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

Magdiel Cotto

Magdiel Cotto was taken before Curtis in the draft. He showed some promise in his final season at the University of Kentucky and headed into the draft as atop 300 draft prospect according Baseball America (ranked 267th). The southpaw showed off some potential at Bradenton before stumbling in a small sample size at Greensboro.

Cotto pitched to a 2.63 ERA, 4.06 FIP, and 1.14 WHIP throughout his first 48 innings of the year. He struck out 24.4% of opponents with an 0.38 HR/9. Cotto was a groundball machine, inducing a batted ball in the dirt 59.3% of the time and carrying a barrel rate well below 5% at 3.4%. However, Cotto struggled with limiting walks, as he handed out a free pass 12.4% of the time.

Cotto ended his season with Greensboro, where he pitched seven innings in six appearances. It was an uneventful ending, as Cotto allowed six earned runs, walked a duo of batters, and struck out six. He also allowed two home runs in the small sample size.

Cotto uses a four-pitch arsenal. He throws both a four-seam and two-seam fastball. He doesn’t throw particularly hard, averaging out around 92-93 MPH with both of his fastballs. Both pitches also have around 21-22 inches of drop. However, his two-seamer has much better run, with 11.6 inches of break. His slider hits the low-80s, with about 11 inches of break and 38 inches of drop. Still, it induced a ton of swings and misses with a 55.7% whiff rate. Cotto’s mid-80s changeup had 36.3 inches of drop/14 inches of break.

Cotto’s season didn’t end on a high note, but it was a small sample size, and most of his time was spent at Bradenton, where he put up some decent numbers. If the lefty can pitch more like he did at A-Ball as he moves through the minor leagues, he could eventually play a role in a future Pirates bullpen. After all, decent lefty relievers are always highly valued.

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