Underrated Pirates pitching prospect showing immense promise at High-A Greensboro

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates saw one of their minor league pitchers take a significant step forward for their High-A affiliate, the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Wilber Dotel gained about three whole ticks of velocity between 2023 and 2024 and ended the year with a four-seamer that averaged out at 95.8 MPH. According to Baseball America, it had the third-largest increase in fastball velocity. Against the odds, that could happen again this year with right-hander Antwone Kelly.

The Pirates acquired Antwone Kelly in the 2020-2021 offseason as an international signee out of Aruba. He finally got a crack at a full season in 2024, as he appeared in parts of 16 games (14 starts) with 69 innings pitched for A-Ball Bradenton. The results were mostly unimpressive, as he had a 4.43 ERA, 4.74 FIP, and 1.40 WHIP. He only struck out 21.7% of opponents with a walk rate of 11.3%. Home runs gave him the most trouble, with a 1.06 HR/9 ratio in a league where the average HR/9 was 0.64.

Despite his poor performance, the Pirates sent Kelly to High-A Greensboro to start 2025. But Kelly has been next to untouchable since donning a Grasshoppers uniform. It has only been 11 innings, but Kelly has allowed just a single earned run on seven hits, none of which were home runs. Kelly has only allowed two walks, but has a whopping 16 strikeouts. He is currently only one of 13 other pitchers who have tossed at least double-digit innings at High-A with a sub-1.00 ERA.

Pirates prospect Antwone Kelly coming into his own as a flamethrower entering 2025

It’s a small sample size, but there’s something even more promising about Kelly’s start to the season: the uptick in velocity. Last year, Kelly’s four-seam fastball averaged out around 94 MPH. But according to Baseball America, Kelly is now up into the upper 90s and has even hit triple-digits on the radar gun. If he can maintain this throughout 2025, that will mark the second season in a row a Pirates pitching prospect saw a massive uptick in velocity at High-A Greensboro.

Kelly is still a very young pitcher, as this is only his age-21 season, and he isn’t on Baseball America or MLB Pipeline’s top 30 prospect lists. However, if he’s hitting 100 MPH, you can expect to see him on both lists in the very near future. Kelly has not only been dominating opponents with a fastball that can hit triple-digits, but he’s also done it with decent control, with just a pair of walks allowed. We shall see how he continues to develop, but this is yet another pitching prospect in the Pirates’ system that can bring the heat.