Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Prospects Who Could Start in the Majors

Jared Triolo

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates broke Spring Training camp with Diego Castillo as part of the major league roster. Now, after adding another utility prospect to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, they could go through with something similar again. After a solid season at Double-A Altoona, Jared Triolo has a chance of making it to the major leagues on Opening Day.

But unlike Castillo, Triolo isn’t just coming off a good season, but multiple good seasons. Since making his debut in 2019, Triolo has a wRC+ of 110 or greater. He’s also struck out less than 20% of the time in all three seasons and 10% or greater walk rate in two of the three years. His last season at Altoona was arguably the best of his career, and he had a fantastic summer.

In 495 plate appearances, Triolo batted .282/.376/.419 with a .356 wOBA and 121 wRC+. Triolo struck out at a 17.6% rate with a healthy 12.7% walk rate. However, after having a quality .176 isolated slugging percentage in 2021, he fell to just .136 this past season. On the plus side, he stole 24 bases in 29 attempts.

However, after the start of June, Triolo caught fire and didn’t look back. The utility prospect had a .878 OPS, .385 wOBA, and 140 wRC+. Triolo hit for almost zero power at the start of the year, but by the time the weather started to heat up, he had a .194 isolated slugging percentage. On top of that, he had a much better 14.1% walk rate and 15.7% strikeout rate.

Triolo is versatile enough to play wherever the Pirates need him to. He played a handful of games at shortstop as a professional and started to see time in the outfield grass. Triolo isn’t wholly foreign to the outfield as he played a decent amount in college, and he started to re-familiarize himself at the position this year. He could also see time at second base and first base if the need arises.