The 2023 minor league season fully kicks off this weekend. To get you prepared to follow the prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system, we’ve put together previews for every level.
Pirates 2023 Minor League Previews
Triple-A: Indianapolis Indians
Double-A: Altoona Curve
High-A: Greensboro Grasshoppers
Single-A: Bradenton Marauders
The Bradenton Marauders will be highlighted by 2022 first round pick Termarr Johnson, and several other top ten round picks from the most recent draft. They also have several players repeating the lowest full-season level.
CATCHERS
Did somebody mention “repeater?” The main catchers figure to be Wyatt Hendrie and Nick Cimillo. Hendrie spent all of last season with the Marauders, putting together a solid season at the plate in the context of the Florida State League, and playing very well defensively. But he’s back. Cimillo played for the Marauders only very briefly in 2022. A 16th-round draft pick as a Rutgers senior, he seems to have some upside with the bat. The other catcher is Geovanny Planchart, who struggled with the Marauders last year, got demoted, and struggled in the Florida Complex League.
INFIELDERS
The big name here is Termarr Johnson, but he’ll be out at least until some time in May with the dreaded ailment known as Pirates First Rounder Discomfort. Johnson supposedly showed the best hit tool of any prep prospect in ages, so look/hope for a breakout once he’s on the field.
With Johnson out, the primary infielders should be Javier Rivas, Jack Brannigan and Jesus Castillo. Rivas had a good year at the plate in the FCL last year and probably is even better defensively. He’s one of the stronger breakout candidates on this team. Castillo hit .352 in the FCL, with strong plate discipline but no power. He’s solid defensively. Rivas and Castillo rotated between second, short and third last year, but long-term Rivas should be at short.
Brannigan was the Pirates’ third round draft pick last year. Most teams liked him best on the mound, where he has impressive stuff, but it’s not clear when or whether the Pirates will try him there. He’s very strong defensively at third and has power, but he swings and misses (aka, “Haineses”) a lot, including late last year for the Marauders. It’s common for early round picks to head to High Class A for their first full seasons and should be even more so now, with the quality of play in Low Class A lower since MLB whacked the minors. So it’s disappointing to see Brannigan back at this level. He seems likely to play mainly at third, but he was getting some time at second in camp, so the Pirates may shuffle infielders all around, as is their wont.
The remaining infielders are Alexander Mojica, Rayber Romero and Deivis Nadal. Mojica is a repeating repeater, back for his third try at this level. Ostensibly a third baseman, he’s the most likely candidate to play first. Romero is a speedy infielder, primarily a second baseman, who got on base a lot two years ago in the FCL. He missed last year due to a PED suspension. Nadal is a strong defensive player who hasn’t hit much yet.
OUTFIELDERS
The marquee player here should be Lonnie White, Jr., who got a $1.5M overslot bonus back in 2021. After missing essentially all of last year, though, he’s going to miss around half of this year following thumb surgery. The team also could have Rodolfo Nolasco, who’d be repeating the level. He got red hot last summer but then got hurt, and he’s hurt now. Of all the players who could appear with Bradenton, these two have the most power potential, probably by far.
That leaves a bunch of potentially interesting outfielders. The most prominent are Braylon Bishop and Shalin Polanco. Bishop is a speedy, overslot guy who struggled with swing decisions in the FCL last year. Polanco was the Pirates’ top international signing in the 2020-21 period. He has some pronounced Hainesian tendencies, but he’s tended to improve as he’s seen more of the pitching at each level so far, and he was better in 2022 than 2021.
The most surprising assignment here is Tres Gonzalez. Drafted in the fifth round last year from Georgia Tech, he has a very advanced approach at the plate. In fact, when he was hitting in games at Pirate City this March, there were audible comments from the bench about how good his swing looked. He got 80 ABs with Bradenton last year and had little trouble, but now he’s back. I thought he might have a shot at going to Altoona, so this is extremely disappointing.
The other outfielders are Jauri Custodio and Enmanuel Terrero. Both put up strong numbers in the FCL last year with impressive walk and K rates. Custodio showed good power, but he’s gotten only a small number of ABs the last two years due to injuries. Terrero showed only gap power, but he’s still just 20.
So, no big-time prospects in the outfield for now, but everybody above has some potential. All of these outfielders can ostensibly play center, but Bishop and Polanco are the ones who potentially have futures there.
