Prospect Roundtable: Pirates Prospects Who Look Like They’re On the Rise

One month doesn’t make or break a season.

Even the lowest ranked prospects in the game dominate for a month.

Some players can dominate and show signs that their success is bound to continue.

For this week’s Prospect Roundtable, we’re looking at the Good and the Bad for the first month. The Good will focus on players outside of each writer’s top 30 who might be on the rise. In the other article, we’ll look at players on the other side of that coin.

We’ve yet to see a lot of big breakout performances, though it might just be too early to buy into those. For example, Mike Burrows is off to a great start in Altoona, and with a full season of this, should get top 100 consideration next year. But we all had Burrows as a top 20 prospect, and some of us had him top ten heading into the year. There haven’t been many players yet making that massive jump like Matt Fraizer made last year.

Then again, Fraizer’s slow start this year might tell us that even one season is a sample size too small.

Despite that disclaimer, below are the lower ranked Pirates prospects who might be on the rise after a hot start.

JOHN DREKER: Jared Triolo, 3B

The player who would be in my top 30 now if we did the voting over isn’t someone who has been on a hot streak early, but I got updated scouting reports after we submitted the list and that made the difference. Jared Triolo’s defense at third base has been getting reviews that put him even higher than I thought it that category, and that’s with already knowing that he was the Gold Glove winner in 2021 for all minor league third baseman. In fact, he has been able to fill in at shortstop this year because of that defense. Triolo’s bat was impressive last year, as he wasn’t just a by-product of the Greensboro home/road splits. He hit well away from home and also added some nice speed to his game with 25 steals. He has acceptable BB/SO rates and that has shown up so far this year at a higher level. He’s a complete player, who is getting on base at a great rate this year and all we are missing right now are the homers, which should come as the season progresses.

WILBUR MILLER: Cam Alldred, LHP

It’s tempting to go with Mason Martin or Jack Suwinski, but that’s too easy. They were outside the top 30 because of the system’s depth, not because they weren’t good prospects. So I’m going with Alldred, who wasn’t really on the radar at all. He’s a soft-tossing lefty who’s been extremely effective in relief – and one start – for Indianapolis this year. In 14.2 IP, he’s allowed just nine hits and three runs, and managed to fan 14 despite throwing mainly in the upper-80s. One important improvement he’s made is cutting the walks. Last year he walked 4.09 per nine innings between AA and AAA. This year, just 1.23 in AAA. That’s always a hard equation to solve for a guy who doesn’t throw hard – throwing strikes without getting shelled. With about half the major league bullpen pitching miserably, including both lefthanders not named Peters, you’d think Alldred would be a good candidate for a major league trial. At least, if the team was actually trying to get better.

ANTHONY MURPHY: Omar Cruz, LHP

I wasn’t sure what to make of Omar Cruz when watching him last year. He didn’t have overpowering stuff, and the lack of strikeouts kind of played into that thought that he may not be able to get major league hitters out. This year he began the year out of the bullpen and looked like a completely different pitcher. The fastball is still lower 90s but mixed with his curveball and change-up has been generating far more swinging strikes. With the breakout season Wil Crowe has had in the bullpen, that adds extra value to a bunch of different players in the system, and Cruz could be another that benefits from it.

RYAN PALENCER: Osvaldo Bido, RHP

Bido has been used in a swing position for Indianapolis, both starting and in a long relief role. The most impressive aspect for him so far, as John Dreker pointed out last week, is an uptick in velocity and an improved ability to miss bats so far. Over his career, Bido has had an inability to show command consistently. While his overall walk numbers are still high this year, it appeared he found something early in the season. However, in his last three appearances he has walked 12 batters. The good news is, his stuff has played well enough to work around the damage. If he can regain that control, he has the versatility that could fit well in a big league bullpen.

TIM WILLIAMS: Luis Peralta, LHP

I’ve written about Peralta twice this month, including this week. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I picked him here. We lefties tend to stick together. But aside from the love of lefties, Peralta has shown a big tendency for swing-and-miss, both with his low-90s fastball when he elevates it, and with his big breaking curveball that can be buried low and inside to right-handers. Both pitches come out of a similar arm slot and move in opposite directions, creating a lot of life for opposing hitters to deal with. Peralta has dealt with control issues. Some are due to fatigue, and some are due to a lack of experience at a higher level. I’ve seen Peralta work consistently 91-93, touching as high as 95 from the left side. I’ve seen him get above-average swing-and-miss from his fastball, along with swing-and-miss from the curve. He can drop the curve in for strikes as well, and there’s the whole aspect of having a big brother in the majors to learn from. I have a feeling Peralta will fully pitch his way into my top 30 by the end of the year as he gets more experience.