Pittsburgh Pirates: Injured Prospects Who Can Still Make an Impact in the Future

The Pittsburgh Pirates have some noteworthy prospects who are injured now, but could still make an impact in the not so distant future

Injuries happen in baseball. Some only last a week like an ankle sprain, others can extend over a year for things like Tommy John surgeries, or other major procedures. Unfortunately, this happens to prospects all the time, which can throw a wrench into future plans. The Pittsburgh Pirates do have a few noteworthy minor leaguers who have sat out a good portion, if not all of 2023.

However, just because they’ve yet to play much if at all, doesn’t mean there’s no future role for these players. They could still very much make an impact on the Pirates’ future and their long-term plans. While they may have missed a good chunk of time, some are now just returning, and others still won’t be seen until sometime in the second half of 2024.

Hunter Barco

Hunter Barco was the Pirates’ second-round pick in the 2022 draft. The Pirates knew it wouldn’t be until late into the 2023 season that he would make his pro debut. When the Bucs took him, he had just undergone Tommy John surgery in May. He’s technically no longer injured, however, he is on a rehab assignment at the Pirates’ Florida Complex League.

Barco was picked out of the University of Florida. During his final season, Barco was only limited to 50.1 innings but was highly effective. The lefty pitched to the tune of a 2.50 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and a K:BB ratio clocking in at 6.27. Barco induced a lot of strikeouts while limiting walks. He struck out over a third of opponents with a 34.3% rate but also limited them to a free pass just 5.5% of the time. The only knock on Barco’s game was his HR/9 of 1.07, which was still slightly above the SEC average at the time of 1.15.

Barco wasn’t an insanely hard thrower in college. He typically sits around 90-93 MPH while topping out at 95. Barco’s best pitch is his slider, which has cross-fire action. He also throws a changeup, which projects as a second above-average or better pitch. Barco has above-average command and can hit his spots frequently, but his low arm-slot delivery adds some deception to his stuff.

Barco made his return to baseball on Thursday and excelled in his pro debut. He only pitched two innings and faced seven batters, but he struck out four, didn’t allow a hit, and walked just one. The Pirates’ FCL facility doesn’t have Statcast, so there isn’t any publicly available accurate data about his stuff.

Either way, Barco’s return was promising, to say the least. He’s already 22, so it’s likely the Pirates will try to get him back into games at Low-A or High-A soon. It’s possible he joins his fellow 2022 draftee Thomas Harrington with the Greensboro Grasshoppers once the Pirates feel he’s fully healed.

It’s possible that he makes his debut sometime in 2024 if he stays healthy and pitches well. 2024 will mark his age-23 season, which even with missing most of a year because of Tommy John surgery, is still a reasonable age to debut at.

Mike Burrows

Losing Mike Burrows at the start of the 2023 season was a major blow for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Burrows entered the year as one of the Pirates’ top pitching prospects who had made significant gains over the course of the 2022 season. Had it not been for Tommy John surgery, he probably would have made his debut already. But now, Pirates fans and Burrows will have to wait until sometime in 2024 for that.

Burrows pitched to a 4.01 ERA, but a strong 3.29 FIP and 1.21 WHIP in 2022. He carried a strong 28.2% strikeout rate along with a 7.9% walk rate. Burrows has always been great at limiting home runs, and 2022 was no different. The right-hander had a quality 0.76 HR/9 rate. These numbers are a tad inflated though. In his last start of the year, Burrows allowed six earned runs in just 0.2 innings. If this one start doesn’t happen, his ERA goes from 4.01 to 3.46.

The former 11th-round pick has a great fastball and curveball. His fastball sits in the 93-96 MPH range with elite spin, consistently hitting 2500+ RPM. His curveball is one of the best in the Pirate system, as it hits 3000+ RPM. There was no question Burrows had a strong two-pitch selection, but the development of his change-up would always be the sticking point. To his credit, he significantly improved his third pitch and even made it a plus offering. He even started to work on a slider, though his season was cut so short he never got a chance to use it.

Burrows only pitched 6.2 innings before eventually having to undergo surgery in mid-April. Losing him for the 2023 season, and a good portion of 2024 was a large blow, but Burrows will eventually make it back into action. At this point next year, he could be finishing up his rehab with a good chance of making his debut in August.

Max Kranick

Unlike the other names talked about on today’s list, Max Kranick isn’t an obvious prospect who could make a future impact. But Kranick had some real promise at the start of 2022, showing some good velocity. But a Tommy John surgery wiped out the rest of 2022, and most likely all of this year. But that doesn’t mean that Kranick will forever be forgotten.

Kranick’s debut was one to remember as he fired off five perfect innings against the St. Louis Cardinals before a rain delay interrupted what could have been history. The rest of his 2021 season did not go well, as he allowed 27 earned runs, 19 walks, and four home runs over the course of his next 33.2 innings.

Kranick then came out of the gates swinging in 2022. The right-hander added a whole tick of velocity to his four-seam fastball to open the year. But he was only able to pitch five innings in two games before he landed on the injured list and eventually underwent the dreaded surgery. He went from 93-95 to 94-96 MPH, which could be big for his long-term outlook.

While Kranick may never be the ace of the staff, he could become a solid long-relief/swingman if he can maintain the velocity gains he made in 2022. There’s value in a guy who can pitch 2-3 innings out of the bullpen, and make the occasional spot start. Kranick had some promise going into 2022, and it would have been nice to see what he could have done given an extended look, especially after his added velocity. We’ll just have to wait for 2024 to see his return.