Five underrated Pittsburgh Pirates prospects who are off to good starts to 2024

Patrick Reilly

After the Pirates took Forrester in the third round, they would then go on to take two more college pitchers with their next two selections. One was right-hander Patrick Reilly out of Vanderbilt. Reilly was coming off a rough 2023 season with Vandy, turning in just a 5.77 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and 2.17 K:BB ratio while walking 13.3 percent of the batters he faced in 48.8 innings.

Reilly bounced between Vanderbilt’s starting rotation and bullpen. He thrived out of their pen, but the Pirates apparently wanted to give Reilly at least one more shot to prove himself as a starting pitcher. So far, the early results are promising, and he is certainly putting up some extremely impressive numbers.

His ERA isn’t too impressive at 4.32. But beyond that, he has struck out 43.9 percent of the batters he faced with a walk rate a touch below 10 percent at 9.1 percent. His walk rate being that low is a massive development, as he struggled to hit the strike zone consistently as a college starter. His 1.08 HR/9 isn’t great, but a look at his underlying stats in the small sample size is promising. Reilly has a 2.72 FIP and an even lower 1.89 xFIP.

Reilly throws hard, sitting mid-90s but with a ton of ride on his four-seamer. Last season during his brief stay at Bradenton, his fastball averaged out with around 12 inches of vertical break. If the Pirates promoted him today, he’d be top 30 in vertical movement. It also helps he has about nine inches of horizontal break.

Reilly also throws a mid-80s slider, which is another above-average pitch. He also played around with a cutter last season, sitting in the upper 80s with the offering and having about 26 inches of vertical movement. He’ll also throw in a two-seamer and change-up. His sinker also sits the mid-90s but with a slightly more horizontal run.

Reilly being this good as a starter could be a massive revelation for the Pirates. He struggled greatly as a starter when Vanderbilt gave him the opportunity but now he looks like a completely different pitcher from those outings. Skenes is obviously the best player from the 2023 draft class, but Reilly is making a strong bid to be the second-best player so far from the same group.