5 best Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospects who rely on more than pure heat

Pitch speeds are at an all-time high in baseball. The average fastball sits at 93.9 MPH, compared to just 89 MPH when Sport Info Solutions began tracking pitch velocity. Today’s best pitchers throw flames, and now we’re even starting to see starting pitchers, including starters, able to consistently top out at 100 MPH, like the Pittsburgh Pirates’ very own Paul Skenes.

But some pitchers are somehow still able to get by with a pitch velocity that wouldn’t look out of the ordinary 15+ years ago. A mix of command, movement, good secondaries, and deceptiveness help some hurlers make up for the lack of elite velocity. While the Pirates’ system certainly has its flamethrowers, like we covered last time, they also have some notable pitching prospects who don’t throw nearly as hard.

5 Pirates pitching prospects who succeed without throwing gas

Anthony Solometo

Anthony Solometo’s 2023 was very promising. He made it to Double-A and put up respectable numbers despite being one of the youngest pitchers at his level. After his strong season, he earned the 82nd spot on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospect list at the start of the year. His encore has been marred by underperformance, but at just 21 (turns 22 in December), Solometo certainly still has some potential.

Solometo has only pitched 53.2 innings at Altoona, working to a lowly 6.37 ERA, 5.82 FIP, and 1.58 WHIP. The command for which he was known for hasn’t been as sharp this year, dishing out walks 13.9% of the time. He also hasn’t generated as many strikeouts as before, with a poor 17.3% strikeout rate. His HR/9 of 1.17 may not be awful, but it is still below average compared to the rest of the Eastern League.

Solometo only hits 90-92 MPH on the gun, but he has a strong ability to deceive the hitter by hiding the ball in his motion with a high leg kick and low arm slot. Last year, he topped 95. His best pitch has always been his mid-80s slider. Solometo’s 84 MPH changeup is the final pitch in his three-pitch arsenal.

The young southpaw does not turn 22 until December, and he’s not that far removed from a promising campaign. Hopefully, he returns closer to his 2023 form next season, assuming the Pirates do not trade him.

Matt Ager

Matt Ager won’t be the only 2024 draft pick to show up on this list. The Pirates took the right-hander out of UC Santa Barbara in the sixth round of the MLB draft, but Ager was ranked much higher than where he ended up. MLB Pipeline ranked him as a top 150 draft prospect, coming in at 135.Baseball America was even more bullish on his talent, ranking him 104th in their pre-draft talent rankings.

At the end of 2023, Ager looked like he was trending upward. However, he only posted a 4.02 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, and 2.11 K:BB ratio throughout his final college season. He worked both as a starter and closer, starting nine games but also saving 11. He walked 9.9% of opponents with a 20.8% K%; luckily, he was good at limiting home runs with an 0.57 HR/9 rate.

Ager’s fastball sits around 92 MPH, but he has shown the ability to top out around 95-96 at times. Along with his fastball, Ager’s most used secondary offering is his slider. His second breaking pitch is a curveball, and he’ll also mix in a changeup. He’s shown a strong ability to repeat his delivery, which should help with his control in the long run.

While Ager isn’t a hard-throwing pitching prospect right now, he has the potential to add more heat. He is a 6’6”, 225-pound pitcher at 21 years old, so he has room for some added muscle. A few additional ticks of velocity could do Ager a lot of good, and he’ll get a chance to do so next year for Bradenton.

Josh Hartle

The second pitcher from the 2024 draft to appear on today’s list is left-hander Josh Hartle. Hartle is coming out of Wake Forest, a school that has produced multiple high-end pitching prospects in the last few years. Hartle could soon join them after the Pirates took him as their fourth-round pick.

Like Ager, Hartle showed a lot of promise in 2023, so much so that some projected him as a potential first-round pick heading into 2024. Similarly, he failed to capitalize on it. Hartle ended the season with a 5.79 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, and 3.24 K:BB ratio. The southpaw had a respectable 23.3% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate, but struggled to limit home runs. He allowed 13 in 74.2 IP, leading to a 1.57 HR/9 rate.

According to Baseball America, Hartle touches just 90 MPH, topping out at 93-94, but his fastball's sinking movement helps it play above its velocity. Hartle’s slider is his best pitch. It is a low-80s offering that has sweeping action to it. His cutter also flashed above average potential. His primary offspeed pitch is a mid-80s changeup.

Hartle’s best ability is being able to consistently hit his spots. He projects to have above-average to plus command over all of his offerings. He also throws from a lower arm slot, similar to that of fellow LHP prospect Hunter Barco. He has some room to grow, too, as he is 6’5”, 215 pounds at 21 years old.

Michael Kennedy

The Pirates always take at least one high school pitcher with high upside in the Ben Cherington era. In 2022, that was Michael Kennedy. Kennedy was a fourth-round pick from Troy High School in New York. After a strong showing in the second half of 2023 between the Florida Complex League and A-Ball Bradenton, Kennedy has continued his dominance with the Marauders, followed by a shot with the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Between the two levels, Kennedy owns a 3.66 ERA, 3.50 FIP, and 1.09 WHIP in 83.2 IP. He has struck out his fair share of opponents, carrying a 27.8% strikeout rate, and has done well to limit home runs with an 0.86 HR/9. Notably, he’s been especially good at preventing free passes, as his walk rate currently sits at 5.6%.

Kennedy has been excellent in the second half. His ERA is below 2.00 (1.80) with an even better 30.4% strikeout rate. Home runs have basically been a non-issue, as he’s allowed a single long ball over his last 30 innings of work. Kennedy continues to limit base runners with a 7% walk rate and 0.80 WHIP.

Kennedy averaged just 89.8 MPH this year prior to his promotion. His fastest four-seamer was tracked at 93.1 MPH. The lefty has a pair of secondary offerings. His low-80s slider has 39 inches of drop with 13.3 inches of break. Kennedy’s offspeed pitch is a low-to-mid-80s changeup with about 37 inches of drop and 11 inches of horizontal movement. 

Kennedy projects to have plus command, which he has paired with an elite walk rate. There are currently over 500 minor leaguers with at least 15 games started this year, and Kennedy has the 34th lowest BB%. His 5.00 K:BB ratio is also the 14th best. The most extraordinary part of Kennedy’s campaign is that he’s doing such advanced work at just 19.