Bucs on Deck Top 25: Who just missed out?
What players just missed out on our top 25 rankings?
We will roll out our top 25 prospect list for the Pirates’ system this Friday. Throughout the week, we will have tie-in features along with the rankings.
Today, we will look at the three players who missed the cut for our top 25 rankings.
Brandan Bidois
It’s generally dangerous to put too much hype on lower-level relievers, especially ones who are 22 years old and played in Single-A last year.
If there is a prospect to monitor, however, as a lower-level reliever who played in Single-A at 22, it’s the Australian Bidois who dealt with some injuries early in his career.
After not pitching in 2022, Bidois returned and put together a solid season last year, posting a 3-0 record with six saves and a 1.99 ERA (3.58 xFIP).
Of all the pitchers in the system (not including anyone who spent time in the FCL or DSL) with at least 20 innings pitched, only three had a better swinging strike rate than Bidois. In 22.2 IP, he struck out 41.6% of the batters he faced.
Both his fastball and sinker picked up a whiff rate of 32% or better, and all three of his secondary pitches (slider, cutter, curveball) all missed bats on at least half of the swings they faced.
With a fastball that has nearly 20” of inverted vertical break (19.7” IVB), plus multiple secondary pitches that can pick up whiffs, Bidois has the pitch mix to break a trend of lower-level relievers hitting a wall as they move up the system.
Carlos Jimenez
Jimenez burst on the scene in 2022 while pitching for the Bradenton Marauders, throwing a mid-90s fastball with a strong breaking ball and a plus change-up.
He struck out nearly 30% of the batters he faced in 2022 but also walked 14.7%. That’s the book on Jimenez, as when he’s on, he can be nearly unhittable; the issue is the walks.
While he missed most of the season, his September 2 outing against Palm Beach may best display Jimenez at the moment - all four of the outs he recorded were strikeouts, didn’t allow a hit, and also walked three batters.
It looked like during Instructs after the season he was working primarily out of the stretch, and had a little more break on his fastball (upwards of 20” IVB), and even threw a sinker(ish) with more horizontal break to it.
Jimenez is a guy who has the working of three (at the very least) above-average pitches, making him a legit starting pitcher prospect, but he probably has a 20 grade for his control currently.
He could become an effective reliever if the control doesn’t allow him to start, there is also a scenario where he doesn’t make it out of A Ball if it just doesn’t come around ultimately.
It’s the insane upside, though, that continues to keep him around the conversation as a legit prospect.
Shalin Polanco
When healthy, Polanco was one of the more exciting prospects in the system to watch, showing a blend of speed and raw power that would have put him on the outside track toward a 20/20 season.
Better swing decisions can go a long way for Polanco, who put up some decent exit velocity numbers considering his age but chased out of the zone way too often (37.9%).
His 95th percentile (104.4 mph), max EV (110 mph), and barrel rate (7.6%) are all favorable for someone his age, and his in-zone contact rate (80.9%) wasn’t as bad as the strikeouts might suggest.
In fact, he posted a better contact rate in the strike zone than notable prospects like Lonnie White Jr., Termarr Johnson, and Jared Triolo (all their tracked data in A/AAA).
While the strikeouts were rough at times, he worked hard at it and saw his strikeout rate drop in each month he played in (36.4%, 29.4%, 25.3%, 25.3%)
Defensively, he might be one of the better defensive center fielders in the system, and he routinely made great catches throughout the season.
He has an early February birthday, so he will spend the 2024 season at 20. With only 70 games at Single-A last year and some of his struggles, it may not be surprising to see him return to Bradenton to start before heading to Greensboro.
Polanco has the potential to fly up the rankings should the contact become a little more consistent and he stops chasing so much out of the zone.
I'm going to point out that Ethan got a nod from BA for his research for their piece on Prospect Promotion Incentive eligibles.
Murray saying GSanchez is still a “priority” for the Pirates. The hangup is money. He wants $5-6M and that may be too much.
So they’ll pay $5M to a .170 hitter and $8M to a 43 yo 5th starter, but not $5-6M to a guy who hit 19 HRs in less than half a season.
Someday Ben Cherington will show an ounce of sense, but today is not that day.