3 late-round picks from the Pirates' 2023 draft class coming off promising seasons

Garrett McMillan

While top prospects like Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington have deservedly gotten a ton of attention for their strong seasons, one name that hasn’t gotten nearly as much praise for the numbers he put up is right-hander Garrett McMillan. He ended up with one of the best performances among all Pirates’ minor league arms.

McMillian pitched 70.1 innings for both Bradenton and Greensboro this past season. He worked as a long-relief/spot-starter type, making four starts across 36 total appearances. Only 11 of those appearances lasted one or fewer innings; in total, McMillian worked to a 2.18 ERA, 2.89 FIP, and 1.18 WHIP. He had a healthy 28.2% strikeout rate, but only dished out a free pass 7% of the time and allowed a home run at just an 0.51-per-9-innings rate.

McMillan’s performance stood out in the Pirates’ pitching-loaded system. Among the Pirates’ young arms who threw at least 50 innings, McMillan had the second-best ERA and FIP, and finished fourth in xFIP (3.30). He also ranked top ten in the system in strikeout rate, walk rate, K:BB ratio, and HR/9. WHIP was the only noteworthy rate stat in which McMillan did not rank among the top ten.

The Pirates selected McMillan two rounds after they took Curtis in the 14th round. Unlike Curtis, McMillan is not a hard-throwing prospect. His fastball only averaged out at 91.7 MPH for Bradenton, topping out at 94, though it did have some decent ride. McMillan’s slider sat around 82-83 MPH with about 37 inches of drop. His curveball had about 50 inches of drop while sitting 80 MPH. McMillan’s changeup had similar velocity to his curveball, but with 34.6 inches of drop and 13.7 inches of break. Along with these four offerings, McMillan would occasionally fold in a cutter and sinker, although both offerings were used less than 3% of the time, with the latter being used less than 1% of the time.

McMillan isn’t ranked among any noteworthy Pirates prospect lists, but his strong season should grab the attention of fans. He did very well after getting promoted to Greensboro. The real challenge is when he eventually gets a look at Altoona, but he definitely got off to a strong start to his pro career.