Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Three Underrated Breakout Candidates for 2023

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a handful of players break out last year, but who are some prospects who could take a step forward next season?

Last season, Matt Gorski hit the same amount of home runs in 146 plate appearances at Greensboro as he did in 401 plate appearances at Bradenton. Endy Rodriguez increased his wRC+ by 26%. Colin Selby was added to the 40-man roster after looking like nothing more than organizational depth at the end of the 2021 season, and Kyle Nicolas also pieced together a strong season after an up-and-down 2021.

There are always going to be breakout players each and every year, and next year will be no different. With the Pittsburgh Pirates having as deep of a farm system as they do, there are bound to be some prospects who turn a corner and make something of themselves after a mediocre season. Today, let’s take a look at one potential breakout prospect at each level of the minor leagues.

Note that we will be skipping Low-A Bradenton Marauders. You could make the argument that someone like Lonnie White Jr., Bubba Chandler, or Owen Kellington could break out at Bradenton next season, I want to mainly focus on guys who have played full (or mostly full) seasons. I don’t think it’s fair to call, for example, Hung-Leng Chang a breakout candidate after only getting the chance to pitch 22.2 innings at the short-season Florida Complex League.