Pittsburgh Pirates: Ranking Ben Cherington's High School Draft Picks

Michael Kennedy

Michael Kennedy was the Pirates’ 4th-round pick in the 2022 draft. The southpaw pitched 46.2 innings in his first professional season. Kennedy pitched extremely well with a 2.12 ERA, 3.51 FIP, and 1.11 WHIP. He had a 33% strikeout rate and allowed just a single home run. Where Kennedy struggled was with free passes, allowing walks to 13.1% of the batters he faced.

Kennedy made it to A-Ball Bradenton, and while he only pitched 4.1 innings, he was the 10th youngest pitcher to pitch at that level. Kennedy throws a sinker, slider, and changeup. He is not a hard-throwing pitcher, at least right now, sitting in the low 90s. His slider comes in the lower-80s, while his changeup is an upper-80s pitch. All three offerings have a distinct amount of spin as well.

The lefty is still a very young arm, but he’ll get his first shot at a full season next year at just 19 years old. Kennedy has the potential to be a top-100 prospect in the future. He’s displayed solid command and projects to have above-average location on his pitches. While none of his stuff seems overpowering, all of it projects to be average to above average.

Zander Mueth

Zander Mueth was taken in the 2nd round of the most recent draft as their competitive balance round pick. Mueth was arguably the Pirates’ second-best pick of this year’s draft. In my opinion, Mueth has one of the highest ceilings among the high school players the Pirates took. But because the names ahead of Mueth have been given at least one entire season, he is currently ranked here.

Mueth turned 18 right before the draft in late-June but is already sitting 92-95 MPH. He tops out in the upper-90s with sinking action to his fastball. Mueth’s best secondary is his sweeping slider. MLB Pipeline states that he throws his slider with so much movement that he can have trouble locating it in the strike zone. Mueth’s third pitch, his change-up, will need some improvement. It has many characteristics to his fastball, but if he can throw it with more sink and less velocity, it could be a third above-average offering.

The most impressive part about all of this is that Mueth throws with a low arm slot, one that is reminiscent of Boston Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck. The potential to pump mid-to-upper-90s fastballs with his arm angle would be fun to watch. The thing that Mueth will need to improve upon is his control, especially over his slider.

I think Mueth has an extremely high ceiling, even higher than Kennedy. If Mueth gets his command under wraps, you’re talking about a kid who has the potential to toss a mid-90s fastball from a near sidearm-like arm angle, as well as a sweeping slider and average changeup who can locate to an average degree. Mueth isn’t higher on today’s list because he’s yet to have a chance to develop and show what he can do and what improvements he can make.

Bubba Chandler

Bubba Chandler was originally drafted as a two-way player. The Pirates tried Chandler out at shortstop and designated hitter in 2021 and 2022, but his it was clear that his pitching ability was way out in front of his hitting ability. The Pirates opted to let him become a pitcher only in 2023, and the results were good.

But the ‘23 season did not start out well for Chandler. The right-hander owned a 6.79 ERA, 5.51 FIP, and 1.93 WHIP up through the All-Star break. While Chandler did have a quality 25.4% strikeout rate, he had a horrible 1.44 HR/9 and a 12.5% walk rate. Some bad luck did play a hand in his struggles, as he had a .421 batting average on balls in play, but it still doesn’t excuse his poor HR/9 or BB%.

But Chandler was lights out in the second half of the year. Chandler owned a microscopic 1.66 ERA and 0.82 WHIP, with a respectable 3.85 FIP after the break. Chandler upped his strikeout to 28.2%, but more impressive was that he cut his walk rate to just 7.2%, while his HR/9 dropped to 0.92. Good luck was a factor, as he had a .200 batting average on balls in play, but luck or not, this was a massive improvement to his first half. Chandler ended the season at Altoona. He made just a single start but pitched five innings, allowed just one batter to reach base via a hit, did not walk anyone, and struck out eight.

