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.

Brennan Malone

If there was a player in the system I would sell my soul to stay healthy, it would be Brennan Malone. Malone was one of the first players the Pirates’ acquired to kick the rebuild off. He was sent from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Bucs in the Starling Marte trade. At the time, Malone looked like he could be a top 100 prospect within a year’s time. He was considered one of the best high school arms going into the draft and was picked 33rd overall to an over-slot deal.

At the time the D-Backs drafted Malone, and the Pirates acquired him via trade, his fastball was a weapon with elite potential. He was already hitting the mid-90s regularly in his teens. He paired that with a well-above-average slider, an 11-5 curveball, and a change-up. All four of Malone’s pitches looked excellent in high school and during his first brief look against professional batters in the D-Backs’ system.

On top of excellent stuff, he also showed he could command it as well. With plus athleticism, it all looked like it could work out for Malone in the long run. He had all the hallmarks of a top pitching prospect: four average or better offerings, solid command, and athleticism. But injuries have simply torn up his pro career.

Since getting drafted in 2019, Malone has just 27 professional innings to his name. It’s been injury after injury for the right-hander. Malone is still young, and he’ll only be entering his age-22 campaign. You might see him at Greensboro next year if he manages to pitch at all. Since his acquisition, many more pitching prospects have been added to the system.

Maybe, just maybe, he stays healthy next year and starts to show what made him a first-round draft pick. One positive sign is that he has no restrictions in Spring Training this year. While I’m not going to hold my breath on a healthy Brennan Malone season, there’s no player I want to see put something together more than him. He could be a real x-factor to the Pirate future if he stays healthy.

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.