Three Pirates international prospects to remember

The Pittsburgh Pirates have some underrated international talent to keep an eye on.

The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t had very much luck with international signings in their recent history. Their last international signing to produce a significant amount of WAR for them was Starling Marte. Hopefully, the Pirates can change the tide of things in the coming future. Some of their best prospects, like Jun Seok Shim, Tony Blanco Jr., Yordany De Los Santos, and Shalin Polanco, are some of the international players signed under Ben Cherington, all of whom have shown some promise since they were signed.

But they aren’t the only international prospects in the Pirates worth remembering. They have a handful of former international signees in the system that will be interesting to watch in 2024 and beyond. Most are very young and won’t even see the upper levels of the minor leagues (Double-A and above) for another two years if they develop as planned. But there are definitely ones beyond the Pirates’ best prospects that should be in fans’ minds.

David Matoma

The Pirates are known for finding baseball talent from unique parts of the world. In 2017, they debuted the first Lithuanian-born MLB player, Dovydas Neverauskas, and the first South African-born MLB player, Gift Ngoepe. They could once again make history in the near future, as they signed David Matoma last off-season. Matoma is just the third Ugandan-born baseball player to play in affiliated baseball.

Matoma has already pitched professionally, logging 16.2 innings for the Pirates’ Dominican Summer League affiliates. He did not allow a single earned run but walked seven batters with 14 K’s. He also allowed a dozen hits in the small sample size. Matoma was used as a multi-inning arm, pitching that many innings in only nine games and one start. Of course, at that low of a level, pitching roles are not nearly as defined and specialized as they are in MLB.

The 18-year-old is a lanky six-foot, 155-lb. However, despite the thin frame and young age, Matoma is already topping out at 100 MPH. Matoma also throws a slider and a change-up. Baseball America describes his arm motion as quick, although there are some moving parts in his delivery that could hinder his command later on down the line.

Matoma is already an interesting guy to watch simply because he is one of the few Ugandan-born baseball players in the United States. Add on to the fact he’s already topping out at 100 MPH and he becomes an extremely intriguing prospect to keep tabs on in 2024 and beyond. You have to imagine with that thin of a frame at his age, he’ll add a few pounds of muscle over the next few years. If he can do that, it might help him maintain a higher velocity. We shall see how he develops, but he’ll be an interesting prospect to keep an eye on.

Alessandro Ercolani

Matoma isn’t the only minor league pitcher in the Pirates’ system from a unique country that isn’t known for their baseball talent. Alessandro Ercolani was an international signing by the Pirates from San Marino, a country located North of Italy. The country has a population nearly ten times smaller than Pittsburgh. The 20-year-old Ercolani has the potential to become just the second MLB player ever from San Marino.

Ercolani spent his entire 2023 season at Bradenton, where all of his numbers were about league average. He had a 4.43 ERA and 1.43 WHIP, compared to the average of 4.62 and 1.44, respectively. His 24 percent strikeout rate was also right in line with the league average of 24.2 percent, as was his 11.3 percent walk rate (league average was 12.3 percent).

Only his 1.11 HR/9 rate was noticeably worse than average, which was 0.74. Still, he was able to be a league-average pitcher while also being the second-youngest arm to start 15 or more games (also pitched 65 frames) and the 14th-youngest to start 15 games there in the last decade.

A six foot two, 185-lb right-hander, Ercolani throws in the mid-90s with his four-seam fastball. His primary breaking ball is a cutter in the mid-to-upper 80s. Ercolani will also mix in a slider, curveball, and change-up but mostly uses his four-seamer and cutter. Ercolani throws from a three-quarters arm slot, but his follow-through is very violent.

According to FanGraphs, Ercolani has some praise from within the business. In an article written by Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taurskin discussing prospects who could break out or potentially be on their top 100 list next year, they interviewed personnel within MLB clubs on prospects they think will break out in 2024. Ercolani was mentioned among the names listed.

Ercolani will enter his second full pro season in and his fourth minor league campaign in 2024. He’s still young as won’t turn 20 until late April. It’s likely that at that young of an age, he’ll start the year once again at Bradenton. While he might move to the bullpen long-term, Ercolani will be another unique player to keep an eye on in 2024.