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Three Fringe Pitching Prospects That Could Impact a Future MLB Rotation

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When discussing the Pittsburgh Pirates, you may get “spend nutting win nutting,” or *insert FUTURE Spongebob GIF*, you may even see some even-keeled prospect talk, and the latter is what brings us here today. Today let’s discuss some potential long-term starters from your “fringe” prospect pool, using the group from this week’s main feature on Pirates Prospects.

The 40-Man Roster of Pirates Prospects in Spring Training

Cody Bolton

Bolton is an interesting discussion; prior to his injury and the 2020 fiasco, he was regarded as a top-end pitching prospect in the organization. Thanks to several additions like Roansy Contreras, Quinn Priester, and even Tahnaj Thomas, Bolton was thrust into a corner of forgottenness.

This past Monday, Bolton saw real game action against the Rays, and the flood of memories and older prospect reports started coming back. Bolton ended up striking out two and forced a rather routine groundout to second base. “It felt good to be back, I honestly felt no nerves going into that inning, Bolton said.”

Whether Bolton is a long-term starter is up to the Pirates and where they see him in the long run, but he could logically fit into a starter mold with a three-pitch mix and a history of starting. At the age of 23, Bolton still has time; thankfully, time is on the young man’s side.    

Max Kranick  

You earn some recognition when you start your major league career with five perfect innings against a St. Louis Cardinals team. Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last for Kranick in his 2021 campaign, finishing with a 6.28 ERA, 19 walks, 47 hits given up, all in 38.2 innings pitched.  

There, of course, were some good things with Kranick and one of those things dealt with his curveball. Used about 12.3% of the time, Kranick’s curveball induced a WHIFF% of 33.3 and held opponents to a .188 batting average. If Kranick can incorporate more of his curveball and mix his pitches well, we could see him stick at a long-term starter role. 

You could also look at Statcast’s xERA as somewhat of a positive for Kranick. During last season Kranick’s xERA was a whole 1.71 points lower at 4.57, not great, but it’s progress. In a recent video, you can see a nice two-pitch sequence that may give some sort of hope. 

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