Top 5 unranked prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates' farm system

The Pittsburgh Pirates have plenty of prospects you probably have heard about. Bubba Chandler, Termarr Johnson, Thomas Harrington, and Konnor Griffin are four of their best, but plenty of other prospects like Braxton Ashcraft, Wyatt Sanford, Levi Sterling, and Hunter Barco are notable names that most Pirates fans have heard about.

They can all be found on top prospect lists from all around baseball media. But the Bucs have plenty more aside from them that are noteworthy and could potentially be part of the Pirates’ long-term plans. These prospects aren’t going to be found on any of MLB Pipeline, FanGraphs, or Baseball America’s top Pirates prospect lists, but fans should know about them.

Alessandro Ercolani

From Gift Ngoepe from South Africa to Dovydas Neverauskas from Lithuania and now David Matoma from Uganda, the Pirates have found players from all parts of the world. Alessandro Ercolani, who hails from San Marino, might be the Pirates’ best unranked pitching prospect.

Ercolani is coming off a season where he put up a 3.29 ERA, 3.50 FIP, and 1.08 WHIP in 76.2 innings for High-A Greensboro, working both out of the bullpen and as a starting pitcher. He struck out just under 30% of opponents with a 29.7% K%, and only handed out a walk to 8% of batters. He was also not very home run prone, posting an HR/9 rate of 0.94. 

These numbers are good, but they’re even more impressive once you consider nearly all of his struggles came from just a single game where he allowed nine earned runs in just 2.1 innings. Outside of that game, Ercolani had a 2.30 ERA, 31% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate, and 0.73 HR/9 rate. The most impressive part of his season is that he had these good numbers while only being in his age-20 season. He was the third-youngest pitcher at High-A with at least 70 innings pitched.

Ercolani was sitting mid-90s with his four-seam fastball in 2023. He has four other offerings: a cutter, slider, curveball, and change-up. Ercolani improved his control from last year, going from an 11.3% BB% to 8% this year. He certainly has some decent stuff, and FanGraphs named him as a breakout pick and someone who could become a top 100 prospect in the near future based on league-sourced information from scouts, front-office personnel, and general managers.

Esmerlyn Valdez

The Pirates signed Esmerlyn Valdez in January of 2021 out of the Dominican Republic. The outfielder/first baseman got his first extended look at playing time this year in his age-20 campaign at Single-A Bradenton. Valdez showed some improvement on some of his obvious flaws throughout the season and ended the season on a high note.

Valdez turned in a quality .226/.352/.464 triple-slash in 435 plate appearances. He showed off some power potential, going yard 22 times with a barrel rate over 11%, resulting in an isolated slugging percentage of .237. Valdez also drew walks at a healthy 13.6% rate. He had the best ISO and the 20th-best walk rate among A-Ball hitters with at least 400 plate appearances. But this came at the cost of strikeouts, as he went down on strike three over 30% of the time (30.6% to be exact). All of this amounted to a .384 wOBA and 132 wRC+. 

As stated earlier, Valdez ended the year on a high note. From July through the end of the season, he batted .211/.357/.507 with a .394 wOBA, and 139 wRC+. He cut his strikeout rate down to 23.9% while maintaining a strong 15.3% walk rate. He was also producing more power, upping his ISO from .199 to .297 during the month of July.

To Valdez’s credit, he improved his ability to make contact in the second half of the year. Going into July, Valdez had a whiff rate of 35.7%. However, after that, he cut it to 29.5%. This helped him slash his strikeout rate from 35.1% to 23.9%. Keep in mind that the average whiff rate at the A-Ball level in 2024 was 28.9%, while the league average strikeout rate is 25%.

Valdez will likely start the 2025 season at Greensboro, where he will look to continue to improve his game like he did during the second half of last season. If he can refine his hit tool, he might be a potential long-term answer for the Pirates at first base. Valdez certainly has the power and if he can make some contact against more advanced pitching, he’ll start getting more recognition. He is already on some radars, as Ercolani wasn’t the only prospect identified by FanGraphs to have top-100 prospect potential.

Jaden Woods

Jaden Woods was one of the many pitchers the Pirates selected in the 2023 draft. The Pirates took the southpaw out of the University of Georgia in the seventh round. Heading into the draft, Woods was considered the 236th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline and 152nd-best by Baseball America. His first extended look in pro ball had its ups and downs, but Woods could be a left-hander in the Pirates’ pen in the near future.

Woods opened the year at Greensboro, where he had a 2.13 ERA, 3.68 FIP, and 1.22 WHIP through his first 25.1 innings of the season. Woods excelled at striking out batters and limiting homers with a 29% K% and an HR/9 of 0.71. His 10.3% walk rate was slightly better than the average in the South Atlantic League.

Woods would go on a hot streak to finish off his time at Greensboro, pitching 12 scoreless appearances in his last 13 games, and earned a promotion to Double-A Altoona. His peripherals did not see a huge change, as he struck out 27% of opponents, had a 10.7% walk rate, a 0.78 HR/9, and a 3.84 FIP. But, above the surface, Woods had an ERA of nearly 5.00 at 4.97. This was because of a huge jump in batting average on balls in play, from .295 at Greensboro to .337 at Altoona.

Woods is a three-pitch hurler and can sit 92-96 MPH with his four-seam fastball when he pitches out of the bullpen. His secondary offering is an upper-70s slider with slurve-like action. He does not use his changeup nearly as often as his four-seamer and slider and it is a below-average offering, especially compared to his first two pitches.

A hot start could put Woods in serious talks for a look in the Major Leagues sometime during the 2025 season. The Pirates currently have just one left-handed reliever currently on the 40-man roster in Joey Wentz. Woods will only be 23 for all of next season and has already shown some promise at Double-A. 

Gavin Adams

The Pirates selected Gavin Adams in the eighth round of this year’s draft. The right-hander was a JUCO transfer to Florida State University but never threw a pitch for the Seminoles, as he underwent Tommy John surgery. Still, he has some powerful stuff and will be a prospect to watch during the second half of next year.

Adams' four-seamer is the best pitch in his arsenal. The righty’s heater sits in the upper 90s, but he tops out at 101 MPH, making him one of the Pirates’ hardest-throwing pitching prospects. His go-to breaking pitch is an upper-80s slider, while his offspeed pitch is a changeup with similar velocity. 

While Adams can throw some high-octane stuff, he has control issues, like most young flamethrowers. He struck out 44 batters in just 26.1 innings in 2023, but that came at the cost of 19 free passes. Adams is 6’4”, 190 pounds, and throws from a low three-quarters arm slot.

Adams has the sort of stuff you’d expect from a closing pitcher: big velocity with a good breaking pitch. The Pirates have helped young and hard-throwing pitchers like Kyle Nicolas and Jared Jones harness their powerful stuff in recent seasons. Hopefully, they can do the same with Adams once he returns from Tommy John next year.

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