After setting the table during the 2021 season, there were some prospects in the Pirates system that many had high hopes on when 2022 rolled around.
One of them was Liover Peguero, who was a part of the first big move made by General Manager Ben Cherington, being acquired in the Starling Marte trade.
After a successful season in Greensboro in 2021 at just 20-years-old, many had high hopes for Peguero, who was ranked among the Top 100 prospects by most major outlets.
Peguero got off to a great start, posting a 152 wRC+ in the month of April. He played so well, he put himself in position to make his major league debut when the Pirates needed a shortstop. He played in one game, picking up his first big league hit in the process.
It was a different story once he was sent back down to the minors, and Peguero struggled to close out the season. He started to right the ship towards the end a bit, but still finished with a wRC+ of 70 after getting sent back down.
What Went Wrong
Peguero has the arm strength and athleticism to play shortstop but has also thrown 46 errors over the last two years at the position. Sliding over the second base for 19 games in 2022, he committed eight more errors, giving him a total 31 on the season with Altoona.
While he has never drawn a lot of walks, he saw another dip in his rate, finishing at 5.6% this past season. He had an overall walk rate of 7.74% going into this season.
The strikeout rate actually improved in Altoona, dropping to 21.3% (down from 25.2% in Greensboro), but he did see a slight increase in his swinging strike rate, barely. The 13.2% rate isn’t too alarming at this point, but Peguero isn’t going to want it to climb too much more beyond that going forward.
What Went Right
His prolonged stretch aside, Peguero was able to flash an ability at the very least, gap power after getting out of the power alley that was Greensboro. He finished with 35 extra-base hits (14 home runs) across 417 in High-A last year and while he saw a decrease in his overall power numbers in Altoona, he still flashed some power to the gaps.
After laying off a VERY CLOSE ball 3 call (probably should have been a strike) Liover Peguero hits the next pitch to the gap and gets a triple to lead off the game #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/msnqqloXVg
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) September 9, 2022
The error problem is an issue, and it’s something that has caused talk about whether or not his long-term position is at shortstop but he still flashed some big play ability and there were a good amount of throws that seemed to be more mental than physical issues.
If not, he does still possess the athleticism and arm to potentially be a fit in the outfield, opening up all sorts of possibilities with his versatility.
What’s Next?
The good news is that Peguero is still just 22-years-old, so there’s still plenty of time to figure things out. He was really good the last 15 games of the season, with a 122 wRC+ to go along with a walk rate of 12.7%, so there’s something to work off of.
Pittsburgh has plenty of middle infield depth to allow him to work on his craft. There are many that are down on Peguero, but there is still a lot of bounceback potential from the infielder.
Highlight of the Day
Pirates Prospects Daily
By Tim Williams
**In our first Roundtable of the year, we looked back at our favorite articles from the 2022 season.
**Recently acquired outfielder Chavez Young had a big game in winter ball.
**Missed yesterday? Anthony looked at how much the Pirates lineup has improved.
Song of the Day
Pirates Prospects Weekly
We had a lot of links to our favorite articles that we wrote in 2022. Check it out and see what you missed.
We’ll have our latest Pirates Discussion on Friday.
