With the Pirates taking Henry Davis with the first overall pick in 2021, they were able to save money and draft several high upside prep players, signing them away from a college commitment.
That means there were plenty of young prospects to get excited about entering the system. Anthony Solometo and Bubba Chandler were the biggest of the prep additions. They both found their way to Bradenton this past season, and showed why they were so highly touted during the draft process.
We are still waiting to get an opportunity to see the promise from another prep player, thanks to an unfortunate injury.
When it comes to raw tools and pure athleticism, there are few players that can match what Lonnie White brings to the table. The outfielder was on his way to Penn State to play baseball and football as a wide receiver. He was also pretty good at basketball, this slam dunk was from high school back in 2019, two years before the Pirates drafted him.
#SCtop10 Lonnie White with the emphatic dunk pic.twitter.com/z8xXpoo7QZ
— Malvern Prep Basketball (@mpfriarhoops) December 15, 2019
On the diamond White has plus speed and has flashed some very intriguing raw power. In just 40 plate appearances in his career, White has three home runs and two doubles. In what is a reminder of how young he is, and how little he’s played at the pro level, he’s also struck out 17 times.
In just nine games in the FCL in 2021 after being drafted, White picked up eight hits, four were for extra-bases (two doubles, two home runs).
Unfortunately an elbow injury limited him to just two games in 2022, and he will enter next season at 20-years-old with just those 40 plate appearances under his belt.
Welcome back, Lonnie White Jr. pic.twitter.com/TOCkXmhKrL
— Pirates Talk (@PITPiratesChat) July 23, 2022
With the ability to hit a baseball like this, it doesn’t seem crazy to think he can easily catch up for any missed time.
We got a taste at what the upside can bring from the 2021 draft class this past season, and that’s before even mentioning the likes of White, Owen Kellington, and Braylon Bishop also in the mix.
Jordan Lawlar and Marcelo Mayer both got off to great starts in their professional career, and while the Pirates could have had either, they opted for an approach that increased their odds by adding several high potential players and eventually contributions from multiple players as opposed to just one.
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Blake Sabol crushed a grand slam last night! pic.twitter.com/Uktv3IdzBD
— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) October 20, 2022
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Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.
Hi. Just wanted to ask what’s happening with the Prospects Guides we ordered last Fall? There was supposed to be an announcement? I bought 2, one for my Dad. I’m happy to take a refund at this point or have it put to next years.
It’s still being written. It turned into the 22-23 Guide, and a completely different project. There will be more info with a big site update next week.
If it’s a completely different project, everyone that ordered it last year should be refunded. Hopefully I didn’t buy one. You can’t just take peoples money like that.
I’ve explained this on the site before, but the changes were to add to the book and give people their money’s worth. The content of the book that people bought ended up being not much different from what was on the site, and I wasn’t satisfied with the information we had. I wanted to give something of more value, so I changed things up. It’s still a Prospect Guide, but it’s a different version than the previous ten versions.
Those who wanted refunds received them. However, this is a book that is in it’s 11th version. There are some hardcore fans of this book who, if I refund them, are just going to buy the book again. My focus is more about giving that hardcore base a better product. It’s also going to be more expensive this time around, so they would pay more if I refunded them and bought again.
If I just wanted to take people’s money, I would have put out a shitty product in April and not cared about the experience of the people who purchased the book — many of whom have purchased several books over the years.
This, you seem to be suggesting, is a community with a limited market — for subs and guudes. It’s a community first and foremost, however. This means changing the guide should be supported if the new format is worthy of support.
Awesome!
“With the ability to hit a baseball like this, it doesn’t seem crazy to think he can easily make up for any missed time.” Funny, I think exactly the opposite. A guy who can put a charge into things like this is great, but the larger issue with raw guys is getting them reps. Missing almost this entire season is a substantial hit to his development, especially in regards to his swing and miss issues. The worst thing that can happen to raw guys is miss time.
Totally agree.
The Pirates’ top three position players from the 2020-21 drafts have had major problems staying on the field. That’s not how it usually works.
I fear for Termarr.
So we’re now cursed? To whom should we assign blame for this–Huntington, Hurdle, Archer, that reliever who we don’t name, Marte, …? One of those guys must have cursed us when they left or were dismissed. Or maybe it goes back to when Cherington mocked Huntington’s offer to help with the transition–that seems curse-worthy.
No curse, they’re just thoroughbred players. Some have a hard time staying healthy.
If we ever get a regression to the mean, it’ll be awesome. Davis, Nick, White and Termarr will be healthy all year and all put up a 1500 OPS.
I suggest blaming Silvio Berlusconi. It’s probably the only thing he’s not guilty of, but he’s got no credible alibi.
I think he just visited Trump.
the curse of Dave Parker
The Curse goes way back to Olden Times: the Curse of The Bond-bino, when “cheap-ass” Pirates owners (a tale as old as time) let Barry Bonds walk so they could afford a No No Nanette fireworks nite. The Gods gave up their outfield loge tickets that day, never to return.
Leyland likely updated his resume when he told the owner Bonds would sign with the Pirates for a reasonable amount and the owner said ‘Nah!’
That likely greatly pissed off the Baseball Gods, who were already pissed off by the sno-ball Pirates of the early 1980s.