PITCHERS
It’s always hard to figure out in advance which pitchers are going to be the starters at this level. Most of these guys have prior track records numbering in just the dozens of innings and we don’t know what the Pirates are seeing in camp. But the Pirates do seem to try to maintain an actual rotation in Bradenton. I think I can make some reasonable guesses about who might be in it.
The obvious choices, I think, are Thomas Harrington, Alessandro Ercolani, Bladimir Dotel and Owen Kellington. Harrington was the Pirates’ supplemental first round pick last year and has yet to debut as a pro. He has a plus change and low 3/4 motion. He seems to have been regarded more as a finesse guy, but he was throwing 94-95 mph in camp. Ercolani is a strong-looking righty from the microstate San Marino. He had an impressive season last year in the FCL at age 18 and still looks like he could add velocity. His secondary stuff needs to get better.
Dotel has had two good years in the FCL and is gradually improving his command. Kellington was another overslot guy in 2021. He hails from Vermont, which is about as big a baseball hotbed as San Marino. He looked great for a couple of outings last year, then got hurt and was terrible when he returned. Hopefully his assignment to Bradenton is an indication that he’s OK now.
Some other potential starters are Derek Diamond and J.P. Massey. Diamond was last year’s sixth rounder, out of UMiss. He showed impressive stuff back in 2021, but fell off sharply in 2022, hence the draft round. Massey, a seventh rounder has always been regarded as having a big arm, but control problems consistently undermined him in college. He’s been emerging as a sleeper this spring, and will be a guy to watch for improvements.
The rotation could change quite a bit part way into the season. The Pirates have long had a practice of managing workloads of inexperienced pitchers by moving them up to Bradenton in May or June. Highly touted South Korean righty Jun-Seok Shim is expected to reach Bradenton at some point. Antwone Kelly and Hung-Leng Chang, both of whom showed promise last year in the FCL, also could move up at some point. Both pitched only slightly over 20 innings last year.
Apart from Harrington, Diamond and Massey, a bunch of other guys from the Pirates’ college-pitcher-heavy 2022 draft are in Bradenton now. It’s hard to know what plans the Pirates have for any of them.
Two lefties are Dominic Perachi and Julian Bosnic, drafted in round 11 and 14, respectively. Perachi, who’s from Australia, was drafted out of DIII Salve Regina University. Like a lot of the pitchers the Pirates draft, he did well in summer ball. He throws 93 with some projection and a high-spin curve. Bosnic was drafted as a senior out of South Carolina, but has only limited experience as he missed 2022 with a flexor strain. His fastball has reached 98 and his three secondaries all miss bats. I’m guessing, with the injury history, the Pirates will go easy on the innings.
Other 2022 draftees on the roster are Mike Walsh (round 9), Elijah Birdsong (18) and Joshua Loeschorn (20). The big attractions with Walsh are high spin rates and a lot of strikeouts in summer ball, but he had a very difficult time throwing strikes in brief action last year in the FCL and for Bradenton. Birdsong is a Tommy John survivor who throws in the low 90s. Loeschorn went to Long Island University and also got some experience in independent ball.
Most of the rest of the pitchers are returning from last year. The lefties are Luis Peralta and Yoldin De La Paz. Peralta started for Bradenton last year and consistently accounted for huge numbers of strikeouts, walks and pitches thrown. He obviously needs to minimize those last two. The Pirates could try him as a starter again. De La Paz, the only remaining non-returnee, is the kind of mystery guy you get at this level. He had a good year in the DSL in 2021, then threw only two innings in the FCL last year due to injury.
Some returning relievers are Yunior Thibo, Darvin Garcia and Luigi Hernandez. All three have a history of missing bats and the plate. Thibo throws the hardest, generally 94-97. Garcia especially had a tough time with walks last year for the Marauders. Hernandez pitched only briefly for Bradenton after fanning over 14 per nine innings in the FCL.
The other pitchers are Ryan Harbin and Carlos Lomeli. Harbin was a prep draftee way back in 2019. Due to injuries and the pandemic, he pitched very little from 2019 to 2021, and struggled badly in rookie ball when he did. Last year he mostly pitched well in the FCL and made one good appearance for the Marauders. Lomeli was one of Bradenton’s regular relievers last year and was mostly ineffective until he finished the season well.
