3 prospects the Pirates should have opened the year with on their roster

The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a less than thrilling start to open the year. While there is plenty of argument over who should have made the team’s Opening Day roster, there are definitely a few certainties involved.

There are a few obvious players the Pirates could have really benefited from if they'd opened the year on the active roster. While the Bucs understandably want these players to get regular playing time at their normal positions down in the minors, Pittsburgh still would have likely received something close to that level of success in the majors if this trio had started the year on the big league roster.

3 Pirates prospects who should've started the season on the MLB roster

3. Billy Cook

Billy Cook was a prospect the Pirates acquired from the Baltimore Orioles at the 2024 trade deadline. The outfielder/first baseman made his MLB debut late into the year and showed some promise on multiple fronts. He crushed three home runs with a 92.6 MPH exit velocity and 13.3% barrel percentage. His 93rd percentile sprint speed made him one of the fastest players in baseball last year. Cook racked up +6 defensive runs saved, +2 outs above average, and two outfield assists in just 85 innings. On top of that, he made some slick plays at first base.

However, there were some obvious red flags. Cook did not draw a single walk in his 49 MLB plate appearances, and had a chase rate of 36.9%. Although his chase rate looked like a free-swinging contact batter like Luis Arraez, he also swung and missed nearly 40% of the time with a 39.8% whiff rate. This led to him striking out 19 times.

Cook’s brief Major League call-up was deserved, however. He slashed .276/.375/.474 with a .377 wOBA and 124 wRC+ in the minors. He also went yard 17 times with a .199 isolated slugging percentage while using his elite speed to swipe 25 bases in 31 tries. He also drew a walk in 12% of his trips to the dish. But neither his 23.9% strikeout rate nor 28.9% whiff rate at Triple-A were anything to write home about.

While it is understandable the Pirates want Cook to get regular playing time, they could have easily still found ways to get Cook into games regularly at the MLB level, even when he isn’t starting. Cook could have still replaced Endy Rodriguez late in games as a defensive replacement or, in cases when he gets on base, as a pinch runner. He could also be utilized as a pinch hitter for Rodriguez if the opponent puts in a left-handed reliever. With how good Cook’s defense looked in the outfield, he could also see playing time as a part-time/fourth outfielder as well.

Even once Spencer Horwitz returns, Cook could still find himself playing a role in games on a regular basis. Horwitz gets on base at a high rate, but was below the tenth percentile of sprint speed. Being able to replace him with Cook's 93rd percentile sprint speed late into games if he gets on-base would be very valuable. Cook would also be a solid platoon bat to offset Horwitz. He could still replace an outfielder late in games as a defensive replacement or pinch hitter/runner.

2. Mike Burrows

Mike Burrows’ development was severely delayed by Tommy John surgery. Entering 2023, he was seen as a potential mid-season rotation reinforcement, as he was added to the 40-man roster that offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but undergoing surgery just two starts into the season put everything on hold for the right-hander. However, he returned to action during the second half of last year, and is now another year removed from surgery.

Burrows had some up-and-down numbers at Indy last year, working to a 4.06 ERA, 4.95 FIP, and 1.41 WHIP. He struck out batters at an above-average 26.6% rate with a 31.7% whiff percentage. He also had a respectable 8.9% walk rate. But most of Burrows’ struggles came from the long ball, as he allowed homers at a 1.67-per-9 innings ratio. However, an 18.9% HR:FB ratio indicates some bad luck played a role in Burrows’ struggles to keep the ball in the park.

Burrows also made his MLB debut during the last week of the season, pitching 3.1 innings, while only allowing one earned run. His four-seam fastball sat 94-95 MPH with above-average induced vertical and horizontal break. He’ll also work with a curveball, slider, and changeup. While his walk rate was up slightly last year, he had a sub-8% walk rate in 2022.

Burrows opening the year on the Major League roster could have taken some pressure off of Carmen Mlodzinski if they didn't want to promote Harrington. The Pirates pitching prospect would have been an option for multiple innings out of the bullpen, or to start games, with Mlodzinski taking over after the first 3-to-5 innings. He has much better control over his stuff than Kyle Nicolas as well, and would have given the Pirates many ways to utilize him, whether that be out of the pen in a normal capacity, a multi-inning role, or to even start games.

1. Nick Yorke

Nick Yorke was another deadline pickup by the Pirates last year. After his performance at Triple-A in 2024 (featuring his MLB debut), Yorke looked like he had an inside track at a potential Major League roster spot at the end of last year. Ultimately, he was sent back to Indianapolis to open 2025, but he still deserves a Major League roster spot right now.

Yorke may have opened 2024 at Double-A with middling numbers, but he took off once he got to Triple-A in the Boston Red Sox’s system. Between their Triple-A team and the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate, Yorke turned in a .333/.420/.498 triple-slash. He drew a healthy amount of walks with a 12.2% BB% and only struck out in 18.9% of his plate appearances. Yorke finished out his time at Triple-A last season with a .409 wOBA and 143 wRC+.

Yorke’s peripherals only made his Triple-A performance more impressive. His 91.7 MPH exit velocity was the tenth-best among fellow Triple-A batters with at least 250 plate appearances. However, his whiff rate of 20.8% was by far the best among the top 10 hitters in exit velocity. The next closest, Kody Clemens, sat at 22.8%. Yorke’s .369 xwOBA was also the 11th-best mark.

Yorke made his Major League debut last September, and only had eight hits in 42 plate appearances. Still, there were plenty of positives to draw from his small sample size. Yorke hit two home runs, and his average exit velocity was a well above-average 89.7 MPH mark. His whiff rate was above 30%, but his chase rate was only 24.4%. He displayed great speed on the basepaths and was in the 90th percentile of sprint speed at 28.9 feet/second. His xwOBACON (expected weighted on-base average on contact) was over .500. To show how good that is, only five qualified hitters last season had a xwOBACON over .500. That elusive list includes both MVP winners, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, the runner-up in AL MVP voting in Juan Soto, DH slugger Brent Rooker and Marcell Ozuna. All hit at least 39 home runs last season.

Of course, it was a small sample size, and Yorke does not project to be a 40 home run hitter. However, promising peripherals, both at Triple-A and in his first taste of big-league action, are intriguing signs nonetheless. If Nick Gonzales is going to be out an extended period of time, well past the original 10-day IL stint, Yorke should be the replacement, not some mix of Jared Triolo/Adam Frazier/Enmanuel Valdez. In fact, the Pirates would have likely been better off with Yorke in a 2B/OF role to start the year than they were after adding Frazier and/or Tommy Pham.