10 Observations: Anthony Solometo returns to field in Florida Complex League

Notes from around the Pirates' system from a weekend's worth of games

Photo Credit: WTM

Note: Since it was a light week in the minors, with the full-season teams only playing the weekend, we limited the observations to just five.

WTM 7/20 — Apart from playoffs, the FCL finishes on Thursday, but the DSL goes on until August 20. It’s worth keeping an eye on two hitters, both of whom I’ve mentioned before: Jonathan Rivero and Edward Florentino.

Rivero was the Pirates’ top international signing, dollar-wise, in January 2023. He was supposed to be a good catcher with power potential, but he had a terrible first season in the DSL, posting a 152/308/191 line. He was on the injured list this year until a couple of weeks ago, but after 11 games, all as DH, he’s hitting 350/422/450, with twice as many extra-base hits as he had in 36 games last year.

Florentino was a fairly prominent signing this past January, getting $395,000. He came with a rep as a power-over-hit guy who might have swing-and-miss issues. So far, not so much. He’s hitting 294/494/576. It's just as good; in 123 PAs, he has 27 walks and just 16 strikeouts. He was slightly older than the usual position player signee but won’t turn 18 until November. It’d be nice to see the Pirates’ Latin American program, almost totally barren throughout the McClatchy/Nutting Era of Error, start to produce.

Murphy 7/20—Anthony Solometo officially returned to the mound, pitching three innings with the FCL Pirates. There weren’t any notable changes in his delivery, which I expected at least some, given the time he was out. Not necessarily that it was needed, but it made sense based on how long it had been since he had pitched.

The fastball was mostly 88-90 mph, and he showed some strong command with it, throwing it on the corners on both sides of the plate. He gave up hits to the first two batters he faced but then rolled the rest of the way. Maintaining command going forward will be the key to his success.

Murphy 7/20—Thomas Harrington has been lights out as of late. Saturday was his second straight start with double-digit strikeouts. The fastball was 92-94 the majority of the night but did dial it up to 95 on a few whiffs.

You could really see the jump and carry the pitch has. Harrington doesn’t have the velocity others do in the system, but thanks to that kind of elite movement, it plays just as well up in the zone.

Murphy 7/20—I’m going to go back and watch more video to see if there are more examples, but there was a nice little piece of adjustments made by Miguel Sosa in a game on Saturday.

He whiffed on a breaking ball in the middle of an at-bat, way out in front of the pitch. A couple of pitches later, the pitcher tried the same thing; he waited and slapped the ball the other way for a hit.

Sosa is more of a less-known prospect in the lower levels, but he’s a solid hitter. Things like that show why.

WTM 7/21—Through Sunday, Termarr Johnson was riding a 15-game hitting streak. During that time, he was 23-for-63 (.365) with four doubles, three home runs, and 11 walks. That’s good for a .459 OBP and .571 SLG.

Editor’s Note: He hit a home run on Sunday, continuing his hitting streak.

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