The 2024 minor league season is winding down, but the 2024 draft picks are just starting their professional careers.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have already seen the pro debuts of several players from their draft class, with six players joining the Single-A Bradenton Marauders roster so far. There should be more debuts by the end of the season.
For the latest Saturday sleepers, I wanted to look at four of the draft picks who have already made their debuts, and who are players to watch down the stretch.
Connor Wietgrefe, LHP – Wietgrefe struck out the side in his debut, throwing a scoreless inning of relief. The seventh rounder out of Minnesota will get the start tonight for the Marauders. He was sitting 93 MPH with his fastball, showing good results from the slider last time out. With a four pitch mix, it will be interesting to see how he fares this year working out of the rotation. He moved to the rotation for his junior year of college, with a 2.77 ERA and a 74:26 K/BB in 78 innings. He also made two impressive starts in the Cape Cod League, allowing one run in 11 innings, with a 12:1 K/BB.
