5 Pittsburgh Pirates prospect performances that aren’t getting enough attention

Pittsburgh Pirates fans have seen countless highlight reels from the likes of Konnor Griffin, Bubba Chandler, Esmerlyn Valdez, and Edward Florentino this season. There's a good reason for this; they are four of the Pirates' best prospects, and all have had outstanding seasons.

However, not every great season has gotten the same sort of recognition. The Pirates have more players down on the farm who aren't receiving enough attention, despite having outstanding numbers this year.

5 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects who deserve more recognition this season

Brandan Bidois

Brandan Bidois is a relief prospect the Pirates signed out of Australia during the 2018-2019 offseason, but we had to wait for 2021 for his pro debut. While he consistently flashed impressive stuff, matching results seemed to elude him, whether due to command or injury issues. 

However, Bidois has looked outstanding in 2025. In 52.1 innings, he has put up an 0.86 ERA, 2.57 FIP, and 0.86 WHIP from High-A Greensboro through Triple-A Indianapolis, riding a promotion wave throughout the year. Bidois has struck out 28.9% of opponents and has yet to allow a home run this season. Walks have continued to give him some trouble, with an 11.9% BB% on his ledger. 

There are only two minor league pitchers this season with an ERA under 1.00 in at least 50 innings of work: Bidois and Francisco Zabaleta, an 18-year-old in the Athletics' system, who spent his entire season at the Dominican Summer League. Bidois is also one of just six hurlers to allow zero home runs this season, and of those six, only four pitchers have also struck out at least a quarter of the opponents they faced. 

Relief prospects don't get much attention from prospect ranking outlets, and Bidois isn't on any top 30 Pirates prospect lists. The highest you'll find him ranked is as the Pirates' 46th-best prospect, per FanGraphs' rankings. But any pitcher who has an ERA below 1.00, is striking out batters at a healthy rate, and hasn't allowed a home run in over 50 innings pitched should at least be gaining some notoriety, more than he has already. 

Johan De Los Santos

The Pirates' top international signee from this past offseason is getting off to about as good a start as one can have in their professional career. The Bucs inked Johan De Los Santos - the younger brother of another fellow Pirates prospect, Yordany De Los Santos - last offseason. Johan signed for $2.25 million and reported to the Dominican Summer League for his first assignment.

De Los Santos passed his first test with flying colors. In 174 plate appearances, the infielder batted .353/.451/.460. While he didn't hit a home run, De Los Santos put his wheels on display, going 34-for-40 in stolen base attempts. But the most impressive part of his game was his microscopic strikeout percentage. De Los Santos went down on Ks in just 7.5% of his trips to the plate. He walked more than twice as frequently, with a 15.5% BB%.

The DSL is where most young international signees get their first taste of professional baseball. Even so, De Los Santos is the second youngest player to play in affiliated ball right now. He just turned 17 in late July. De Los Santos put up the sixth-lowest K% and was one of eight qualified DSL hitters who walked at least twice as often as they struck out. Of those eight, only three had an OPS of at least .900. He may not have hit a single home run, but De Los Santos had a strong 148 wRC+, which ranked 23rd.

De Los Santos received some attention prior to getting signed. Baseball America ranked him as the ninth-best international prospect in the class. The young infielder received high praise for his bat-to-ball skills, his athleticism, and his speed, but he also received criticism for his lack of power and long-term inability to stick at shortstop. He split his time almost evenly between shortstop and second base at the DSL this season.

However, despite ranking as a top 10 international prospect and his outstanding performance at the DSL, De Los Santos isn't on any top 30 prospect lists, either. It's easy to shrug off his DSL performance, as it is still the lowest level of the minor leagues, and at that level, performance isn't the be-all, end-all. However, all his tools performed as expected and then some, all while De Los Santos was one of the absolute youngest players in affiliated baseball.

Will Taylor

The first college position player the Pirates selected in the 2024 draft was outfielder Will Taylor in the fifth round. Coming out of Clemson, Taylor's last season had its ups and downs. On the plus side, Taylor turned in a .945 OPS. He walked (33) more often than he struck out (26), and slugged seven home runs in only 32 games. The downside is that he ran into some bad luck, with a .239 batting average on balls in play. He only ended up stepping to the plate 145 times due to a fractured left wrist.

Despite all of that working against Taylor, he has managed to be a solid producer with the bat in 2025, and turn in a promising first look in pro ball. In 373 plate appearances, the outfield prospect is slashing .268/.379/.459 for an overall 139 wRC+. He has been a threat to steal a base and go yard, with a dozen home runs and a .191 isolated slugging percentage, along with 21 stolen bases (albeit in 33 attempts). Taylor has also continued to draw plenty of free passes, with a 12.6% BB%, but has struck out more frequently, with a 26% K%.

