Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Three Underrated Pitchers to Watch in 2024

The Pittsburgh Pirates farm system has plenty of pitching. However, these three prospects fly under the radar and should stand out more than they do.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have many quality pitching prospects. Paul Skenes is the first one everyone thinks of, but Jared Jones and Anthony Solometo have taken massive strides since they were drafted. Bubba Chandler had a phenomenal second half, Thomas Harrington looked good in his first minor league season, and there are plenty of under-20 arms like Michael Kennedy, Jun-Seok Shim, and Zander Mueth that are among the Pirates’ best minor leaguers.

But the Pirate farm system’s biggest strength is pitching for a reason. Sure, these are the most popular or talented names, but the Pirate system is deep with hurlers. What I want to look at today are the ones who are overlooked but have prime potential to be key members of the Pirate future.

Hunter Barco

Hunter Barco was the second-round pick for the Pirates in the 2022 draft. You might be wondering how a second-round pick could be underrated. But based on the talent in the system, it would be easy to overlook the soft-tossing Barco. The lefty has a lot more talent than some give him credit for.

Barco missed the first half of the 2023 season, as he underwent Tommy John surgery part way through his final college season. The Pirates eased Barco back into action, as he made eight starts and one bullpen appearance but never surpassed four innings in any outing. Still, in 18.1 innings, Barco only allowed seven earned runs, struck out 28, and walked six. He didn’t allow a single ground ball due to a sub-30% fly ball rate (27.9%) and a ground ball rate over 50% (53.5%).

The lefty does not throw hard, as he was only sitting around 90-92 MPH in his time with Bradenton on his sinker. However, his sinker does have above-average spin, and the velocity plays up because of Barco’s long release point. His slider is the best pitch of his arsenal, with movement that goes from one side of the plate to the other. Barco’s change-up has the potential to be an average offering with some arm-side run.

On top of decent stuff, Barco has good command. Most, when they see a soft-tossing lefty like Barco, automatically assume he’s a high-floor pitcher with a low ceiling. While he does fit that mold, I definitely think he can play above it. There’s a lot to like about his game. He has a low-arm slot with decent extension, giving him good velocity deception.

Kyle Nicolas

When you think of who will be getting the highest leverage innings in 2024, David Bednar, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Colin Holderman are probably the first names that come to mind. Even then, Dauri Moreta and Ryan Borcuki may even be thought of before rookie right-hander Kyle Nicolas. Nicolas made his debut in late September. While he only appeared in a few games, Nicolas may have the second-best stuff in the Pirate bullpen, only surpassed by the Renegade.

Nicolas’ first big league game unfortunately went horribly wrong. He faced 17 batters, five of which reached base via three base hits and two walks. One of the hits he allowed was a home run. He managed to induce just a single out. But after that game, Nicolas settled down. Nicolas would pitch five more innings and face 19 more batters, striking out seven, allowing two more free passes, and a single earned run. None of the four hits he gave up were home runs, either.

The hard-throwing right-hander worked as a starting pitcher, both in 2022 and in the first half of 2023. However, he struggled at Triple-A in 2023 as a starting pitcher and was moved to the bullpen. Through his final 22 innings at Indy, Nicolas owned a 2.05 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 4.16 FIP. While Nicolas had a 1.23 HR/9 and 11.5% walk rate, he also struck out 35.3% of the batters he faced. Ten of his final dozen outings were scoreless as well.

Nicolas’ stuff is great. He averaged out around 97 MPH with his four-seam fastball while sitting at 2409 RPM. On top of that, the pitch had immense carry through the strike zone with a 97% active spin rate. The best comparison to Nicolas’ fastball is Gerrit Cole’s four-seamer. Cole also averaged out around 97 MPH with 2412 RPM and an active spin rate of 94%. But Nicolas’s fastball dropped less and had more horizontal movement.

While Nicolas’ fastball has elite potential, his slider is also great. With an upper-80s/low-90s pitch with about 2500 RPM, he throws his slider with a low active spin, giving it a football-like spiral. Then there’s his curveball, which is another pitch with plus attributes, however, he did not use it all that often in the majors. He threw it just eight times, but it looked like an excellent third pitch.

Nicolas has a real chance of gunning for a set-up-man role next year. He honestly has some of the best stuff from a reliever the Pirates have seen in a while. Nicolas will likely open the year in the Pirates’ bullpen, but I would not be surprised if he earns himself a greater role by summer, based on how well he did in Triple-A and how good his offerings were at the Majors.