3 late-blooming Pirates prospects who made an impact in 2024

Billy Cook

One of the many players the Pirates acquired at the trade deadline was Billy Cook. A former fifth overall pick by the Baltimore Orioles, he was shipped to Pittsburgh for pitching prospect Patrick Reilly. Cook had a strong season at Triple-A prior to getting called to the Majors, where he has shown a lot of promise in the small sample size.

Before Cook was promoted, he was batting .273/.373/.485 combined between the Pirates’ and Orioles’ Triple-A affiliates. While Cook struck out nearly a quarter of the time with a 24.7% K%, he also walked at a respectable 11.9% rate and hit for a decent amount of power. He had an isolated slugging percentage of .212 and went yard 16 times in 421 plate appearances. Cook ended his Triple-A tenure with a .379 wOBA and 123 wRC+.

Cook’s first taste of MLB action thus far has not been great. He only has eight hits through 38 plate appearances and has yet to draw a walk. He has also struck out 16 of those times. But he has racked up three extra-base hits thus far. He has a double and two home runs.

So far, defense has been his strong suit by a mile. Cook already has +6 defensive runs saved and +2 outs above average in the outfield. He has logged just 69 innings in the grass and has +2 DRS at each of the three OF positions. He only has 26 innings at first base, but the eye test on the small sample size says he’s a good defender there too.

Cook can play all over the field. He has started multiple games this season (between MiLB and MLB) at all three outfield positions, first base and second base. His utility and ability to field well anywhere will get him into the lineup on near-regular basis.

Cook has shown off the potential to be a strong speed/power threat. He is in the 94th percentile of sprint speed at 29.3 feet/second. That’s faster than known speedsters across the league like Edmundo Sosa, Andres Gimenez, Ceddanne Rafaela, and the Pirates’ own Oneil Cruz. Cook currently has a 91.4 MPH exit velocity and a 9.1% barrel rate. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify, he’d be among the top 35 batters this year in average exit velo.

As things stand right now, Cook might be the best non-Ke’Bryan Hayes defender who will likely be on the Pirates’ active roster next season. He is currently the fastest runner on the Pirates’ active roster and has the second-best exit velocity and barrel rate among Pirates who are under control for 2025.