Three more international prospects to watch in the Pirates’ system for 2024

The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t had a good player they developed from the international market in quite a while. But there’s definitely a chance they could find one in the near future. Some of their top prospects, including Yordany De Los Santos, Shalin Polanco, Tony Blanco Jr., and Jun-Seok Shim, were signed out of the international market, and while all are still fairly young, could make an impact in the future.

Estuar Suero and Jhonny Severino were both acquired via trade but were recent international signees by the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers, respectively. Both of those players were among their former team's top signings from recent signing periods. The Pirates clearly are looking to bring in a wave of talent through the International signings over the last 2-3 years. This also shows that these were two players that the team likely wanted to sign, but with universal restrictions on international amateur free-agent signings, it becomes hard to bring in multiple top names.

But these are far from the young international prospects currently in the system. A few months ago, I covered three under-the-radar international prospects that are worth keeping an eye on in 2024 and beyond. But there are more young prospects that you should know about currently in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization.

Emmanuel Chapman

One of the last deals the Pirates made during the most recent international signing deadline was for right-hander Emmanuel Chapman. Chapman, a former Cuban National Series pitcher, struggled greatly during his playing career prior to signing with the Pirates. He had an ERA over 9.00 and walked more batters than he struck out.

But the Pirates took the risk on Chapman, signing him to a $200K signing bonus, and he has been good so far for Greensboro. It’s only been five innings, but the right-handed pitcher has allowed just one earned run via a home run, and striking out six. While Chapman has walked two batters, both cases saw him throw ball four in the strike zone, yet still walk the batter due to some shoddy umpiring.

There’s not much on Chapman regarding scouting data I can find, but here is what I did discover. Chapman is built at a strong 6’6”, 255 pounds. He has a big fastball that sits mid-90s and touches 98 MPH on his four-seamer that has some arm-side run. The right-hander had trouble locating in Cuba, as indicated with more walks than K’s. There also isn’t much regarding any secondary offerings.

But Chapman has made a nice first impression. He’s throwing hard, and while his command might need some polishing, his control hasn’t looked bad. Chapman was an older international signee, as he’s currently in his age-25 season. If he continues to perform well at Greensboro, he could soon get a bump to Double-A Altoona, where his skills will be fully put to the test. He is definitely an interesting relief prospect to keep an eye on.

Hung-Leng Chang

Hung-Leng Chang was one of the Pirates’ top international signings from the 2021-2022 off-season. The Taiwanese right-hander made a strong first impression in 2022 but struggled the following year between the Pirates’ Florida Complex League affiliate and Bradenton. Still stationed at Bradenton, Chang has gotten off to a good start to the 2024 season and could soon be staring down a promotion to Greensboro if he keeps it up over the next month or so.

Chang has a five-pitch mix. He is not a hard-throwing pitcher, only averaging 91-92 MPH, but tops out at 95. The pitch has about average ride through the zone with decent horizontal action. His sinker has about the same velocity as his four-seamer, with 18 inches of vertical drop and 18 inches of break. His primary breaking pitch is a slider, which sits around 83-84 with 34 inches of drop and two inches of break. Chang has still induced a whiff a third of the time with this pitch. Chang’s secondary breaking pitch is a curveball that comes in at 77 MPH with over 50 inches of vertical drop. Finally, there’s his off-speed change-up, an 83-84 MPH pitch with 35 inches of drop and 10.5 inches of break.

Chang is a lanky 6’3”, 160-pound hurler. Given his projectable frame, there’s definitely a chance he adds more muscle and adds a tick of velocity over the next year or two. His arm extension comes out to 6.6 feet, which doesn’t add a ton of velocity out of the hand. Chang’s arm slot also sits around six feet.

Chang is 22, so he could see a move to Greensboro in the near future if he keeps pitching well. Chang is definitely one of the more interesting arms to watch in the minor leagues. He has a wide variety of pitches with good command to go along with it.