Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Two Left-Handed Pitchers Deserving of an Extended Look in 2024

Anthony Solometo

Anthony Solometo is the organization's best left-handed pitching prospect. Drafted in the second round of the 2021 draft, Solometo was one of the Bucs’ multiple high school draft picks. After a strong debut in 2022, Solometo further built upon that in 2023 with a solid season between High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona.

Through 110.1 innings, Solometo owned a 3.26 ERA, 3.46 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP. The southpaw struck out 26.2% of the batters he faced with an 8.6% walk rate. However, his best peripheral was his HR/9 rate of 0.65. His batted ball profile was also decent, with a 17.7% line drive rate and 44.8% ground ball rate.

On paper, Solometo’s 4.35 ERA, 3.84 FIP, and 1.22 WHIP aren’t great, especially at Double-A. But let’s add some context to Solometo’s numbers.

First, he was 20 and didn’t turn 21 until December. Solometo made a dozen starts and is the 11th youngest pitcher to make that many starts in one season at Double-A over the last five minor league seasons and the 4th youngest pitcher in the Eastern League over the last ten minor league seasons. The lefty still had an above-average 6.3% walk rate, 1.05 HR/9, 3.57 K:BB ratio, and WHIP. His ERA was only worse by 0.07 runs, and his strikeout rate was worse than average by about 1.7%. But his walk rate got 4.2% better from Greensboro to Altoona.

Solometo does not throw hard, averaging 91-94 MPH, topping out at 95. But he has steadily gained velocity since he was drafted. When the Pirates originally took Solometo, he was only sitting 88-91 MPH. Now, he could be topping out in the mid-90s when he reaches MLB. Along with improving velocity, he throws his four-seamer with some sink at the bottom of the zone.

Solometo’s fastball has improved, but it’s not the only pitch in his arsenal that looks good. His slider comes in the mid-80s and is the pitch he gets most of his swings and misses on. Don’t sleep on his change-up, however. According to MLB Pipeline, Solometo has shown more confidence in this pitch as time has gone on, throwing it more often to right-handed hitters.

Solometo might not have one plus offering in his arsenal, but there are many facets of his game that make his stuff play up. First is his wind-up. He has a low arm slot that many have compared to Madison Bumgarner, giving batters less of a chance to barrel the ball up. He also has a decent amount of deception because of his motion on the mound. Solometo can throw all his pitches exactly where he wants. He has arguably the best command of any pitcher in the system right now.

Between all that, Solometo could make his debut sometime in the second half of the year. He will be 21 for all of the 2024 campaign, and if he pitches anything like he did at Altoona, he’ll become a long-term member and important cog of the Pirates’ pitching staff.

Jackson Wolf

Jackson Wolf is one of the three players the Pirates got back for Ji-Man Choi and Rich Hill during last year’s trade deadline. Wolf spent nearly all of his 2023 season at Double-A, both for the San Diego Padres and the Pirates’ affiliates. However, he has already made his MLB debut. Wolf will likely open the year Triple-A Indianapolis, but since he’s already part of the Pirates’ 40-man roster, he has a good chance at getting a look in the big leagues.

But Wolf’s final four starts to the year inflated his numbers. Before August 30th, Wolf had a 3.79 ERA, 3.71 FIP, and 1.05 WHIP in his first 107 innings/23 games of 2023. Wolf’s walk rate remained at 6.3%, while his HR/9 didn’t become significantly worse as he had a 1.09 HR/9 before these four outings. But his strikeout rate was dramatically different at 29.3%. Four starts and 18 innings might not seem like much, but it changed his bottom line by a non-insignificant amount.

But while it may have changed the trajectory of his numbers, it probably didn’t change the trajectory of his next MLB start or how the Pirates view Wolf. The Southpaw doesn’t throw hard and only averaged 88-89 MPH and topped 90+ just once in his MLB debut. But Wolf displays a solid slider that he throws with about 42-43 inches of vertical break along with a low-80s change-up. He also tossed a curveball in the minor leagues that has average potential.

But, like Solometo, multiple factors to Wolf’s game make his stuff play up. Wolf adds a couple of ticks of velocity because of his release point. Wolf releases the ball about seven and a half feet in front of him, making his fastball, which averaged 88.9 MPH on the radar gun, look more like 91.2 MPH out of the hand. Of course, that goes for all his pitches and not just his fastball. He also spins his fastball very well and had a 99% active spin in his debut. This helped his fastball have average carry with only 21.5 inches of drop, but more impressively, 12.9 inches of break. Last year, there were only 21 qualified Major League pitchers whose fastball had more than 12.5 inches of break.

Despite his stuff not standing out on paper, Wolf registered a Stuff+ rating of 117, according to FanGraphs. That puts him above Dylan Cease, Brandon Woodruff, Shane McClanahan, Yu Darvish, and even the National League Cy Young winner and former teammate, Blake Snell. I think Wolf deserves a look as a starting pitcher next year.