Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects Who Made Their Pro Debut in 2023

Mitch Jebb

Mitch Jebb was taken first overall in the second round of the 2023 draft, and our first position player of the day. Jebb hit like how you’d expect a player of his archetype to bat. In 153 plate appearances, the middle infielder hit .297/.382/.398 with a .373 wOBA, and 116 wRC+. Jebb hit for very little power, only going yard once with a .101 isolated slugging percentage. But he only struck out 11 times with 17 walks. He also went 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts.

Jebb has one of the best hit tools in the Pirates’ system. We are talking about a potential double-plus weapon. He batted .337 with a strikeout rate of just 11.6% in college with a 13.3% walk rate. But we are also talking about someone with some of the worst power potential. He had just a single home run at Michigan State. He may be a 40-grade power hitter, and that’s a stretch.

Jebb is fast, really fast. FanGraphs puts his speed at an 80 grade, which means he has the best run times in all of baseball. His speed also allows him to cover a ton of ground up the middle. Jebb was smart about his base stealing at Bradenton, however, he was caught more frequently in college. We shall see if he can continue to steal bases at a high success rate next year.

While there’s no question that Jebb has the range of a middle infielder, the arm is on the fringy side. That means he may play better at second base. He also played a ton of third base in college, but again, with a mediocre arm, he may have trouble making deep throws from the left side. But with that speed, it’s possible he could make the transition to center field.