Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Three Underrated Players Who Play a Key Role

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a deep farm system, but these three more underrated names could take over key roles in 2023

The Pittsburgh Pirates have their fair share of up-and-coming prospects. At the end of the year, you may see the likes of Endy Rodriguez, Quinn Priester, Mike Burrows, and Luis Ortiz in regular roles. But those prospects are some of the best the Pirates have to offer. Ortiz, Rodriguez, and Priester are consensus top 100 prospects. Burrows has shot up prospect boards in the last two years and has gained a decent reputation.

But the Pirates have plenty more where they came from. After all, many still consider them arguably a top 5 system, even with two consensus top 100 prospects graduating last year (Oneil Cruz, who was a consensus top 30, and Roansy Contreras). There are many more rookies who the Pirates could see slot into regular roles by the end of the year, and these three could be key players in 2023.

Nick Gonzales

Yes, I am still on the Nick Gonzales bandwagon, and no, I’m not going to stop. Gonzales has fallen in the eyes of many prospect aggregates, especially in FanGraphs’ eyes. They dropped him all the way to the team’s 23rd-best prospect (granted, there are more issues with FanGraphs’ list, such as ranking Ricky DeVito over Jun-Seok Shim and Anthony Solometo, despite being objectively better prospects). Sure, there are some valid criticisms about Gonzales, but many aren’t nearly as bad as some make it out to be.

While Gonzales fell in most rankings, he still had a quality season, batting .263/.383/.429 with a .365 wOBA and 127 wRC+. Gonzales had a solid .166 isolated slugging percentage and walked at a healthy 13.6% rate. But where Gonzales struggled (and where many see his flaws) is with strikeouts. He K’d in 28.5% of his plate appearances last year.

However, his strikeout rate isn’t as bad as it seems. Gonzales started the year off ice cold. From mid-May through the end of the year, Gonzales batted .302/.412/.512 with a .405 wOBA and 152 wRC+. This time around, he had a 13.3% walk rate but a much more manageable 23.7% strikeout rate. Granted, it was 211 plate appearances, as he missed all of June and July, but he was still much better during this stretch. 

Once Gonzales returned during the first week of August, his strikeout rate decreased even further to 22.7%. Then, in the final month of the minor league season, the second base prospect had a strikeout rate of just 20.7%. Of course, that’s even a smaller sample size of 141 and 111 plate appearances, but still an encouraging one nonetheless. In the Arizona Fall League, he had just a 20.8% K-rate when the average was 23.3%. Overall, he ranked 22nd out of 61 players in Arizona.

Gonzales has seen a few games at shortstop and played some hot corner in the AFL, but second base is his home through and through. He may see a game here and there at short and third, but he’s going to spend almost all his time at the keystone, where he grades out as a solid defender. He’s also a decent base runner.

Gonzales is still a good prospect and one that’s now overlooked. While the Pittsburgh Pirates have other second base-capable youngsters, including Rodolfo Castro, who is projected to be the regular second base to open the year, Gonzales could take over the role in 2023. The two things he needs are to stay healthy and keep producing as he did in May-September 2022 and at the AFL but at Triple-A Indy.

Tahnaj Thomas

Blake Cederlind is still a major question mark, but Tahnaj Thomas is much less of an unknown commodity. Still, considering the players the Pirates have right now on the 40-man roster, the fact that Thomas has been left off for two Rule 5 draft cycles and picked neither time, to me, makes him somewhat of an underrated pitching prospect. He’s a relief pitcher, but one with plenty of potential.

Thomas was previously used as a starting pitcher but made the full transition to the bullpen last year. The first two months in his new role weren’t great. He allowed nine earned runs while walking ten batters in his first 14.1 innings of the year. He also only had 11 K’s and surrendered two home runs. But by the time June rolled around, Thomas fully settled in.

Across his next 36.1 innings, Thomas worked to a 1.98 ERA, 2.70 FIP, and 1.05 WHIP. Walks, which had previously been a massive weakness for Thomas, all of a sudden became a non-issue. His BB% was cut to just 6.9%. Home runs had also been something Thomas had struggled with, but the right-hander’s 0.69 HR/9 rate was well above average. Not only was he limiting walks and home runs, but he struck out 28.5% of opponents faced.

Thomas throws hard, topping out in the triple-digits, and he pairs that with a plus-plus slider. Thomas may have dominated in the lower-level minor leagues, but once he started to face higher-level competition, he started to struggle because of his lack of a third offering. His change-up is rarely used below-average pitch. But two plus-plus offerings will do for a reliever.

Even if Thomas’ command (ability to locate) isn’t pinpointed, both it and his control (ability to limit walks) have improved. FanGraphs even states that he’s throwing a “surprising amount of strikes.” It’s shocking he wasn’t taken in the Rule 5 Draft. He seems like the most prototypical Rule 5 pitcher: hard thrower with a good breaking ball but some command issues. Sure, there’s plenty of risk, but what Rule 5 pick has no risk? Regardless, I think Thomas could find himself as a set-up man by the end of the year.