Three bold predictions for Pirate prospects who could join top 100 lists in 2024

Could these three Pirate prospects climb the rankings and become top 100 prospects in 2024?

At this point last year, some of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospects weren’t a part of most top 100 lists. However, a look today and Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, and Anthony Solometo are part of a handful of different top 100 prospect lists. Thomas Harrington also appears on Kiley McDaniel’s top 100 list for ESPN. All four made improvements in 2023, with many climbing ranks after showing what they could do in a full season’s worth of games.

The Pirates will likely see a few of their current prospects who aren’t part of top 100 lists get to that point after this season. It’s early, but the Pirates have some talented prospects who will play a full season this year. On top of that, they could build off of some of the talent they showed off in 2023 and improve upon that. That’s what Chandler, Jones, Solometo, and Harrington did last year. Right now, I want to make a few predictions on who will reach the coveted top 100 status by the end of the 2024 minor league season.

Lonnie White Jr.

The Pirates took multiple high-end high school draft prospects in the 2021 draft. After taking Henry Davis and signing him to an underslot deal, they went on to draft Anthony Solometo and Bubba Chandler in the second and third rounds. However, their second-round competitive balance pick and the 64th overall pick in the draft was outfielder Lonnie White Jr.

White Jr.’s first two minor league seasons were plagued by injuries as he combined for just 11 total appearances. Even though he opened the year on the minor league IL in 2023, White came back strong and ended the year on an extremely high note.

White Jr. spent his first extended look against pro pitching at the Pirates’ Florida Complex League team and Bradenton. Between the two levels, he batted .276/.406/.476 with a .417 wOBA, and 139 wRC+. Lonnie showed off some good pop with an isolated slugging percentage at .200. He also drew a decent amount of walks with a 15.6% BB% and used his ability to reach base to its fullest potential. He went 18/21 in stolen base attempts in 61 games played. The downside is that he struck out 27.2% of the time.

But White Jr. did cut his strikeout rate down as the season went on. He stepped to the plate 276 total times. His first 141 times saw him strike out 41 times, resulting in a strikeout rate of 30.5%. However, his final 138 plate appearances only saw him strike out 32 times for a 23.8% strikeout rate. 

White’s best tools are his speed and fielding. He has the potential to be a plus defensive center fielder with enough speed to swipe 20+ bases a season. His arm is probably best utilized in center field. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him be a Gold Glove finalist in the very near future out of center field.

White Jr. is still only 21 and will probably open the year at Bradenton again, but if he continues to hit well, he’ll probably get an early season promotion to Greensboro. The biggest thing to watch next year is if White can keep his strikeout rate below 25% like he did in the second half of his season last year. But that’s the only major flaw in his game. Improving that, even to a fringe-average, 45-grade level would be extremely promising.

Michael Kennedy

After the Pirates took Brannigan in the third round, they then went on to take left-handed pitcher Michael Kennedy in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. Kennedy was a high school left-hander who signed for over slot value of $1 million. Kennedy was considered one of the best high school lefties in his draft class and made his debut last season. He pitched for both the Pirates’ FCL affiliate and Bradenton and was very effective in the small sample size.

In 46.2 innings, Kennedy pitched to the tune of a 2.12 ERA, 3.51 FIP, and 1.11 WHIP. Batters had a hard time making any sort of contact against him. The southpaw held opponents to a .169 batting average while striking out nearly a third of the time with a 33% strikeout rate. He also only allowed a single home run. Kennedy’s walk rate was all over the place. He walked 13 batters in his first 18.1 innings, then only seven in his next 25.1 innings. In his last game of the year, he would issue five more walks in 2.2 frames.

Kennedy is not a hard thrower and was only averaging out around 90-91 MPH and topping out at 93 with his sinker in his two games with Bradenton. Although Kennedy does not throw hard now, he was a recent high school pick. Anthony Solometo went from sitting 88-90 MPH when he was drafted to 91-94 MPH today. He also throws a change-up and slider. Kennedy’s arm slot is also similar to Solometo, but he has different overall mechanics. He brings the ball behind him with his arm facing the ground before going into his arm slot.

Kennedy might seem like less of an obvious pick to make top 100 lists next year over Jun-Seok Shim, or possibly even Zander Mueth. But Kennedy is only entering his age-19 season and will probably spend the entire year at a full-season level. It’s possible that if he keeps pitching well, he could end up at Greensboro before the end of the year. His stuff plays up because of his velocity, and even though he was inconsistent with walks last year, definitely has a feel for good command.