Two Pirates pitching prospects who could exceed expectations

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.