Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Debating Who Should/Should Not Be Available in Trades

For The Right Price/Player - Jared Jones, Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington

The Pirates have a lot of pitching prospects that they might be willing to listen to offers on. All but one of them was a former high school pick. Jared Jones was a second-round 2020 selection who had a great 2023 season, making significant strides in his control and pitching to an above-average level at Triple-A. He is one of the hardest-throwing minor leaguers with good breaking stuff.

Anthony Solometo was another second-round pick by the Bucs the following season. Solometo also pitched well in the minors this year. Although his numbers took a hit going from High-A to Double-A, he was among the Eastern League's youngest pitchers over the last decade. Plus he pitched to an average to above average level overall for Altoona despite this being his age-20 season. Solometo's velocity has slowly gotten better and even topped out at 95 MPH this year. With a plus slider and solid change-up, he has a good pitch mix. However, Solometo has some of the best command throughout the minor leagues.

Bubba Chandler was taken the round after Solometo. 2023 was his first full season of play, and like Johnson, got off to a bumpy start. He had trouble locating and his stuff wasn't playing to the level it should have been. But in the second half of the year, Chandler posted a sub-2.00 ERA and saw his walk rate drop significantly. Chandler was getting way more swings and misses while hitting his spots more frequently. It will be fun to see him carve up Double-A batters next year (assuming he isn't included in a trade).

Finally, there's Thomas Harrington. Harrington was a first-round competitive balance pick in 2022 and their first pick after Termarr. Harrington had a quality campaign between Bradenton and Altoona. While Harrington does not throw hard, he has a spin-efficient fastball that carries extremely well through the zone. He reworked his slider to make it more of a sweeper, too. His change-up also looked fantastic. Harrington's curveball is his worst pitch, but still one that could play to an average level. I think he is one of the most underrated pitching prospects currently in the minors.

It is a little counter-intuitive for the Pirates to trade pitching prospects who are nearly MLB-ready when pitching depth at the Major League level is their weakest link right now. But if the Pirates can get an impact player by trading one or two of these pitching prospects, then they should do it. Of course, they shouldn't just make a trade to make a trade. If one or multiple of these prospects were to headline a trade, it needs to be for the right player. However, I think the Pirates definitely would listen on these prospects if a team called asking about them.