Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Two Land in Baseball Prospectus Top 100

Two of the Pittsburgh Pirates top prospects find themselves in the latest top 100 rankings from Baseball Prospectus

On Tuesday, Baseball Prospectus released their annual top 101 prospects list and the Pittsburgh Pirates have two farmhands listed.

2023 No. 1 overall pick, right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes, and 2022 fourth overall pick, second baseman Termarr Johnson are both ranked inside the top-101. Skenes comes in at No.9 in the rankings and Johnson is ranked no. 90.

Skenes was the Pirates no.1 draft pick in last year's MLB Draft after posting a 12-2 record with a 1.69 ERA over 19 games and 122.2 innings pitched for LSU last season. In his first taste of pro ball across three levels (Florida Complex League, Florida State League, and Eastern League), Skenes pitched in five games, pitching 6.2 innings while allowing four earned runs in the process. He also struck out 10 and walked two in his cup of coffee.

Sknes is unlikely to begin the season with the Pirates out of camp but should get a few spring training opportunities with the club. He'll then likely begin his season in Double-A Altoona before potentially making a Major League debut in either May or June.

Termarr Johnson, just completed his first full season of Minor League ball with the Pirates, playing in 105 games for Low-A Bradenton and High-A Greensboro. In 105 games, Johnson posted a .244/.422/.438 slash with 18 home runs and 59 RBI. He also had 12 doubles and one triple. Perhaps most impressively for Johnson was his eye, walking 101 times across 105 games, he did have some swing and miss in his game as well, striking out 120 times in 462 plate appearances.

So far in 128 minor league games, Johnson has hit .240/.413/.427 with 19 home runs and 65 RBI. It's worth noting that Johnson has been able to post those numbers despite being quite younger than most of his competition, doing so at just age 19 last year. He'll turn 20 in June.

Johnson will likely begin his season with High-A Greensboro but could work his way to Double-A Altoona before the conclusion of the 2024 season.