This has been a busy month for minor league roster moves.
When I started this site 16 years ago, the MLB Draft was held in June. Teams had two months to sign their draft picks. The MLB Trade Deadline was at the end of July, but there was also a second trade deadline at the end of August which involved the waiver wire. As a result, there were three full months where MLB systems saw changes from added draft picks, and players added/removed from the system in trades.
Today, the draft, all of the draft pick signings, and the lone trade deadline are crammed into a stretch of less than three weeks. I don’t know if that’s better or worse, but I do know that it is much more chaotic.
As a result of the chaos, there have been a lot of changes to my top 50 tiered rankings, which I updated at the start of July with Version 3.0 on the season. Those rankings received an update after the draft, adding the new picks to the system in Version 3.1.
The Pirates wrapped up their trade deadline this week by dealing away five prospects from my latest top 50, while also adding two prospects in return who helped to offset the prospect loss. Be sure to check out my column on the trade deadline, recapping all seven trades the Pirates made.
My plan is to update the system rankings in full over the next week, to provide Version 4.0 of the 2024 Top 50 Tiered rankings. Today, I wanted to focus on the impact of the trade deadline to the system, using the tiered rankings to better illustrate how the overall talent pool was impacted by all of the moves.
TIER THREE: FUTURE STARTERS
The biggest prospect on the move at the deadline was infielder Charles McAdoo, who the Pirates traded 1-for-1 to get utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa. McAdoo was one of the biggest breakouts in the Pirates’ system this year, and ended up being ranked ninth overall in my latest update. He actually started the year outside of my top 50, before moving up into the top 30 after a month, and eventually hitting his way into the top ten. The final pre-deadline report on McAdoo:
*****
CHARLES MCADOO, 3B
CV: 25 | FV: 50 | MLB ETA: 2026 | FV ETA: 2027+ | Trend: UP
McAdoo has been the best hitting story in the Pirates system this year. Drafted in the 13th round last year out of San Jose State, he has combined for a .320/.412/.553 line in pro ball across three levels. He was recently promoted to Altoona, where he continues hitting with a 1.022 OPS through his first ten games. I decided to grade him as if he’s a future starter, though conservatively enough to project him arriving in the majors at age 24 and being a starter at age 25. That still makes him the second best hitting prospect in the system, and you could rank him higher if you’re buying the early results.
*****
One day before McAdoo was traded, the Pirates traded RHP Quinn Priester to the Boston Red Sox, receiving infielder Nick Yorke. I put together an initial prospect ranking of Yorke that night, and had him ranked one spot ahead of McAdoo. In the grand scheme of things, the Pirates had a wash in talent for this tier. They traded away a guy they were developing at third base, who might be better suited for right field. They added a second base option who can also play left field. Both of them can hit.
What I like about Yorke is that he’s made some positive adjustments at the plate this year. He made an adjustment last year to raise his hands high like he was wielding a battle axe, with a focus on pulling the ball for power. This year, he’s lowered his hands, and set his sights on hitting line drives to right-center field. Since the adjustment, Yorke is hitting .310/.408/.490 in 169 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Yorke and McAdoo are the same age, with McAdoo older by less than a month. McAdoo has been playing in Double-A, and while he’s still hitting, he has some work before he reaches Triple-A to take the next challenge. Yorke is already at the Triple-A level, hitting in a small sample. The Pirates will send Yorke to Indianapolis, to see if he can continue his success this year at the plate. He enters the system as a top ten prospect.
TIER FOUR: FRINGE STARTERS
The Pirates made a straight-up prospect swap, sending 22-year-old RHP Patrick Reilly to the Baltimore Orioles, and receiving 25-year-old super utility player Billy Cook. I’ve got both players graded as fringe starters, with Reilly slightly ahead of Cook. That said, the purpose of the tiers is to show that there’s really no grand difference in talent. The Pirates traded from a system strength of lower-level pitching, and filled a need of upper-level hitting depth.
Here was the report on Reilly at the start of the month:
