Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Where Newly Acquired Players Rank in the System

Infielder Jhonny Severino

MLB Pipeline does not have Suero on their top 30 Pirates prospect list, despite FanGraphs ranking him so high. The second prospect that is included on FanGraphs' list, but not Pipeline’s is Jhonny Severino, who was the prospect that was sent to the Bucs for Santana and comes in at number 24 on FG's list. Severino’s 52 plate appearances for the Brewers’ ACL affiliate were pretty insane. He had 12 hits, with seven going for extra bases (four homers, two doubles, one triple), He also only struck out ten times, but walked just once. Since getting to the Pirates’ Florida Complex League team, he’s had 11 plate appearances, and three hits, including another home run, a walk, and a strikeout.

Like Suero, FanGraphs thinks that Severino has the potential to be a plus power hitter. FanGraphs states he put up some insane raw power numbers and could hit to all fields. But there’s less potential for speed here. He has a strong arm and has primarily been a shortstop in his young pro career. However, he’s not considered a fast runner, and projects to slow down as he ages. He’s also played second base and third base and has only played the hot corner since the Pirates acquired him. It’s likely that’s his long-term position given there are already questions about his ability to stick at shortstop long-term. However, there’s a pretty high offensive ceiling.

It’s a pretty interesting trio of prospects the Pirates acquired at the deadline, as it shows two opposite sides of the prospect spectrum. Wolf is a low-variance, soft tossing left-handed pitcher who is arguably Major League ready. Both Suero and Severino are still years away from the big leagues, but have a high-variance outlook, mainly because their tools and talent are so raw it’s hard to tell what they’ll be. Either way, it’s nice to see the Pirates at least get some generally well regarded prospects at the moment for rental veterans.