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

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.