Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Prospects You Forgot Were About

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a handful of highly talented prospects, but these three minor leaguers are somewhat forgotten about among their top talents.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have seen the rise of some very talented prospects like Endy Rodriguez, Mike Burrows, and Luis Ortiz over the past year. They, along with the likes of Henry Davis, Nick Gonzales, Quinn Priester, Bubba Chandler, Anthony Solometo, and the addition of Termarr Johnson, Thomas Harrington, and Hunter Barco, have helped the Pirates build a formidable farm system. Not to mention some other, still highly talented players looking for a rebound, like Liover Peguero and Jared Jones, are lurking in the minors. Over the past few years, plenty of talent has been added, making the Pirates’ future look fairly bright.

But there are certainly players the Pirates have added who have become somewhat forgotten in the system. They’ve been injured and haven’t played much, or they’ve simply been overshadowed. Whatever the case may be, the Pirates are still going to give them a chance to prove themselves, even if they have ran into some bad luck. Today, I want to look at a few prospects fans likely have forgotten the Pirates still have.

Braylon Bishop

The Pirates’ 2021 draft rejuvenated the farm system a ton. The Pirates got so many high-end prospects it’s easy to forget Braylon Bishop. Bishop was the Pirates’ 14th-round pick, but make no mistake, he doesn’t have 14th-round talent. MLB Pipeline considered him one of the top 100 draft prospects in the ‘21 draft class, and the Pirates signed him for over-slot money. There’s a lot to like about Bishop, but there’s also a lot to worry about.

Bishop generates good power from his lightning-quick bat speed. He also is a good athlete who runs well above average. That speed helps him cover a decent amount of outfield grass. Overall, he projects as an above-average defensive outfielder with a strong arm. In MLB Pipeline’s write-up on the young outfielder, they speculated he could eventually become a plus defensive center fielder.

But there’s certainly some concern with strikeouts. Bishop has been selective at the dish, drawing walks at a 14.8% rate through 162 plate appearances. However, he’s also struck out 27.2% of the time. Bishop has just five extra-base hits as well. Granted, he does have a .340 on-base percentage and has put his speed to good use, swiping 13 bases in 15 attempts.

2023 will be the outfield prospect’s age-20 campaign. He’ll get things kicked off at Bradenton, where a breakout campaign could be on the docket for Bishop. The Pirates’ A-Ball affiliate looks to have a decent amount of young talent. Aside from Bishop, you also have Lonnie White Jr., Shalin Polanco, Bubba Chandler, Owen Kellington, Hung-Leng Chang, and a handful of other talented young players. That’s a lot of talent overshadowing Bishop, but he could end up as one of the affiliate team’s best players if he starts to translate his talent into production.

Justin Meis

Another lesser talked-about player from the 2021 draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected local product Justin Meis in the 10th round. Meis showed off some impressive stuff in his first look against professional batters back when he made his debut. It was only 17.2 innings, but he struck out 27 (35.6% K%) while holding opponents to just a .203 average. He had a sub-par 11.5% walk rate and 1.02 HR/9, but he looked like he could develop into a decent pitching prospect.

The Pirates moved Meis to the starting rotation, where he continued to post solid results for Bradenton, even if they weren’t nearly as dominant. On the plus side, he bumped his walk rate down to just 8%, but his strikeout rate also took a hit, decreasing to just 23.9%. With a 0.88 HR/9 and 3.51 ERA, Meis was sent to High-A Greensboro but struggled to the tune of a 4.44 ERA, 4.89 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP.

The season had its ups and downs for Meis, but one thing that changed was he was given a larger workload and asked to go through the line-up multiple times. In total, he made 23 starts and pitched 114 innings. Meis has a nasty slider and sits in the 93-95 MPH range. He also showed off a change-up that he can get left-handed batters out with ease.

Meis might work better out of the bullpen. After all, his best stretch of games was as a reliever back in 2021. He certainly has the stuff that he could become one of the Pirates’ better relief prospects if given the chance to pitch out of the pen. Maybe he sees a slight uptick out of the bullpen, sitting closer to 94-97 MPH instead.