Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: All Underrated 2023 Lineup

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a handful of underrated prospects, but what would a lineup of these minor leaguers look like?

Last season, many underrated Pittsburgh Pirates prospects made a name for themselves. Both Luis Ortiz and Endy Rodriguez became consensus top 100 prospects, and Kyle Nicolas and Mike Burrows also turned in quality seasons. Even an undrafted free agent in Nick Dombkowski, started to appear on some prospect radars, specifically coming in on FanGraphs' top Pirates prospect list.

Not every major leaguer was once a top-ranking prospect, and many flew under the radar before making an impact in the big leagues. Even standout rookies like Jack Suwinski and Rodolfo Castro entered the year as mid-tier prospects. Heck, the Rookie of the Year winner runner-up, Spencer Strider, was a non-top 100 prospect going into the year and set the rookie record in K/9 and K% since the end of the deadball era (min. 100 IP). So as we head into 2023, who is the most underrated prospect at every position for the Pirates?

First, what exactly makes a prospect 'underrated'? It is a subjective question, but to me, there are a handful of factors. The first is where they are ranked on prospect lists if they're ranked at all. The next is how they compare to players of similar rank. Do they perform better or worse than those players? Another factor is their tools. Even if they are ranked low, do their skills and tools make them a good player/prospect? Last is the general consensus. How often is this player talked about between fans and evaluators? Do they hold them in a positive or negative light? Is he even talked about all that much?

So with that out of the way, let's get into our underrated catching prospect.