Two Pirates pitching prospects who could exceed expectations

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As site expert Ethan Fisher recently pointed out, Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager Ben Cherington has a ‘type’ of pitcher he likes. That type is soft-tossing veteran left-handers. Dating back to his first off-season as general manager, Cherington has signed or traded for Derek Holland, Tyler Anderson, Jose Quintana, Rich Hill, Marco Gonzales, and Martin Perez. For the most part, the Pirates have gotten a lot of value out of these players, with each one having some solid seasons for the Bucs.

Each of these lefties were coming off mediocre seasons prior to arriving in Pittsburgh. But the Pirates turned each into a league-average arm or better. Another thing they all had in common was they were all over 30, with Anderson being the youngest at 31 and Hill being the oldest at 43.

However, one thing that should intrigue Pirates fans is how the development of similar pitching prospects will go. The Pirates have a few soft-tossing left-handers in their farm system that are going to be Major League ready in the coming years, and once they reach the Majors, I’d opine that they could exceed expectations given how well the Pirates have done with older left-handers, rather than young arms with upside.

Anthony Solometo

Anthony Solometo is one of the Pirates’ best pitching prospects behind the likes of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, and Bubba Chandler. Solometo hasn’t gotten off to a great start to 2024, although do take it with a grain of salt because he’s only pitched seven innings. The second round draft pick was one of the many high schoolers the Pirates took in 2021, and has made some nice progress since.

Last year, Solometo pitched 110.1 innings between Greensboro and Altoona, working to a 3.26 ERA, 3.46 FIP, and 1.19 WHIP. Solometo had an 8.6% walk rate, as well as a 26.2% K%, and 0.65 HR/9 rate. Solometo’s numbers took a dip when he got sent from High-A to Double-A, but he still had about league-average production while being the 6th youngest Double-A pitcher with double-digit starts. Even a year later, when he’s 21, he’s still one of the 15th youngest pitchers at Double-A.

Solometo originally sat 88-90 MPH when the Pirates first drafted him, but his velocity has come a long way since then. He now sits 91-94 MPH and can even touch 95. He also has a slider and change-up, but everything in his arsenal plays to an above-average to plus level because of his ability to command his offerings and his deceptive wind-up and delivery. Solometo has a leg-kick akin to that of Mackenzie Gore and an arm slot like Madison Bumgarner that hitters have a tough time picking up.

He’s also 6’5”, 220 pounds, with some wing span. According to Statcast data from 2022 (as both Greensboro and Altoona do not have Statcast available), Solometo averaged 6.7 feet on his release point extension, meaning how far out in front of the rubber released the ball. That would put him around the 75th percentile in the Major Leagues and make his stuff look faster out of his hand than it does on the radar gun. His vertical release point was measured at 5.41 feet. Right now, there aren’t very many lefty pitchers, especially starters, who both throw that far out in front of the rubber with that low of an arm angle.

Solometo is expected to be a good pitcher, but I think the way the Pirates have handled soft-tossing lefties so far, he could be a great pitcher, maybe be a mid-tier number two arm if he develops more in the Major Leagues. Afterall, he is considered a top 100 prospect by many sources for a reason.

Hunter Barco

A year after the Pirates took Anthony Solometo in the second round of the draft, the Bucs then took another soft-tossing left-hander in Hunter Barco out of the University of Florida. Barco didn’t get the immediate chance to hit the ground running like Solometo. After undergoing Tommy John surgery during his final college season, it wouldn’t be until the second half of the 2023 minor league season when Barco would make his return to the mound.

To his credit, he pitched extremely well after his surgery. He was only limited to 18.1 innings as the Bucs eased him back into action, but he had a 3.44 ERA, 1.79 FIP, and 1.25 WHIP. Barco was great at both getting K’s and limiting walks, as he struck out over a third of opponents (35.7%) while owing a sub-8% walk rate (7.7%). Barco had a high 53.5% ground ball rate and flyball rate below 30% at 27.9%, helping him not allow a single longball.

Barco used a sinker, splitter, sweeper, and curveball in his debut with Bradenton last year. The southpaw did not show off much velocity in his debut as he sat around 90-91 MPH with his sinker but was touching 93-95 MPH during his Spring Breakout appearance. Right now, there is, unfortunately, no accurate Statcast data available for his velocity at Greensboro. His splitter sat around 82-84 MPH but, impressively, it had less than 1000 RPM. Last year, only 11 qualified pitchers had a splitter average less than 1000 RPM. Both of his breaking pitches sit in the mid-low 90 MPH range.

While Barco has a similar frame to Solometo, standing at 6’4, 210-LBS, he doesn’t have the similar extension as the other former second-rounder. His release point extension comes out to 5.9 feet. However, he has a low vertical release point at just 5.87 feet. Plus, he throws his stuff with good command and is good at limiting walks, as indicated by his strong career walk rate thus far.

Many peg Barco as a low-floor/high-ceiling type pitcher. Typically, pitchers like that project as a middle-of-the-rotation arm. But Barco has done very well thus far in his pro career. If he continues to make strides, even as he reaches the Major Leagues, maybe he could become a high-tier number three arm, if things work out.

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Anthony Solometo

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