Pirates' top southpaw prospect showed big signs towards bounce back in spring outing

Coming into 2025, no Pirates prospect needed to hit the reset more than Anthony Solometo. He is the incoming seventh-ranked prospect in the organization, according to MLB Pipeline, but he completely collapsed last season and may fall in the next ranking cycle.

There are many things that went wrong for Solometo, which all come back to not having great stuff to work with. His velocity dropping was a major factor, leading to fewer strikeouts and decreased overall effectiveness and command over all of his pitches. Without an effective baseline to work with, his walk rate increased a lot to a very poor 13% in Double-A.

"His fastball had topped out at 95 mph last year, but was averaging around just 90 mph in 2024," according to Solometo's MLB Pipeline profile. "At its best, it plays up with sink because of the aforementioned funk in his delivery."

For Solometo to live up to the hype, his velocity needed to come back up, at least closer to where it was when he embarked on the 2023 season. Luckily, his lone spring training appearance before being sent to minor-league camp showed a positive sign that it might be coming back.

Anthony Solometo's velocity coming back up in his spring training outing is a great sign for a bounce back season in Pirates' system.

In his spring outing, his fastball sat 91-92, which is a positive start as he continues to build up. With that uptick, he was able to collect two strikeouts, but still walked a batter. Nonetheless, Pirates fans should be very pleased with his outing, even if he'll be at minor-league camp (other than rare opportunities as a fill-in) for the remainder of the spring.

Solometo is still just 22 years old, and his upside remains high with his funky delivery. Getting his velocity back could very well help him get back to his 3.24 ERA and 1.19 WHIP self from 2023.

The group of starting pitching is already very deep in the Pirates organization, but the left-handed depth within the organization is not as impressive. Solometo bouncing back would help deepen that group, and it appears we are in store for a big return to form, given his jump in velocity. This little storyline within the Pirates farm system is definitely something to keep an eye on for the 2025 season.