Rum Bunter's top 10 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects: Where does Konnor Griffin debut?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been building up their farm system over the last handful of years, and it's started to bear fruit over the past few seasons. They've seen many of their top prospects graduate the farm in the process. This year, the likes of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Quinn Priester, Nick Gonzales, and Kyle Nicolas were some of the notable players who entered the year among some of the Pirates' best prospects, and will end it as core pieces of the MLB roster.

Now that the deadline and draft are behind us, the system looks a lot different than it did at the start of the season. That felt like the perfect time to have our staff writers vote on the Pirates' top 10 prospects after a slate of new additions.

But before getting into the list, let's first look at some names that almost made the cut.

Mike Burrows

Mike Burrows is the longest-tenured prospect who'll be discussed here. Drafted in 2018 in the 11th round, Burrows made big steps forward in 2021 and 2022. Many were anticipating what he could do in 2023, but he instead underwent Tommy John surgery in April. Now he's back on the bump, still shaking off the rust. Burrows sits around 93-96 MPH, but has a high-spin fastball and curveball. He'll also mix in a slider and changeup, the latter of which has significantly improved over his last few seasons.

Jack Brannigan

The Pirates took Jack Brannigan in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. Originally drafted as a two-way player, Brannigan has only played the field as a pro. He has mostly played shortstop in 2024, but was drafted as a third baseman and has a handful of games played at second base under his belt. Brannigan is an above-average runner who projects as a plus defensive infielder. He has a strong arm and was able to fire upper-90s fastballs during college. He has the potential to be a 20/20 threat in the future, but his hit tool projects as fringy at best right now.

Yordany De Los Santos

Yordany De Los Santos was one of the Pirates' top international signings in the 2021-2022 offseason. The 19-year-old hit extremely well in the Florida Complex League and recently got promoted to A-Ball with Bradenton. He projects to hit for above-average power and can play shortstop, second base, or third base. He's 6'2", 170 pounds, and already an average runner, so he may have to move to a corner as he matures.