The Pittsburgh Pirates announced the Opening Day roster for the 2023 Greensboro Grasshoppers. They begin their season on Friday. Here’s a look at the roster by positions. Note that not all of these players will be active on Opening Day, but this is their roster placement once they return.
Pitchers
Braxton Ashcraft, Jack Carey, Bubba Chandler, Po-Yu Chen, Jaycob Deese, Santiago Florez, Grant Ford, Drew Irvine, Will Kobos, Valentin Linarez, Oliver Mateo, Dante Mendoza, Michell Miliano, Mitchell Miller, Cy Nielson, Anthony Solometo, Eddy Yean
Bubba Chandler and Anthony Solometo are the top prospects for Greensboro this year, both moving up from Bradenton. Chandler will only be working as a pitcher this year. Po-Yu Chen is another interesting name with potential upside. Braxton Ashcraft was on the rehab squad in Spring Training, so he might be one of those players not available on Opening Day. Not listed here is Carlos Jimenez, who got a late start to Spring Training. He will be at Pirate City building up to starter innings for now.
Catchers
Abrahan Gutierrez, Luis Hernandez, Eli Wilson
Abrahan Gutierrez should see the majority of the catching here, while Eli Wilson could see time at other positions like last year.
Infielders
Tsung-Che Cheng, Brenden Dixon, Maikol Escotto, Jackson Glenn, Mike Jarvis, Ernny Ordonez, Will Matthiessen
Tsung-Che Cheng is the top prospect on the offensive side for Greensboro. He played solid this winter in Puerto Rico, had a nice WBC tournament, and his Spring Training reports recently were great.
Outfielders
Angel Basabe, Jase Bowen, Luke Brown, Hudson Head, Sammy Siani
Jase Bowen, Hudson Head and Sammy Siani should all see regular playing time. Bowen and Siani played well in Australia this off-season.
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.
interesting that nielson is the only college pitcher from last year’s draft starting in high a.
i missed deese. even still
Wait who’s deez?
ahh a person of culture i see
I hope that Siani and Head take a solid turn towards fulfilling their potential.
That entire outfield group could use a good season to put them all individually on the prospect map. Except for Brown it’s getting close to to the time where they need production in games that matter to avoid being seen as career minor leaguers.
Everytime I see Sinai’s name, I think of The Gunnar Henderson who we should’ve taken for the name alone. 😙😙😙
Thanks for the add about Carlos Jimenez. Sure like the Rotation after Jimenez joins later in April. Hopefully we get something worthwhile out of Florencio and Florez in 2023.
Some interesting guys, like low-A, not all that inspiring outside of the top 3-4.
Jimenez will make that list a bit more interesting. After the showing in Australia this off season, Im hoping that Sinai has a strong season.
pittsburghbob69, looks like someone has a $50 donation to make!!! Lol
*I’m also going to match it
There seem to be a number of guys in purgatory, like Brannigan.
Brannigan is listed on the Bradenton roster.