Most rankings had Taylor as more of a hit-over-power sort of prospect entering the draft. Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America liked his hit tool more than his ability to hit for pop. However, he is now hitting for power, while still maintaining a solid average. His above-average speed gives him the chance of sticking in center field. Taylor also has the glove to take up-the-middle outfield position. 

Taylor's numbers dipped this season as he went from A-Ball Bradenton to High-A Greensboro, but he is still producing at a well-above-average level, with a 124 wRC+ overall. Taylor was ranked among BA's top 200 draft prospects, but has yet to make any appearances on a top 30 prospect list. Not even FanGraphs has Taylor among the organization's top 50 prospects.

Callan Moss

If there's one prospect you've definitely seen highlights of lately, it's Callan Moss. The first base prospect was originally an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Royals out of the University of North Florida in just his age-20 season. Moss displayed more of a hit-over-power type profile throughout college, and that's how he performed in the lower levels of the Royals' system.

Between his 2024 debut and 2025, Moss slashed .281/.391/.423 with a .387 wOBA and 137 wRC+ over 473 plate appearances between A-Ball and High-A. Moss didn't hit for much power, only going yard nine times in 114 games, with a .143 isolated slugging percentage. On the plus side, he struck out at a 20.9% rate, with a healthy 15% free pass percentage. Moss ranked in the top three among Royals minor league batters in wOBA and wRC+ (min. 400 plate appearances) between 2024 and 2025.

The Royals then dealt Moss to the Pirates in exchange for left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter this summer. Since that trade, Moss has been doing some incredible things at High-A Greensboro. It has only been 104 plate appearances, but the first baseman has a .383/.442/.649 triple-slash. He has hit nearly as many home runs at Greensboro as he did the entire time he was in the Royals' system, as he already has gone yard a half-dozen times. Moss has maintained a solid 21.2% K%, but has drawn walks less frequently, with a 6.7% rate. Moss has now appeared in 24 games since the Pirates acquired him, and he's collected at least one hit in 22 of those contests. His wRC+ comes in at an outstanding 208 mark.

Moss has been helped by an insanely high .455 batting average in balls in play. He's not going to maintain something that high, but he should still have a higher-than-average mark; his BABIP in the Royals' system was .348 in a larger sample. Moss doesn't fit the profile of your typical first baseman, but one hopes he can continue to make it work. Moss just turned 22 at the end of August and has spent the entire 2025 season at the High-A level. The Pirates should give Moss a cup of coffee at Double-A before Altoona's season comes to an end. 

Nick Cimillo

Nick Cimillo was a 16th-round draft pick by the Pirates in 2022, and the only one of the five names today to have already appeared on a top 30 prospect list. Baseball America ranked him as the Pirates' 30th-best prospect heading into this season, but he quickly fell off their list, and a look at his pre-All-Star break numbers definitely shows why.

In his first 260 plate appearances at Altoona this season, Cimillo only hit a meager .212/.286/.355. Despite showing flashes of power in the past, he only had a .143 ISO and a half-dozen home runs this year. Cimillo walked at an 8.1% rate, with a 22.3% K%, but these were just about the only non-horrible numbers from his first half. He posted a sub-.300 wOBA (.296) and sub-90 wRC+ (85), despite playing in a league where the average OPS is well below .700.

But Cimillo hasn't just turned a corner in the second half; he's been next to unstoppable in the batter's box. In his last 149 plate appearances, Cimillo is slashing .279/.376/.674. Cimillo now has 13 home runs and an awe-inspiring isolated slugging percentage of .395. Cimillo is striking out less frequently, with an 18.8% K%, and is drawing walks at a much improved 12.8% rate. His wRC+ since the break clocks in at just under 200, sitting at 193.

Cimillo was initially drafted as a catcher, but has only taken the field as a first baseman the last two seasons. He did see a handful of games in the outfield throughout his college career, but his below-average speed likely rules out the possibility of him sticking in the outfield grass as a professional moving forward. 

Now, Cimillo isn't young for a prospect. He is 25 and will turn 26 next March. He may be older for Double-A, but he's been on an absolute tear the last month-and-a-half. Don't pencil him in as Spencer Horwitz's right-handed-hitting platoon partner just yet, but give him credit where credit is due. His wRC+ on the year went from 85 to 124, a massive 39 percentage point jump.