MLB Pipeline announced their top 100 prospects on Saturday night and the Pittsburgh Pirates were well represented with five players in the top 60. After the show, they announced the best tools among the top 100 prospects and the Pirates were once again well represented on those lists.
We start with Mitch Keller, who was rated as the pitcher with the best control. During the regular season, he walked just 19 batters in 130.1 innings, and never walked more than two batters in a game. I’ll note that he did walk three batters in his first playoff game and two more in the second game, so he had some issues there, but it’s hard to deny how well he did at throwing strikes with all three of his pitches in 2016. The most impressive part is the step up he made from 2015, when he issued 16 walks in 19.2 innings with Bristol. Keller was rated as the 48th best prospect by Pipeline and 16th best by Keith Law, yet they said very similar things about him. The only real difference is where they see a player like him fitting on their list at this point.
Tyler Glasnow got two mentions in the article, as he was considered for the best fastball and best curveball. The best fastball went to Michael Kopech of the Chicago White Sox. He sits 96-98 MPH, hit 105 MPH last year (yes, 105!) and was recently shown throwing a ball 110 MPH during a workout drill. That’s tough competition to beat out. Glasnow has hit 100 in the past, topped out at 98 in 2016, and was recently shown throwing 97 during preseason workouts. The best curve went to Lucas Giolito, also of the White Sox, who had the best curve last year as well. Glasnow’s fastball rates as a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale according to Pipeline, while his curve is a 60.
Kevin Newman got an honorable mention for the best hitter, falling in a group behind Andrew Benintendi, who has already had some success in the majors with the Red Sox. It’s interesting to note that Josh Bell and Newman were both rated as a 60 for their hitting tool, but Bell wasn’t in the honorable mention group despite holding his own in the big leagues already. Austin Meadows was the tenth best prospect, who has 60 grades in batting, running and fielding, yet he didn’t get mentioned in this article. Those two “snubs” speak well of Newman’s hit tool.
