For over a decade, the Prospect Watch has been a core feature here on Pirates Prospects. Up until recently, it served as the nightly recap for all of the minor league action. Yesterday, we launched a new version of the article, where our writers profile a player who has been notable to them.
Yesterday’s article looked at hard-throwing right-handed pitchers David Matoma and Jun-Seok Shim, as well as infielder Tsung-Che Cheng
Looking for yesterday’s minor league results? The lower level action from Monday can be found here. Follow our latest Pirates Prospects Live for today’s action.
Today’s Prospect Watch looks at pitchers Brandan Bidios, J.P. Massey, and one of the best lower level position player prospects in Yordany De Los Santos.
JOHN DREKER: Brandan Bidios, RHP, Bradenton Marauders
The Pirates signed Brandan Bidois at 18 years old in September of 2019. He started pitching just six months earlier, but he showed a lot of potential and improvements right away. Before they could get him in Spring Training, the 2020 minor league season was wiped out. He pitched ten innings during the 2020-21 off-season in his home country of Australia. He then pitched three games in the Florida Complex League during the 2021 season, before an injury sidelined him until this year. He was showing progress before the injury, but nothing like what he has shown so far this year.
Bidois is working as a relief pitcher right now due to the missed time. That might not be his role in the future. He was a starter before the injury, going from a fastball that sat 91 MPH when he signed, to a fastball that reached mid-90s in 2021. He hit 99 MPH in his final game during Extended Spring Training before joining Bradenton this year. I was also told that he was getting elite spin rate on his breaking ball among pitchers in the system, only matched by Jun-Seok Shim among average spin.
I watched two relief outings of Bidios from last week. He threw just 23 pitches total, so it was a small sample size. He was blowing his fastball by Single-A hitters as you would expect. His breaking ball matched the report I received. It has an 11-to-5 break, and he was throwing it for strikes. He had one so good that the batter ducked away from the ball twice, thinking it was a fastball at his head, until realizing he ducked into a breaking ball on the edge of the plate. The pitch was so good it froze the umpire as well. Bidois appears to have two plus pitches that he controls well. It will be interesting to see his role next year, because he could probably move quickly through the system in relief.
WILBUR MILLER: Yordany De Los Santos, INF, FCL Pirates
Yordany De Los Santos was the Pirates’ top signing in the 2022 signing period, garnering a $1.2M bonus from a franchise that’s seldom gone into seven figures on the international front. The report on De Los Santos at the time was that he projected to be a middle-of-the-order hitter with a shot at remaining at short.
So far, so good. De Los Santos had a good debut season in the Dominican Summer League, putting up a .259/.372/.363 line as a 17-year-old. I saw him a number of times this spring in workouts at Pirate City. The team had him playing in intrasquad games with more advanced players. Now he’s off to a good start in the Florida Complex League, starting his season 7-for-19 with three doubles.
It’s extremely early, of course. Whether De Los Santos succeeds will depend very heavily — as is the case with nearly all hitting prospects — on whether he can hit the soft stuff, particularly the higher quality stuff he’ll see at higher levels. What we can see now is that he has good size and strength. He makes hard contact, as he showed by hitting 15 doubles in the DSL. That was the case when I saw him this spring and, very briefly, in the FCL so far. He’s much more physical than the typical 18-year-old. The defense is hard to judge, as I haven’t seen him get many chances, but he does have the arm for short. It probably says something that the Pirates are keeping him at short rather than moving him around the infield, as they do with all their other infield prospects.
TIM WILLIAMS: J.P. Massey, RHP, Bradenton Marauders
I’ve heard J.P. Massey’s name as a player to watch from so many people inside the organization, since before the start of the year. Drafted in the seventh round last year, and signed to an under slot $150,000 bonus as a college senior. After a rough start to the year, Massey was the Florida State League pitcher of the month in May, posting an 0.72 ERA in 25 innings.
I watched Massey’s start on June 7th to get a better idea of his stuff, especially following the big month and the award. The appeal with him has always been a fastball that gets up to mid-90s, along with a big breaking slider and a curveball as part of his five pitch mix. Massey works low a lot, but deals with control issues. That was apparent in this start, especially against lefties. He started the game working inside against lefties, but quickly moved outside after giving up some damage in the second.
Despite giving up three runs in six innings, Massey wasn’t hit hard. One solo homer barely made it over the wall. A few hits found their way past diving infielders. There was one home run that was absolutely crushed in the third inning, when Massey left a 3-1 fastball over the heart of the plate against a lefty. From this point forward, he didn’t attack any left-handers. His next at-bat against the right-hander who barely homered over the wall was a four pitch walk. Massey has an impressive mix of pitches, and when he throws them with confidence and attacks opposing hitters, he’s a very difficult pitcher. Based on this start, it seems like he doesn’t always have that confident approach to attack the plate, instead opting to work around guys. The talent is there, and hopefully Massey continues to build confidence to allow that talent to shine through like it did during the month of May.
The Prospect Watch runs every day at noon on PiratesProspects.com, featuring three players from the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system.
