Baseball America updated their top 100 prospects list on Wednesday and the Pittsburgh Pirates are well represented on the list, with a total of six players.
According to BA, the top prospect on the Pirates right now is shortstop Oneil Cruz, who moved all the way up to the 14th ranked prospect in baseball. He finished the year with the Pirates, despite a very brief stint in Triple-A and a partial season in Double-A due to injury. Cruz impressed with high exit velocities during his short big league time, which helped propel him up the list.
Catcher Henry Davis ranks second for the Pirates, checking in as the 41st prospect. Fans of the Pirates will love the last line of the brief summary for Davis by BA (separate from his scouting report):
The No. 1 overall draft pick’s pro debut was limited by injury, but the Louisville product has an impressive blend of power and arm strength. He fits right in to the embarrassment of riches that is the Pittsburgh system.
The third rank Pirates player is second baseman Nick Gonzales, who ranks in at the 49th overall spot, giving the Pirates three top 50 prospects. They gave him a 65 hit rating. BA’s short summary for him is also encouraging for a team that could use offense (and everything else) at the big league level:
Gonzales’ season was interrupted by a thumb injury, but when he was on the field he showed the profile of a classic professional hitter with a short, quick swing geared to shoot line drives from gap to gap. He has the look of an offensive-minded middle infielder.
Liover Peguero ranks fourth among Pirates prospects, though the bottom three are all grouped together. Peguero ranks 78th, with pitchers Roansy Contreras ranked 80th and Quinn Priester ranked 88th. It’s somewhat interesting to note that the top five prospects here all missed time in 2021, so we could see more from all of them with a full season of consistent work. Priester played the full season and got better as it went along, finishing with stats strong enough that he got major consideration for our Pitcher of the Year award, finishing second in a much discussed decision.Contreras had a season that mimicked that one by Cruz, with a strong performance at Altoona that was shortened by injury, followed by a very brief stop in Triple-A and a big league appearance at the end of the season. Peguero spent the 2020 season in High-A as one of the youngest players in the league.
The Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks are tied with the most prospects on this list. The rest of the National League Central breaks down as four top 100 prospects for the Cincinnati Reds, three for the St Louis Cardinals, two for the Chicago Cubs and one for the Milwaukee Brewers.
BA also included an article showing the top 100 list by the numbers, with breakdowns by position, schooling, country and draft position and team
