On Tuesday, Jim Callis from MLB Pipeline posted his list of the top 25 prospects in the Arizona Fall League this year. The Pittsburgh Pirates were represented on that list by shortstop Cole Tucker, who was rated as the 12th best prospect.
Tucker has already received a lot of praise for his AFL season, so it’s no surprise that he made the top prospect list as well. He hit .370/.442/.457 in 20 games, with five doubles, a triple, six stolen bases and a 12:12 BB/SO ratio. He finished third in the league in average, fourth in OBP and 11th in OPS, just six points behind the eighth best OPS in the league. Besides the offense, he impressed scouts with both his speed and defense.
This appears to be the final fall league article from MLB Pipeline, which covers the AFL for MLB.com. So here is a recap of the praise Tucker has received for his fall performance in addition to today’s top prospect ranking:
Tucker was named to the All-AFL team along with Will Craig.
He received the league award for sportsmanship.
MLB Pipeline named his among the best breakout prospects, while Baseball America called him one of the top prospects on the rise (both are linked above in the sportsmanship article).
Tucker was named to the Fall-Stars game during the season. He had impressive numbers going into the game, then raised his average 29 points after the Fall-Stars game.
We will see how the fall league helps his prospect rankings overall in baseball and in the system. Fangraphs just ranked him fifth overall for the Pirates. Other lists will be coming out over the winter. We will have our 2019 Prospect Guide, which will have our new rankings and is available right now for pre-sales, out before Christmas.
