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3 Pirates position player prospects who took important steps forward in 2024
These three position player prospects have taken a step foward during the 2024 season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ system is known for its pitching talent. MLB Pipeline recently ranked their system as the game's best when it comes to pitching. But with all the arms in the system, many position players have gotten overlooked this year. It might not be the strongest part of the farm, but the team certainly still has some potential future up-and-coming hitters.
2024's minor league season is nearly complete; both A-Ball (Bradenton) and High-A (Greensboro) regular seasons have ended, while Double-A and Triple-A are seeing their campaigns finish up. Some of the position player prospects in the Pirates’ system have taken steps forward this year and ended the season with a brighter outlook than before.
Nick Yorke
Nick Yorke was once a first-round draft pick. He was taken 17th overall by the Boston Red Sox in 2020 and was a consensus top-100 prospect going into 2022. But after a poor ‘22 season, struggling to keep strikeouts down in 2023, and a tough start to this year, Yorke looked like he may have stalled out. But after getting promoted to Triple-A, he’s been on fire, making some significant improvements to his game in both Boston and Pittsburgh's systems.
Yorke has 285 plate appearances between the Red Sox’s and Pirates’ Triple-A teams, batting .337/.419/.509 with a .413 wOBA and 144 wRC+. The infield prospect is striking out just 18.3% of the time while walking at an 11.6% clip. Yorke has hit for a respectable amount of power with a .172 isolated slugging percentage and eight home runs.
The numbers under the hood show that Yorke is doing a lot of things right. His exit velocity is 91.4 MPH, and he is only swinging and missing 20.2% of the time. Many batters do not swing and miss that infrequently while hitting the ball that hard. He has the best exit velocity of any minor leaguer with as low of a whiff rate as he does (min. 250 plate appearances). Since getting to the Pirates, he has cut that down below 20%.
Yorke keeping his strikeouts under control is a big development. In 2022 and 2023, he struck out about a quarter of the time. 2021 was the last season he struck out less than 20% of the time, and he never went above High-A ball. On top of that, Yorke has shown more versatility than ever before. The only positions he has not played an inning at are first base, catcher, and pitcher.
The Pirates will need to add Yorke to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft this offseason, so Yorke could definitely be in consideration for the second base job next year. Even if he can’t secure the starting job, he has the potential to be a valuable utility man for the Pirates.
Jack Brannigan
The Pirates took Jack Brannigan as their fourth-round pick in 2022. The infielder had an outstanding 2023 breakout, falling one home run shy of a 20/20 season, and sporting an OPS over .900 and a 149 wRC+. Brannigan has made some major improvements to his game while spending most of his season at a premium position at High-A.
Brannigan has turned in a .238/.344/.490 triple-slash this season in 341 plate appearances. He’s delivered a good amount of power, as expected, with a .252 isolated slugging percentage and 18 home runs. He has also been a threat to steal, with a dozen stolen bases in 15 attempts. Brannigan has struck out just over a quarter of the time with a 26.1% K%, but he has walked in 11.7% of his plate appearances. All told, he has a .378 wOBA and 135 wRC+.
Brannigan significantly cut down on the strikeouts. He struck out just over a third of the time while playing for Greensboro last year with a 33.5% K%. But this season, he cut that down to 26.1%. Meanwhile, his walk rate barely budged, as he drew ball four 12.1% of the time last year at High-A.
Brannigan also started to lift the ball more. His fly ball rate last year was 43.9%, but nearly hit 50% this year at 49.7%. This may have contributed to his significant drop in batting average on balls in play from .363 to .276, but given his raw power, lifting the ball more frequently will lead to more home runs.
Brannigan also showed off some solid defense at shortstop. The Pirates drafted him as a third baseman/RHP. He hasn’t pitched in pro ball, but played a handful of games up the middle last year. But in 2024, most of his innings in the field were at shortstop. He still played a good amount of third base, but he has the defensive chops to stay up the middle long term.
Brannigan missed a chunk of the second half, but is good to go and was back in action before Greensboro entered their playoffs. He is already 24, and should at least start next season at Altoona. Given his age, though, a hot start could lead to an early season promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Jhonny Severino
One of the Pirates’ returns from the 2023 trade deadline showed a ton of promise this year. Jhonny Severino, who was sent to Pittsburgh in exchange for Carlos Santana, displayed some potential last year for the Pirates’ and Milwaukee Brewers’ Florida Complex League teams. He especially took off this season, both at the FCL and A-Ball.
The infield prospect opened the year at the FCL and went on to bat .291/.373/.545. Severino rarely struck out and had a 15.9% K%. He also drew his fair share of walks with an 11.8% BB%. Severino is known for his power potential, and put it on display by hitting 10 homers in 220 plate appearances while having an isolated slugging percentage of .254. All told, he had a terrific .422 wOBA and 139 wRC+.
Severino’s time at A-Ball resulted in mixed numbers. His first 59 plate appearances saw him turn in a .302/.373/.547 triple-slash, strike out just 20.3% of the time, walk at a 10.2% clip and post a .245 isolated slugging percentage. This culminated in a 157 wRC+. But Severino struggled throughout his final 64 plate appearances with Bradenton, slashing .180/.203/.459 with a .296 wOBA and 78 wRC+. While a .212 batting average on balls in play did not do Severino any favors, his strikeout rate went through the roof to 39.1%, while his walk rate plummeted to a meager 3.1%.
Regardless of his poor end to the season, Severino is only 19, and having a 116 wRC+ overall at Bradenton is promising. He was the 14th-youngest position player to appear in at least 25 games at the A-Ball level. Hopefully, Severino can look more like his Florida Complex League self and continue to build upon what was a very promising 2024 next year.
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