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

Emmanuel Chapman

The Pirates acquired Emmanuel Chapman this past offseason when they signed him out of Cuba. Chapman was already 25 when the Pirates signed him, and he did not show much promise in Cuba. Throughout 51 1/3 innings, he had a 9.82 ERA and walked far more batters (58) than he struck out (46).

But even though he had a poor showing in Cuba, Chapman looked great in his first taste of professional baseball in the United States. The right-hander opened his season pitching to a 3.00 ERA, 4.17 FIP, and 1.00 WHIP in 18 innings for High-A Greensboro. His 1.50 HR/9 was a touch high, but a 23.1% HR/FB ratio indicated some poor fly ball luck in a small sample size. He still struck out nearly a third of opponents (32.9% K%) with a much improved 8.6% walk rate.

That strong start earned him an early-season promotion to Altoona. But things couldn’t have gotten off to a rougher start for the right-hander. Chapman allowed eight earned runs with only four Ks, two walks, and a home run allowed through his first seven innings and three appearances. But after that, Chapman seemed to piece things back together.

Throughout his final 56 frames of the year, Chapman had a 2.73 ERA, 3.34 FIP, and 1.09 WHIP. He struck out 24% of opponents with a 10.9% walk rate and only allowed home runs at a 0.32 per 9 innings rate. Chapman got more work in as a starter, with six of his last 10 appearances coming out of the rotation.

While he got some work in as a starter in the second half of the season, he projects best as a reliever. Chapman sits mid-to-upper-90s with a low-80s slider. He’s had some obvious issues with command, but to go from a near-20% walk rate in Cuba to just under 10% in the minors shows that he’s at least improved his control to an adequate degree.

Chapman’s stuff would likely play up in shorter stints out of the bullpen, and his issues with control and command would also be better hidden. Even when he was being used as a reliever, many of his appearances were in a long relief role. Fifteen of his 29 appearances as a reliever went multiple innings. Only seven of his relief appearances lasted a single inning or less.

Chapman is already 26, so he should start next year at Triple-A, and after his solid performance at Double-A, he’s earned it. There have been some late-blooming foreign relievers in recent baseball history, like Yennier Cano (was an All-Star in his age-29 rookie year), Felix Bautista (made his debut in his age-27 season), Robert Suarez (made his MLB debut at age 31), and the Pirates’ own Dauri Moreta (broke out in his age-27 season) that have gone on to put up decent numbers in the Major Leagues. Hopefully, Chapman can be like them because the Pirates could definitely use another good reliever next year.