Pittsburgh Pirates: Best Performing Unranked Prospects

Mike Jarvis

At the time when the Pirates drafted Mike Jarvis, I made the comparison to Adam Frazier. There were many similarities between the two, between college numbers, hitting profile, build, and round drafted in. Although Jarvis struggled in 2022, his first extended look against pro pitchers, he's certainly gotten off to a good start this year.

Jarvis is currently slashing .243/.361/.586 with a .415 wOBA and 142 wRC+ for Greensboro. The utility man has shown both power and speed, swatting six home runs and posting a .343 isolated slugging percentage while also swiping eight bases in eight attempts. He's also walked at a 12% rate with a strikeout rate just north of 20% at 19.3%.

One could make the case that Jarvis hasn't had the best of luck. He has a .229 batting average on balls in play. While he only had a career BABIP of .266 in 2021-2022, there is some bad batted-ball luck so far on Jarvis' end, especially considering he's had a 24.1% line drive rate.

Jarvis is an interesting minor leaguer, given his versatility. He's seen playing time at second base, third base, and shortstop, as well as right field so far this year. The only positions he has yet to play as a professional baseball player are catcher, first base, and pitcher. Again, that harkens back to the Adam Frazier comparison.

It wouldn't surprise me if Jarvis was promoted next week. He'll turn 25 in about a week, and Double-A is where you start to see a separation between the men and the boys. The Pirates need to see if they have anything in Jarvis, and he's definitely earned his promotion to Altoona. If he is the real deal, then they might have a decent super-utility man on their hands.