Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Draft Prospects to Watch in 2024

Who are some players that fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates should be monitoring this spring ahead of July's MLB Draft?

We are a full college and high school baseball season away from the 2024 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. With the Pittsburgh Pirates constant pursuit of building the farm system, it is always fun to follow players mocked to the Pirates before the season starts to get a full season of action from the specific players.

Along the way of watching prospects that your team might draft, you become familiar with other players and the landscape of college/high school baseball. Before listing the prospects that I am the most intrigued by for the Pirates, I think that there are two routes that they should go. One being college arms, and the other being high school bats.

I firmly believe that you can never have too many great arms in the farm system. If there are great college arms available, not only will the signing bonus be able to be around slot value or even a little under, but stacking up on a highly rated system in the pitching department can open the doors to plenty of unique opportunities. High school bats are almost necessary for this farm system to get a new wave of players into the ranks.

The Major League roster is full of young talent and the amount of young quality bats in the Double-A affiliate and below are limited. Getting a top high school bat to be able to be a little behind the track of Termarr Johnson who is currently the highest rated position player in the Pirates system will create necessary fluidity in the system.

No. 2 - Josh Hartle Left-Handed Pitcher Wake Forest

Lefty Josh Hartle may be coming into this year a little under the radar with transfer Chase Burns being added to the rotation. Hartle is still very highly rated himself and this would be a great selection if he could fall to the Pirates.

In his sophomore season with the Deacons, Hartle threw to a 2.81 earned run average over 102 innings. With this workload, Hartle struck out 140 and walked only 24 batters. Hartle’s fastball can top in the mid-90s and along with that is a plus curveball and cutter. An effective left-handed pitcher that can climb through the minors and give the Pirates organization more depth with left-handed pitching options can be a great value.

No. 3 - Konnor Griffin Outfielder Jackson Prep (Mississippi)

Konnor Griffin reclassed from 2025 into 2024, so he will be super young and raw come the amateur draft. Griffin already has a great frame at around 6’4’’ and a little over 200 pounds, developing the tools and player will be a task that the Pirates should heavily consider investing in.

With raw power and great athleticism, having a young superstar to headline the farm system as we are seeing a ton of prospects begin to graduate into the MLB club, starting fresh with a new wave can keep the organization in a good spot prospect wise for years to come.

No. 4 - Brody Brecht Right-Handed Pitcher Iowa

Brody Brecht at pick 9 may be a reach and this could lead to an under-slot signing and then allowing bolstering of the rest of the draft class. Brecht is a super fun prospect as his fastball can reach into the low 100s and is projected to have a 70-grade slider on top of the fastball.

His command was an issue with Brecht last season at Iowa, but the potential seems to be too high to ignore especially in the pitching department. Lack of talent in the Big Ten conference is also a concern, but when the stuff is as good as Becht is when he is on, hitters at any level will have a tough go-around with Becht.