Pittsburgh Pirates: Best Prospect at Each Position

Right Field - Estuar Suero

Like I stated with Nolasco, you rarely see a player start their career out in an outfield corner. Most start their career out in center field, but move to a corner position once they reach the upper levels of the minor leagues or the Majors. Because of that, I am taking some liberty again with this one, and putting Estuar Suero as the Pirates’ best right field prospect.

The Pirates acquired Suero at the trade deadline as part of the Ji-Man Choi/Rich Hill trade package. Since coming to the Pirates’ he’s hit .217/.379/.326 with a .363 wOBA, and 99 wRC+. Suero drew the same amount of walks to strikeouts with a dozen of each for a 20.7% rate. These may not be impressive numbers, but it was in just 53 plate appearances for the Pirates’ FCL affiliate team.

However, prior to the trade, Suero was batting just .216/.306/.345 with a .313 wOBA, and 65 wRC+ for the Padres’ FCL team. While he had a 10% walk rate, he also struck out about 30% of the time (30.7% to be exact). Plus he only hit four home runs in 160 plate appearances. Not the greatest start to the year for Suero.

But Suero is a physical specimen. He is a 6’5”, 180-LBS kid who just turned 18 on August 29th. He has also clocked in some very impressive run times. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he is also a switch-hitter. There’s a reason why many are enamored with him. But his swing is long and could get in the way, but it’s not as if there isn’t time for him to iron things out and improve his game.

Just saying, the last time the Pirates traded a veteran lefty pitcher for a tall and lanky, but extremely young Dominican Republic kid, it ended with Oneil Cruz. Admittedly, that is an extremely lazy comparison. But you’re still talking about a 6’5”, 180-pound kid who has already shown double-plus speed and power potential. But it’s not as if he's the safest prospect to ever be, and it will be a few years until we really see what he can do and if he develops into his potential.