MLB Pipeline updated their list of the top 30 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects on Wednesday morning.
We already knew the top four from this list in order, as Pipeline had Termarr Johnson, Endy Rodriguez, Henry Davis and Quinn Priester all among the top 60 prospects in baseball. The rest of the top ten in order is: Nick Gonzales, Liover Peguero, Bubba Chandler, Luis Ortiz, Mike Burrows and Anthony Solometo.
You can check the rest of the list in the link above (be sure the year up top says 2023). As for some rankings of note:
New international signing Jun-Seok Shim ranks 26th for Pipeline. He’s one spot ahead of Shalin Polanco, the top signing from two international classes ago, and three spots ahead of Yordany De Los Santos, the top signing from the previous international class.
Besides Johnson, other 2022 draft picks ranked are: Thomas Harrington (12th), Hunter Barco (15th) and Michael Kennedy (21st).
The breakdown of the top 30 includes 17 draft picks, seven international signings and six players acquired via trades.
It’s interesting to me that Pipeline has Malcom Nunez 16th, Matt Gorski 17th and Jared Triolo 17th, after the Pirates protected Triolo from the Rule 5 draft, but left Nunez and Gorski available.
You can find the rest of the Pirates top prospects lists here:
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Pranksters at Pipeline already have Solometo’s photo in a Yankees hat…good one!
Ranking prospects is obviously a lot more about potential than “right now”. So being on the 40 man(although matters) isn’t the end all be all when ranking prospects.
Players put on the 40 man could just be seen as a bigger team need or seen as a player that would’ve been drafted by another team in the Rule 5. Like Colin Selby.
And players left off could be seen as a player that, for any number of reasons, be safe from being drafted. Even though the player could be a more highly thought of or ranked prospect.
I feel like MLB Pipeline has always relied more heavily on pedigree than the other outlets: being a high bonus int’l signing or taken in the first round of the draft remains relevant for them even after other outlets move on from a guy, or determine someone else’s tools to be more impressive. That’s why I’m not surprised that Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero are still top 6 for this list, while other outlets have bumped them down a bit.
I like that they aren’t quite as wed to the “What have you done for me lately?” thinking that makes such a huge deal out of normal developmental dips and rises. Flip side, they might put a little too much stock right from the get go into the prestige of draft order or signing bonus.
FWIW – Gonzales has been really good for some time
Since his return from injury in early August, he has a triple slash of roughly 0.300 / 0.400 / 0.500 in about 250 PAs across several levels with 8 HR while K’ing less than once per game
It’s hard to imagine that anyone expected him to be better than that when he was drafted 7th in 2020
Those numbers are very similar to his 2021 stats and compare favorably with any IF in MILB
It’s as if you can parse anyone’s stats to make them look better than they really are. If you remove all of Jeff Locke’s bad starts, he looks good!
Good point regarding Triolo John. For whatever reason, he gets overlooked bc he might not have the highest ceiling, but has a high floor. He just seems like a David Freese type of player that’s solid, with some seasons above average, & is the kind of player you want on the team.
Was hoping Nick Gonzalez would be similar to Freddy Sanchez. If I could get a Freese and a Sanchez on the same team I’d be pumped.
Here’s a Freddy Sanchez blast from the past
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/freddy-sanchez-for-who-seriously/
That didn’t age well. That was a Chris bow shooter trade in that guys eyes. It left me debating my Sanchez t shirt/jersey
I would be ecstatic with a David Freese outcome.
Especially post-season David Freese!