Pittsburgh Pirates' recent additions seem to follow an interesting trend

Over the past week, the Pittsburgh Pirates have added several new players to their organization. First came the MLB Draft, then trade season arrived a few weeks early when the Pirates dealt Adam Frazier to the Kansas City Royals. The players who've recently been brought in by the organization share a common through-line: FanGraphs' rankings are much more bullish on many of the Pirates' newest additions than other baseball analysts, such as those at Baseball America and MLB Pipeline.

For example, Cam Devanney, the player they acquired from the Royals for Adam Frazier, was ranked as the Royals' tenth-best prospect in FanGraphs' system. Devanney has had a strong season, batting .272/.366/.565 with a 137 wRC+ for the Royals' Triple-A affiliate. While Devanney has certainly done well and has some good tools, like his power, he strikes out at a below-average rate, giving him a questionable-at-best hit tool. He is also already 28, which doesn't make him a young gun, either.

MLB Pipeline nor Baseball America have Devanney ranked among the Royals' top 30 prospects. While he's always performed well, he has never been seen as a premium prospect ... except in the opinion of FanGraphs, who seem to believe that age is just a number for Devanney. FanGraphs gives him an average or better projected grade for his game power, raw power, speed, and fielding. His hit tool is the only one that comes up short of the average. While the Royals only rank 25th out of 30 teams in FanGraphs' farm system rankings, Devanney ranking in their top ten while not even appearing as a top 30 prospect elsewhere is something of note.

FanGraphs loves Pirates' recent trade addition, 2025 MLB Draft picks

Another large discrepancy between the three grading systems comes in their appraisal of Murf Gray. Gray was the Pirates' second-round competitive balance pick and the 73rd overall selection in the draft. Gray finished off his college career at Fresno State batting .324/.398/.639. He hit 18 homers in 279 plate appearances with a .315 isolated slugging percentage. Gray only struck out 10.8% of the time and drew walks in 8.2% of his plate appearances.

Baseball America has Gray just outside their top 100 draft prospects at No. 107. MLB Pipeline is even less bullish, barely putting him within the top 150 at No. 141. But FanGraphs? They put Gray at No. 19 on their draft board. He is ranked ahead of the likes of Jace LaViolette, Gage Wood, and Marek Houston, all of whom were taken within the first 30 picks of the draft. They gave him rave reviews for his contact ability, as well as his power. 

Another second-round pick that FanGraphs loves more than Pipeline or BA is Angel Cervantes. The high school right-hander has a wide pitch mix, including a fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup. He sits in the low-90s as of right now, but does so with good shape. Plus, he has a projectable 6'3", 190-pound frame, and is only 17. He was the youngest pitcher in the draft class, per Pipeline. Baseball America also pins his command as a potential 60 on the 20-80 scale.

Pipeline and BA both had Cervantes as a roughly top 50 draft prospect. The former put him at No. 49, while the latter had him at No. 51 ... but Fangraphs put him at No. 30. He was above some very early draft picks, like Steele Hall, Gavin Fien, and Daniel Pierce, all of whom were taken in the top 15 picks. The Pirates ended up selecting Cervantes with the 50th overall pick of the draft.

So what is FanGraphs seeing that neither Pipeline nor BA are? In Gray's case, it seems to be his ability to make contact. In Devanney's case, they seem to like his power that comes from his bat speed and strong frame, along with his potential to stick at shortstop. In their write-up on Gray, they state he is a mid-major performer who made contact at a 60-grade rate with power potential. FanGraphs seems to love Cervantes' arm speed, his extension off the mound, and his fastball and sweeper.

It is interesting, nonetheless, that many of the Pirates' most significant recent acquisitions of young talent are more highly regarded at FanGraphs than any other resource. This might be a trend we see continue as we approach the trade deadline.  Hopefully for the Pirates, FanGraphs' evaluation of Devanney, Gray, and Cervantes is closer to what they can amount to than what the rest of the world sees.