Pittsburgh Pirates: Looking at Three of the System's Best Prospect Tools

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a handful of talented players throughout their minor league system, but these three players have some of the best tools among their prospects.

I'm sure you have heard of five-tool players. A five-tool player is a player who hits for average (hit tool), for power (power tool), can run well (speed/run tool), has displayed a good glove (fielding), and has a strong arm (arm tool). Pitchers are graded in similar ways, but instead of being assessed on their hit, power, run, fielding, and arm, they're graded on the pitches they throw, as well as their ability to throw strikes (control) and ability to hit their spots (command).

These tools are graded on the 20-80 scouting scale. 20 is the lowest possible grade a player can receive, and an example of that would be late-career Chris Davis' hit tool or late-career Dallas Keuchel's fastball. 80 is the highest possible, and this would be like Aaron Judge's raw power or Spencer Strider's fastball. The Pittsburgh Pirates have built up a strong farm system, and we've used these grading scales and tools to evaluate the prospects the Pirates have acquired over the last few years.

But right now, which tools are the best? Which ones stand out the most among the Pirates' top prospects, and which ones could help these players later on down the line?

Henry Davis' Power

Many saw Henry Davis as the best power hitter in the 2021 draft class. Davis had the potential to translate his raw power into game power, given his hit tool and plate discipline. After a solid showing in late-2021 and during an injury-shortened 2022, it looks like Davis had fully tapped into the raw power that many were enamored by when the backstop was at Louisville.

In 2022, the first overall pick posted some solid numbers, including a .264/.380/.472 triple-slash across three levels of the minor leagues (not counting a rehab game at the FCL). Although he was only limited to 255 plate appearances, it was a promising line nonetheless. He also had a respectable 8.2% BB% and 20% K-rate.

However, his 2022 numbers pale in comparison to what he's done so far with Altoona in 2023. Davis is currently batting .314/.457/.647 with a .461 wOBA. Davis has drawn 22 walks to oppose just 23 strikeouts. That comes out to a BB% and K% of 17.1% and 17.8%, respectively. Davis has already drawn more base on balls this year than last season, but in nearly half the amount of plate appearances (126 to be exact), and is just one home run away from matching his '22 total.

In terms of power, there's nothing short of excellence so far this year. Davis has a slugging percentage approaching .650, with an isolated slugging percentage well above .300 at .333. With nine dingers in 129 plate appearances, he's on pace for nearly 42 home runs over the course of 600 plate appearances. While that's not to say that Davis will be a guarenteed 40+ home run catcher in the future, there's certainly a lot of power here. It's only helped by the fact that Davis can control the strike zone and his bat.

Between his top-of-the-line power and well-above-average hit tool, the sky's the limit for Davis' offensive ceiling, though some questions remain about his defense. Davis wasn't known as much of a defender in college, and that showed in 2021-2022 when he allowed nine passed balls in less than 500 innings (370 to be exact), which comes out to 19 PBs in 800 innings. However, he's only allowed one passed ball this year in 183.1 innings (comes out to a pace of four PBs in 800 frames) and has played some outfield, both to hide his defensive woes behind the dish and to make room for Endy Rodriguez. There's no question that Davis has an arm to play both behind the plate and in the outfield if need be. Plus, for a catcher, he runs decently well.

Davis is likely on track for a mid-season 2023 Major League debut at the pace he's currently at. What he's done at Double-A has been astounding to watch, and it's only a matter of time until the Pirates reward Davis. That's especially true, given the current catching situation in the major leagues.

Jared Jones' Fastball

The Pirates' previous second-round pick before Solometo was another high school pitcher, this time in the form of Jared Jones. Jones was also an over-slot pick (like most high schoolers are), signing for $2.2 million. Coming out of La Mirada High School, Jones showed off a powerful fastball. With its velocity and spin rate, it might just be the best pitch in the Pirates' system.

Jones's first season was in 2021, where he impressed fans and analysts alike. Luck was not on his side, as a .385 batting average on balls in play across 66 innings bloated his ERA to 4.64. However, he had an outstanding 34.1% strikeout rate, a 0.82 HR/9, and both a FIP and xFIP below 4.00. His 11.3% walk rate wasn't great, but still solid given that he was a 19-year-old at a full-season level of the minor leagues with as powerful stuff as he had.

The following season, Jones' walk rate decreased below 10% to 9.6%, though his strikeout rate (26.7%) and HR/9 (1.39) both moved in the wrong direction. His ERA stayed relatively the same at 4.64, though his FIP of 4.85 and xFIP of 4.27 were major upticks. Granted, he was only 20 in a hitter-friendly environment, so 2023 at Altoona would be a real test for Jones.

So far, Jones has passed with flying colors. Jones has only pitched 20 innings but has allowed just six earned runs and a single home run and has struck out 22 batters. Even better, his walk rate has now been reduced to just 8.5%. It's all the more impressive that he's able to do this at the most competitive level of the minor leagues when he's about three years younger than the batters he's facing (23.9 years old) and nearly four years younger than his fellow pitchers (24.6 years old).

Jones has an extremely impressive four-seam fastball. He consistently sits 96-99 MPH, according to MLB Pipeline. If velocity was the only thing that made his fastball good, it wouldn't be a good pitch. However, according to FanGraphs, he also averages out around 2550 RPM. There are only 15 pitching prospects who hit around 2550 RPM, but only five of them top out at 99 MPH, at the very least. Jones is one of those pitchers (that's according to FanGraphs' prospect list and the ones they have data on).

Jones isn't just a fireballer with no reliable secondaries. Both his curveball and slider projects as above-average offerings. He's also made strides to improve both pitches to help them separate each other. MLB Pipeline is now calling his slider a sweeping-slider (the sweeper). His fourth offering is a change-up, which sits in the upper-80s/low-90s.

While Solometo may have been the best command/control pitcher of the 2021 draft class, the same couldn't have been said about Jones. One of the biggest points of contention about Jones was about his control and his command. Jones' control has slowly made progress, indicated by his walk rate going from over 11% to under 9% from 2021 to 2023. However, his command lags behind his control, as there are still questions about his ability to consistently locate and hit his spots.

Still, progress is progress, and Jones is making it. He's still a young pitcher and needs refinement. However, there's definitely a chance the Pirates get him a few outings at Triple-A before the end of the year, especially if he keeps pitching the way he has.