5 non-top prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system who are having sneaky good years

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a handful of top prospects who are doing well at the moment. Termarr Johnson is heating up, Bubba Chandler has been lights out as of recently at Altoona, and Braxton Ashcraft has been dominating batters between Double-A and Triple-A. These are all strong prospects, and many more, like Charles McAdoo, Yordany De Los Santos, Jhonny Severino, and Hunter Barco, are all having fine seasons.

But they’re all pretty noteworthy prospects in the Pirates’ system. I’m sure you’ve seen their names come up in articles everywhere this season. There are plenty more players in the Pirates’ system who are having good seasons and deserve to have a light shined on them. They might not be prospects, let alone top prospects, yet they still deserve some recognition.

5 Pirates minor-leaguers having sneaky good seasons

Jake Woodford

Jake Woodford is not considered a prospect in any way because he’s almost pitched 200 Major League innings, but he’s had some success. In 2021-2022, he worked as a long-reliever/spot-starter for the St. Louis Cardinals, pitching in 53 games with nine starts and 116 innings pitched. He owned a strong 3.26 ERA, 3.93 FIP, and 1.25 WHIP. But 2023 did not treat the former first-round pick kindly, as he sported both an ERA and FIP over 6.00. He was then picked up by the Chicago White Sox and only tossed 8.1 innings, allowing 10 earned runs and five walks before being let go.

That’s when the Pirates picked up Woodford in early June, and to little fanfare. But since the Pirates signed him to a minor-league deal, he’s been dealing at Triple-A. Woodford has pitched 17.1 innings in three starts, posting an ERA of 2.08, only allowing a single home run, and striking out 31.8% of the batters he’s faced. But the most impressive part of this small sample size is the fact Woodford has yet to allow a free pass. 

Woodford has typically been good at limiting walks. In his two solid years with the Cardinals, he had a 7.5% BB%, including a sub-6% walk rate in 2022. Woodford has never been one to strike out many batters, with a career 15.1% K-rate in the bigs, but he has a whiff rate just a touch under 30% at 29.7% at Triple-A. Woodford has always been more of a groundball specialist, and that still rings true. He’s induced a launch angle of just three degrees and an average exit velocity of 85.5 MPH.

While Woodford probably isn’t going to be inserting himself into the major league starting rotation soon, he might get a call if the Pirates need another multi-inning arm, and could fill the role that Daulton Jeffries is currently holding onto. With his fairly recent success with the Cardinals and his hot start to his time with the Pirates, Woodford is a nice depth arm to have.

Derek Diamond

Derek Diamond is a fellow 2022 draft class teammate of Perachi. However, he was drafted a lot earlier, as the Pirates took him in the sixth round out of the University of Mississippi. The right-hander has spent his 2024 season at Greensboro once again. While he has run into some bad luck, he’s shown some positives that could soon earn him a promotion to Double-A.

Diamond has tossed 47 frames with a 3.83 ERA, 4.22 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP. Neither his 21.7% strikeout rate, nor his 1.34 HR/9 are going to catch much attention, but his 3% walk rate will. He has the third-best walk rate among any High-A pitcher with at least 40 innings pitched. Because of his ability to limit walks, his K:BB ratio is 7.17, which is also the third-best at his level. Diamond’s home run rate is a tad high, but his 16.3% HR/FB ratio indicates that he might be getting somewhat unlucky. xFIP puts him at 3.50.

Diamond typically sits in the low-to-mid-90s with an above-average low-80s slider. He’s shown at every level so far he can command his stuff exceptionally well. His minor-league career walk rate is only 5.2%.

Diamond has had some ups and downs this month, but is still carrying a sub-3% walk rate in June. A good month of July could get him a promotion to Double-A. Diamond certainly wasn’t a late-round pick, so there is some potential, though it might be as a future long reliever/spot starter.

Luis Peralta

Luis Peralta is the most highly touted of any of the names on today’s list. The southpaw was recently ranked as the Pirates’ 25th best prospect on FanGraphs’ Pirates top prospect list. However, he’s not featured as a top 30 prospect by MLB Pipeline or Baseball America. Peralta struggled for most of his career in the Pirates’ system, mainly with his ability to control his stuff. Luckily, it seems like a full-time move to the bullpen has done him good.

Throughout 32.1 innings, Peralta has an ERA under 1.00 at 0.56. He’s yet to allow a home run and has a 50.9% ground ball rate. His strikeout rate is an impressive 43.2%. Peralta still has a mediocre 12% walk rate. However, it’s much better than what he’s posted in the last few years. Peralta’s walk rate has also been below 10% since the start of May, and he’s only gotten better. 

The lefty is a fastball/slider reliever, but both pitches have a lot of potential. He throws around the mid-90s, but his arm angle makes the pitch play up. Peralta’s sweeping slider is another pitch with plus potential. His command has been trending upward, and even if he’s never Greg Maddux, having average command over his stuff will make him a potential force to be reckoned with out of the pen.

The Pirates have many notable relief prospects who are doing well, and Peralta is having the best season out of all of them. He’s 23 and at Double-A, so he could possibly force himself into the team’s late-season bullpen plans. Stuff has never been the question for Peralta, so to finally see him get his control under wraps could be huge for him, as well as the future of the Pirates’ bullpen.

Miguel Sosa

Miguel Sosa has done nothing but hit each and every year. The 20-year-old catcher/outfielder has the third-best wRC+ among any Pirates minor-league hitter with at least 300 plate appearances since 2022. He’s only continued to hit this year, and even though he’s still young, he could get sent to Bradenton very soon.

Sosa is slashing .342/.435/.405 through 95 plate appearances at the Florida Complex League. He’s consistently posted strong walk rates, and 2024 is no different. His BB% clocks in at 15.8%. Along with getting a lot of hits, he has an elite on-base percentage. This all comes to a .431 wOBA and 143 wRC+. Unfortunately, there are some red flags to his game thus far that have prevented him from receiving the spotlight.

Sosa isn’t hitting for much power and has a sub-.100 isolated slugging percentage. He has yet to hit a home run. He’s also striking out 31.6% of the time. But the biggest red flag is his .551 batting average on balls in play. Only one batter ever in Major League history has ever had a BABIP of .500 in 100+ plate appearances in a single season. Only five all-time have been able to manage a BABIP of .450 or greater in 100 or more trips to the plate.

While Sosa will likely see a return to normalcy in a larger sample size, it doesn’t take away from the fact he’s consistently been one of the Pirates’ best minor league hitters. We’ll see how he can do at a full-season level. While it’s reasonable to be skeptical, you can’t help but wonder how he’ll fare after how well he’s done so far.