Best late round draft prospects in the Pirates' system

Mike Burrows

The 2023 season could have played out a lot differently had Mike Burrows not undergone Tommy John surgery in April. The Pirates' 11th-round pick in 2018, Burrows had developed into one of the Pirates' best pitching prospects and was projected to take over a starting role sometime during the season. Of course, with Tommy John surgery, that never came to fruition.

The last time Burrows was healthy, he had a quality 4.01 ERA, 3.29 FIP, and 1.21 WHIP. He had very strong peripherals, including a 28.2 percent strikeout rate, 7.9 percent walk rate, and 0.79 HR/9 through 94.1 innings. Although Burrows had an ERA over 4.00, it was mostly inflated by his final start of the season, where he allowed six earned runs in less than a whole inning. Heading into his final outing of 2022, he had a 3.46 ERA.

A spin rate darling, Burrows was averaging over 2500 RPM on his four-seam fastball. The right-hander also throws around 94-96 MPH. His curveball had even more spin with around 2900 RPM and in the upper-70s. Burrows originally had questions about his ability to be a long-term starting pitcher. But he's made some major steps forward with his change-up to the point it's an above-average and reliable offering. He was even working with a cutter prior to his surgery.

I would have loved to see the alternative 2023 timeline where Burrows stayed healthy and came up during the summer to help reinforce the Pirates' rotation. Regardless, we should get to see that this year. He's somewhat of a forgotten x-factor because the Pirates drafted Paul Skenes, and the likes of Bubba Chandler, Anthony Solometo, and Jared Jones put together good seasons after Burrows' elbow surgery. He'll probably be a major reinforcement to the team's rotation during the summer this year.

Jase Bowen

A year later, after the Pirates took Burrows in the 11th round of the 2018 draft, they would take utility man Jase Bowen in the same round in 2019. Bowen is a power/speed threat who has seen playing time at all three outfield positions and both positions on the right side of the infield. 

He spent most of his 2023 campaign at High-A Greensboro, where he hit .257/.333/.469 with a .360 wOBA and 117 wRC+. Bowen was a 20/20 threat with 23 homers and 23 stolen bases. But he displayed mediocre plate discipline. Bowen posted a below-average 7.1 percent walk rate and a 24.5 percent strikeout rate, which was only about one percent better than the league average. At the end of the season, he was promoted to Altoona but performed poorly in eight games, with seven hits and only one walk in 33 plate appearances. On the plus side, he struck out just seven times.

Bowen is an above-average runner who is also considered a quality defender wherever he plays. A lot of his value comes from his utility. He's also shown some power potential (after all, he had 23 homers and a .221 ISO last season), but his unimpressive plate discipline has left some questions about his hit tool. 

But again, a lot of his value comes from his ability to play first base, second base, and all three outfield spots. If Bowen ends up being a 15-home run/stolen base threat and can at least post a .710-.730 OPS, he'll be a valuable utility man. Bowen is only 23, and Altoona should be his real test. Hopefully, his struggles in the small sample size are only a product of a small sample size, and he can look more like he did at Greensboro.

Braylon Bishop

The Pirates took many top high school talents in the 2021 draft. Four of their first five picks were high schoolers who signed for over-slot value. But in the 14th round of the draft, the Bucs took one of the more noteworthy high school outfielders, Braylon Bishop. Baseball America considered him a top 100 draft prospect at the time, but the start of his pro career hasn't gotten off as he likely would have hoped it would.

Last season, Bishop only came to the plate 146 times but batted a poor .195/.342/.288 with a .327 wOBA and 80 wRC+. Bishop struggled greatly with limiting strikeouts and lifting the ball. He had a 28.8 percent strikeout rate and 53.2 percent ground ball rate. The high rate of ground balls also led to a lack of power, with an ISO of just .093. The one silver lining from his brief season was his strong 16.4 percent walk rate, the ninth-highest among any Pirate minor leaguer with as many plate appearances as he had.

Bishop is considered a center fielder through and through with a strong enough arm to play the corners as well. He's also plenty fast and has stolen 23 bases in 26 attempts in 83 career games. But there were always massive questions about Bishop's hit tool. 2023 wasn't an outlier in strikeout rate as his career strikeout rate is 27.9 percent. Although he has shown decent raw power, the strikeouts plus the ground balls hinder his output.

But it still wasn't all that long ago. Bishop was considered a potential massive draft steal by the Pirates in the 14th round. Nor was it all that long ago that he was considered a top 100 talent in the draft. Bishop is only 20 and turns 21 on April 23. Two things Bishop needs to do with Bradenton this year are strike out slightly less and lift the ball more often. 

Khristian Curtis

We now move to the 2023 draft, specifically the 12th round, when the Pirates took right-hander Khristian Curtis out of Arizona State. Curtis was hindered by injuries in his college career, and also performed poorly. However, he was considered an interesting draft prospect because of his physicality and pitch mix.

Curtis pitched 64 innings at Arizona State last year, working to a 7.03 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, and 1.66 K:BB ratio. He was prone to home runs with a 1.69 HR/9 and also had a below-conference average of 11.3 percent walk rate and 18.7 percent strikeout rate. Despite poor results, Baseball America ranked him as the 126th-best prospect in the draft.

Curtis pitched in the recent Spring Breakout game alongside other Pirates prospects. The right-hander averaged 96 MPH with 2366 RPM to his four-seam fastball. That's an uptick from his 2023 college season when he was reportedly sitting 93-95 MPH. Along with a mid-90s fastball, he threw a slider, change-up, curveball, and cutter. His change-up is a hard change-up, sitting in the mid-80s, with his slider averaging out with similar velocity. His cutter sat in the low 90s while his curveball came in the upper 70s.

Curtis looks fully healthy and ready to go for the 2024 season. He doesn't turn 22 until the second week of May, but the 12th-round pick will definitely be interesting to watch this season. He's a hard-throwing righty with decent breaking and off-speed stuff. The right-hander has the potential to be a pretty good relief prospect.

Charles McAdoo

The Pirates' next pick after Curtis in the 12th round was utility man Charles McAdoo in the 13th round. An infielder/outfielder out of San Jose State, McAdoo is a bat-first utility prospect who has shown some potential with the stick, both in his time during college and in his brief playing time late last year with Bradenton.

McAdoo batted .325/.409/.543 throughout his final year at San Jose. He walked nearly as often as he struck out, with an 11.9 percent walk rate and a 15.2 percent strikeout rate. McAdoo went yard ten times with 19 doubles in just 269 plate appearances. In 600 plate appearances, that's a rate of 22 home runs and 42 doubles. 

McAdoo then made a 114 plate appearance cameo with Bradenton where he went on to bat .302/.412/.510 with a .431 wOBA, and 151 wRC+. He continued to walk and strikeout at near identical rates with 17 free passes to oppose 22 K's. McAdoo added some pop to Bradenton's line-up with five home runs and a .208 isolated slugging percentage.

A 6'2", 210-pound presence in the batter's box, McAdoo has the size and strength to hit for some pop. He also showed off some raw power in the Northwoods Summer League, a wood-bat collegiate league, in 2022 with a .270 isolated slugging percentage. McAdoo's lower half is a bit stiff in the box, as he already has a wide stance. McAdoo is more of a hit-over-field prospect but has some utility. His primary position is second base, but he also logged innings at first base and left field at A-ball. He best profiles at these positions.

McAdoo has hit well at multiple levels now: college, collegiate summer ball, and A-ball. He just turned 22 earlier this month and has always been decent at limiting strikeouts while still drawing walks and hitting for some pop. He could turn some heads if he hits anything like he did in college and/or like he did for Bradenton late last season.