Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Unranked Prospects Fan Should Know About

Charles McAdoo

Fact: Charles McAdoo has a higher batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and by proxy OPS than Dylan Crews thus far in their pro careers.

Now, obviously, both Crews and McAdoo have played less than 20 games combined, and Crews was considered maybe the best college prospect ever, while McAdoo was mostly unknown. But that doesn’t take anything away from just how good McAdoo has been to start off his pro career with the Pirates.

The Pirates selected McAdoo in the 13th round of this past July's draft. The utility man played collegiately at San Jose State University. In his final season, McAdoo slashed .325/.409/.543 through 269 plate appearances. McAdoo racked up a ton of extra-base hits, with 19 doubles, 10 home runs, and a triple. McAdoo had a quality .218 isolated slugging percentage. His patience at the plate was also good, only striking out 15.2% of the time, and walking at an 11.9% rate.

McAdoo also did well in the Northwoods League during 2022 with an OPS of .938. He had no problem hitting for power with ten dingers in just 190 plate appearances. This is significant because the Northwoods League is a wood bat league. McAdoo was only able to match his Northwoods League home run total in 2023 but in 79 more trips to the plate.

So far, McAdoo has 34 plate appearances for Low-A Bradenton. He’s collected 15 hits, including two home runs. But what’s more impressive is that he has double the number of walks to strikeouts with eight walks and just four strikeouts. Sure, it’s a short sample size at Low-A, but it’s thus far been an extremely successful stint.

McAdoo’s primary position is second base. But he played every infield position in college, as well as both corner outfield spots. McAdoo has played both the keystone and left field for Bradenton. He’s generally not considered a great defender and has an arm on the weaker side, so he might end up as a 2B/LF/1B type utility man. But he does have some real talent with the bat.

McAdoo may have been a late-round selection, but he’s done well at multiple different amateur levels and has now been red hot start to his professional career. He’s only 22 but could make his debut at High-A Greensboro before the end of the season.