3 top prospects Pirates should target with their assets at the trade deadline

The trade deadline is quickly approaching. The Pittsburgh Pirates have already made one noteworthy deal, sending utilityman Adam Frazier to the Kansas City Royals for minor-league slugger Cam Devanney. But they’re far from done. The Pirates still need more bats, and while Devanney is technically a bat, he isn’t a top prospect. They should be targeting some higher-ranked names, like these three, with some of their more impressive assets, primarily their young pitching.

3 top prospects Pittsburgh Pirates should target at MLB Trade Deadline

Jhostynxon Garcia, Boston Red Sox

Jhostynxon Garcia followed up his breakout 2024 season with a solid encore. Garcia has a total of 315 plate appearances this year for the Boston Red Sox’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, combining for a .277/.365/.472 triple-slash. Garcia already has a dozen home runs on the year with a .196 isolated slugging percentage. Although his 23.8% strikeout rate isn’t great, he has a solid 12.1% walk rate. Overall, Garcia has a 128 wRC+.

Garcia is a potential speed/power threat with a solid glove in the outfield. He has consistently shown good power throughout his minor league career. He added a good amount of bat speed to his swing. Garcia has primarily played center field this year, where he projects as an average defender. He has a plus arm, so he can play an outfield corner, where he could be an above-average defender. Although not a speed demon, he has enough running ability to swipe a base when needed and run down fly balls. 

Garcia’s hit tool is the only thing that comes up short. MLB Pipeline and Baseball America both project it as a 45. He has seen an uptick in strikeout rate from Double-A to Triple-A, going from 21% to 26%. Still, his raw power will help make up for some of his lack of contact overall, and a 45 grade isn’t all bad. 

The Red Sox have more outfield talent than they know what to do with. With top prospects Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell making their debuts in 2025, along with Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu on hand, they’re almost certainly going to make a trade involving a young outfielder. Garcia is trending up in prospect rankings, as he is now a consensus top 100 prospect. Now could be the time to move him.

Carson Benge, New York Mets

Another outfield prospect who has made his way onto top 100 prospect boards is the New York Mets’ 2024 first-round pick, Carson Benge. Benge opened the year out at High-A, where he tore up pitching. He slashed .302/.417/.480 with a 161 wRC+. Benge flashed some power potential, with a .178 isolated slugging percentage, four home runs, five triples, and 18 doubles in 271 plate appearances. Benge struck out at a lowly 18.5% rate and had a free pass percentage of 15.1%.

Benge was one of High-A’s best hitters, ranking in the top ten in batting average, OBP, OPS, wOBA, and wRC+, the last of which placed him second in the league behind Pirates prospect Esmerlyn Valdez (min. 250 plate appearances). Benge’s strong performance at High-A earned him a promotion to Double-A, where he has continued his dominance at the plate. It has only been 13 games and 54 plate appearances, but he already has 13 hits, including two home runs, only eight strikeouts, and 11 walks.

Benge has the potential to be above-average in all five tools. He always projected to have a good hit tool, and his power is coming along nicely. His speed plays well, and with the way his power is developing, he could be a potential future 20/20 threat. Benge was a two-way player in college, so his arm is plenty strong enough to play any of the three outfield positions. He has recently seen time at all three of them, and could stick up the middle in the long run.

The Mets previously showed some interest in Mitch Keller. Although trading Keller is highly ill-advised, if they ultimately make a trade with the Mets involving the right-hander, Benge must be involved. Benge can now be found on both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s top 100 prospect lists, with neither site giving him anything below a 50 for any of his five tools.

Owen Caissie

Owen Caissie is one of the Chicago Cubs’ top prospects, and for a good reason. He is already at Triple-A in just his age-22 season, and is tearing it up. Caissie owns a .278/.386/.575 triple-slash. His isolated slugging percentage falls just a few ticks short of .300, sitting at .297. He already has 19 home runs in 321 plate appearances. Caissie carries a wRC+ of 143.

Like Benge, we are looking at one of the best hitters at his respective level. He ranks tenth in OPS, eighth in wOBA at .418, and ninth in wRC+. The stat he ranks the best in is isolated slugging percentage, coming in at number four. The only real prospect who ranks ahead of him in terms of ISO is Baltimore Orioles’ backstop Samuel Basallo.

It’s clear Caissie has huge power potential, and a deeper dive into his Statcast metrics only further supports this. The outfielder has a 92.1 MPH exit velocity and an impressive 20.2% barrel rate at Triple-A this season. Only the Red Sox’s Roman Anthony has a higher barrel rate (min. 250 plate appearances). Baseball America also projects his arm, speed, and fielding to be a 55, which is above-average.

However, this power comes at the cost of his hit tool. Caissie has a 30.2% strikeout percentage and a whiff rate of 31%. That’s a noteworthy concern, but he is ranked as the 41st-best prospect in baseball by Pipeline and the 57th-best by BA for a reason. The Cubs were another team that had previously shown interest in Keller. Caissie would have to be the Pirates’ number one target if there is still interest and the Pirates end up making a deal.