled this year in the second half of 2022, it’s surprising the Pirates did not recall the southpaw.