Chandler has some heat, sitting in the mid-90s while topping out at 99 on the gun. Chandler’s fastball is a plus pitch, but both his curveball and slider are above-average offerings. His changeup has also gotten better, and it looks like it could be another plus offering. Command was something that Chandler struggled with in the first half of the year, but looked much better down the line. Chandler is extremely athletic and was considered one of the best shortstop prospects in the 2021 draft. He’ll have to use that athleticism on the mound to get his mechanics in check.

For a guy who focused on only pitching for the first time as a professional, Chandler did a commendable job. There were some bumps in the road, but nothing out of the ordinary for an extremely young pitcher making a large change in his regiment. Hopefully, Chandler can continue to build off the second half of his 2023 season. Chandler arguably has the highest ceiling among the pitchers we will talk about today, but he's a little less refined so far than the two names ranked ahead of him on today's list.

Jared Jones

Jared Jones was the very first high school pitcher Ben Cherington took. The Pirates’ second-round pick in 2020, Jones has steadily risen throughout the minor leagues. He’s now considered one of the best prospects the Pirates have to offer, with most aggregates ranking him as a top 100 prospect.

Jones is coming off a season where he had a 3.85 ERA, 3.77 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP. The hard-throwing righty owned a 27.6% strikeout rate, as well as a good 0.85 HR/9 and 9.5% walk rate. Jones’ numbers might not jump off the page, but he spent much of the year at Triple-A Indy. The International League was extremely hitter-friendly as the league average OPS was .794, and the average ERA was 5.18.

Keep in mind that Jones was also just in his age-21 campaign. He was the second youngest pitcher in the International League to have started at least a dozen games. He had above-average numbers as well, despite having a 4.76 ERA, 3.98 FIP, and 1.32 WHIP.

Jones sits in the upper-90s and has hit 100 MPH before. Not only does Jones throw heat, but he also spins the ball great, giving it the rising fastball illusion. Jones throws a plus slider, as well as an above-average curveball. His changeup might be behind his other three offerings, but it has gotten better, and it’s an average pitch, at the very least. Jones’ control is getting better, but his command is lagging behind.

Still, Jones has electric stuff. Even if his command only gets to a fringe-average level, he’ll be a dominant starting pitcher. He’s been able to maintain high-octane velocity as a starter now for multiple seasons. I am excited to see how he takes the next step forward.

Anthony Solometo

Coming in at number one is Anthony Solometo. Solometo was drafted in the second round of the 2021 draft. On top of what I view as the Pirates’ top high school draftee in the Ben Cherington era, he’s generally seen as the Pirates’ top left-handed pitching prospect in the system. Michael Kennedy is the next closest, but Solometo is in a league of his own.

Solometo finished the 2023 campaign with a quality 3.26 ERA, 3.46 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP. The southpaw had a 26.2% strikeout rate and an 8.6% walk rate. He also was great at limiting home runs with a 0.65 HR/9 rate. Solometo dominated at High-A Greensboro, and while his numbers at Double-A Altoona were about league average, he was also the youngest pitcher in his league.

While Solometo does not throw hard, his velocity has improved as he’s developed. Coming out of high school, he was coming in around 88-91 MPH on the gun. Now, he’s sitting 91-94 MPH and is even hitting 95. Solometo’s slider has always been a good pitch, as well as his changeup. While nothing here seems like an overpowering offering, Solometo locates better than nearly every other minor league pitcher. He has astoundingly good command over all of his offerings.

On top of that, Solometo throws with a deceptive wind-up and arm slot. His arm slot is similar to that of Madison Bumgarner and Dontrell Willis. That adds some deceptive qualities to all of his pitches, most notably his four-seam fastball because of its vertical approach angle, giving batters much less of a window of opportunity to barrel him up.

Solometo is going to be fun to watch in 2024. He should make his Major League debut sometime next season, assuming he stays healthy once again. Solometo has a lot of great qualities as a pitcher. He has exceptional command, above-average stuff, and a deceptive motion.