10 Observations: Catcher depth chart, Rafael Flores swing setup, Tony Blanco Jr. power

Weekly observations from around the Pirates' organization

Murphy: Another public service announcement that in the year 2025, there is no reason that every minor league team doesn’t have some sort of stream available. Asheville is one of the last remaining teams in the lower levels, it’s just unfortunate they play the Grasshoppers.

Konnor Griffin has three home runs this week, and we missed the pro debuts of Easton Carmichael and Jared Jones. We also missed that 27-run outburst by the Grasshopper offense on Saturday.

Murphy 8/5: Not going to pretend to be a hitting coach or guru, but the whole setup by Rafael Flores, from the stance to leg kick through the swing, just seems odd. Seems more on the funky side in a way that has worked for him, but you don’t want to teach it to others. Still at the small sample size in the system, but he’s put some hits together, so we will see how it works in the majors.

Murphy 8/5: I’m not usually a fan of this, but I wonder if it might actually do Bubba Chandler some good to come up to the majors and pitch out of the bullpen for the rest of the season.

Shorter outings, more focus on getting things right, and he could let loose a little more. He’s just over 90 innings pitched this year, and came just shy of 120 in 2024, so there’s enough there for him to finish the season out.

I just think once you get to the point where you keep him PPI eligible, get him up, and start getting experience. It might give him a bit of a jump and spark to get things going.

It’s been a rough stretch, but I’m not going to ignore the first couple of months where he was mowing down AAA hitters.

Get him up, plain and simple.

Murphy 8/5: It’s impressive how much Yulian Quintana has improved since I first saw him down in the Complex. The slider is a tough pitch for hitters to get ahold of. He’s 25 now, so I wouldn’t mind seeing him get one last bump before the end of the season.

Murphy 8/6: The numbers haven’t been there, but I have seen some encouraging things from Edgleen Perez in his early days in the Pirates’ system, especially on defense. A good, strong arm and looked like a good receiver behind the plate.

Might need a swing change to get the ball off the ground before it’s all said and done, but he’s still a teenager, so there is plenty of time left.

Murphy 8/7: It’s wild seeing Estuar Suero in the batter’s box and how it just reminds me so much of Oneil Cruz, obviously without the 80-grade raw power. There are some similarities, just not to the extreme that Cruz presents.

He hasn’t looked out of place in Low-A, has driven the ball some, and is even taking walks. One of the names you want to follow closely down the stretch here.

Murphy 8/8: That was a very impressive home run from Esmerlyn Valdez, in a clutch moment too, in the bottom of the ninth. Altoona isn’t exactly geared for left-handed hitters who pull the ball, and Valdez is right-handed and hit it the other way to the right-center field fence and cleared it with plenty of room to spare.

It’s taken a bit, but it looks like he’s finally getting comfortable, and that would be huge for the Pirates system as a whole to have someone struggle where so many others have and then make the adjustments for the better.

WTM 8/9: With Ke’Bryan Hayes gone, one big question is how much of a dropoff the Pirates’ defense will see. Nick Gonzales appears set at second, where he’s been above average. The other two positions aren’t going to get long-term solutions yet. There’s no internal solution for third who can hit — which of course was the whole problem with Hayes — and Isaiah Kiner-Falefa will be a free agent, apart from not being a first-string quality player anyway.

The logical temporary solution is Jared Triolo at third and Liover Peguero at short. Triolo is above average at third and might be better than that given regular time there. Peguero's a tougher question because the metrics are very limited, but he certainly has the tools for short. The only logical reason for him being in the majors now, instead of somebody who was actually hitting in AAA, like Cam Devanney, is to give him a last look, especially since he’s out of options. So you’d naturally want to play him in the position he’s best suited for, especially because he doesn’t hit enough for a corner and Gonzales is set at second.

But no, instead the Pirates lately have mainly been playing Triolo at short and Kiner-Falefa at third, with Peguero bouncing around among first, second, and short. It’s typical Pirate incoherence. If Peguero has a future, it’s as a shortstop. His bat at first will be a serious liability, notwithstanding his outburst at Coors. And the Pirates need to break with their tradition and find a legitimate right-handed platoon partner for Spencer Horwitz. The metrics on Triolo at short are limited, but suggest he’d be about average there, but he hasn’t hit enough to play regularly, and he’s not a prospect; he’ll open next season at 28. Worst of all is the idea, if this is what they’re exploring, of him being the starter at short next year, but he IS the cheapest solution, and this is the Pirates. And Kiner-Falefa playing every day makes no sense at all because he’ll be moving along in seven weeks, but again, this is the Pirates.

WTM 8/9: Sticking with defense, it’s pretty obvious that the Pirates’ best current outfield alignment is Tommy Pham in left, Oneil Cruz in center, and Jack Suwinski in right. Suwinski’s plays in the one win in Denver and his throw Friday against the Reds made that clear. Of course, he has to start hitting. A team trying to win would plan on having Bryan Reynolds at DH and look for two legitimate corner outfielders, through whatever source. Leaving aside the ever-problematic trying-to-win part, that leaves them with the problem of what to do if Andrew McCutchen wants to come back. I’m glad that’s not my problem.

WTM 8/10: Suddenly, the system is awash in catchers. Just for fun, I figured I’d post a catcher depth chart for the full season teams.

Indianapolis

Rafael Flores
Brett Sullivan
Shawn Ross

Altoona

Omar Alfonzo
Aaron McKeithan
Wyatt Hendrie (development list)

Greensboro

Easton Carmichael
Derek Berg
Geovanny Planchart (development list)

Bradenton

Edgleen Perez
Richard Ramirez
Luke Scherrer
Axiel Plaz (injured list)
Cam Janik (injured list)

Bonus Catchers

Endy Rodriguez (injured list)
Adonys Guzman (bridge league, assigned to FCL Pirates)

Flores, Alfonzo, Carmichael, Perez, Ramirez, Plaz, and Guzman are all at least would-be prospects. You could arguably count Berg in there, too. Lots of sorting to do.

Murphy 8/10: Tony Blanco Jr. (NolaJeffy) rules.

What Tony Blanco Jr. is doing right now is incredible, and somehow seems somewhat maintainable with the incredible raw power he has. It’s a lot more of a natural swing than you would think. Getting to that exit velocity, you’d expect him to be swinging violently, but it’s a very natural setup.

Whiffing on fastballs nearly 50% of the time can only lead to failure, but it is a smaller sample size, and it seems like the contact has been improving. His profile is all power, and while it’s fun to dream, it seems best to just enjoy being in the moment and watching him destroy baseballs.

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