Analyzing the Pirates' International homegrown prospects in the organization

Observations on the Pirates' homegrown international players

With the International signing period beginning this week, I thought it was a good time to look at how the Pirates’ system currently stands with some of the prospects they have acquired through this.

It’s generally a crapshoot, as the odds of a player making it from signing as a 16/17-year-old to the majors is low. If you can get one, maybe two, players from a signing class to make it to the majors, most of the time, you will be doing well.

The Pirates have some international players making an impact in the majors, most notably Oneil Cruz, but the team did not sign him.

Luis Ortiz is the most notable player to go from International signing (by the Pirates) to eventually finding some success at the major league level.

With the 2025 International signing period beginning earlier in the week, I wanted to examine the Pirates' system to date and how some of their signings are impacting it.

Looking at the international signings, the bulk of the notable names reside in the lower levels. There isn’t much in the upper levels yet, but two players on the 40-man roster were signed and developed from the International market.