Pittsburgh Pirates: Updates and News on the 2022 Draft Class

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a very exciting 2021 Draft when they had the first overall selection. The team also was able to pick up many other top prospects in the Draft. The 2022 Draft Class was not as harald as the 2021 class, but they still brought in a lot of talent. Of course, the team's Draft Class was highlighted by first-round pick Termarr Johnson.

The pick was a bit of a surprise being that Ben Cherington shows favor to college hitters over prep hitters. Still, that just speaks to the talent that Termarr Johnson possesses. So far he has been solid despite a slow start in 2023. He hit just .214 in 5 games in April. On the year he is hitting just .252 but is getting on base at an impressive .419 clip. He is also posting a strong WRC+ at 130. He has only played in 33 games after starting the season on the Injury List.

The Pittsburgh Pirates used the 4th overall selection on Johnson, making him 1 of 4 prep hitters taken in the top 5.

The second pick the team made was during the Competitive Balance A round of the Draft. They grabbed Campbell University pitcher Tom Harrington at pick #36. Harrington had the makeup and stuff to go higher, but likely saw his stock affected based on the level of competition he faced at Campbell.

Harrington has been very good so far since joining the Pittsburgh Pirates Organization. The right-hander threw 39 innings in 8 starts with Low-A Bradenton. Across those innings, Harrington combined for a 2.77 ERA and 40 punchouts. This earned him a promotion to High-A Greensboro. He got off on the wrong foot with the Grasshoppers giving up 3 earned runs on 6 hits in just 2.1 innings of work. One positive is that he was still generating strikeouts, sitting down 4 opposing batters.

The last prospect to talk about is Michael Kennedy. Kennedy was the top prep arm that the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted in 2022. The 6'1'' lefty has yet to make his professional debut since being drafted. Well according to Jon Dreker of Pirates Prospects, Kennedy will finally be getting into game action:

Kennedy was one of the youngest players in the 2022 Draft Class. So it is not that surprising that the Pittsburgh Pirates would be patient with him. He is just 18 years of age still and has the upside to be one of the team's top left-handed pitching prospect.