Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Three Pitchers Who Could Become Consensus Top 100

Anthony Solometo

Anthony Solometo really should be a consensus top-100 prospect by now. A second-round pick in 2021, many saw Solometo as a top-20 talent in the draft. However, questionable signability led to him falling to the first pick in the second round. Solometo had a phenomenal debut at Bradenton last season, where he had both an ERA and FIP under 3.00 and didn’t allow a single home run across 47.2 innings.

Now at Greensboro, Solometo has continued to be a highly dominant pitcher. Across 54.2 innings of work, Solometo owns a 2.47 ERA, 3.46 FIP, and 1.15 WHIP. The left-hander is striking out 28.8% of opponents faced while only allowing two home runs. Solometo is a strong ground ball pitcher and owns a well above-average 48.8% ground ball rate, the 15th highest qualified rate in High-A ball.

In an inverse to Jones, Solometo has elite command, but his control hasn’t been nearly as sharp. Solometo has pinpoint accuracy with his stuff, which isn’t fully reflected in his 11.5% walk rate. Also, unlike Jones, Solometo doesn’t rely on big velocity. He typically works around 90-94 MPH with a big breaking ball and average-to-above-average change-up. But his delivery and arm slot add a lot of deception, which throws off batters.

Solometo is only 20 years old and a young 20 at that. He won’t turn 21 until December. He’s dominating in a league where the average age for pitchers is 23.2 years of age, and the average age for position players is 22.3 years old. On top of that, he’s in an extremely hitter-friendly league. The average ERA is 4.54, while the average WHIP clocks in at 1.41. With his ability to dominate in that environment, along with his fastball velocity trending in the right direction, and other attributes that make it all play up, I don't see how Solometo isn't already on multiple top 100 prospect lists.