Jun-Seok Shim high praise continues as the new season approaches

Despite pitching just eight innings last year, the praise keeps coming in for Jun-Seok Shim

Photo Credit: WTM

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been aggressive in the International market and have even started to explore the Asian market more consistently.

Two of their top international prospects - Tsung-Che Cheng and Jun-Seok Shim - were signed over from Asia, with Po-Yu Chen being another recent one.

Even Ji-Hwan Bae was signed from Asia, working his way to the majors recently after being one of the system’s better-hitting prospects.

The Pirates haven’t had the greatest success getting the players to the majors and having success, but that’s a topic for another day. Many of the signings under Ben Cherington haven’t had the time to work through the system, considering most are signed around 16/17 years old.

Shim has gained a lot of momentum with several prospect outlets this off-season and could be one of the players that finally gives the Pirates a ‘W’ in the International department.

He was one of three breakout candidates in the Pirates’ system on Baseball America where they mention him having ‘some of the most eye-opening upside of any of the youngest arms in the Pirates’ system.’

They mentioned his fastball sitting at 95-98 with ‘carry in the zone’ and a curveball with a spin rate that regularly passes 3,000 rpm.

Just Baseball recently released their Top 15 prospects in the Pirates system and had Shim ranked sixth, ahead of players like Thomas Harrington and Braxton Ashcraft, who have more experience and success at higher levels.

“There’s much more variance for Shim than many of the other solid arms in the Pirates system, but it could also be argued that he has more upside than anyone not named Paul Skenes.”

Considering the other prospects that the Pirates have in their system, including Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, and Anthony Solometo, this is high praise for a guy with eight innings in pro ball.

They mention his slider (sweeper) can get up to 18-20” of horizontal break and his curveball 20” of vertical break, although he currently struggles to command the latter.

His fastball and slider are listed as future value ‘70’ grade pitches, which would make them among the best pitches in the system.

It’s rare to see a teenager with just eight innings of pro ball get so much hype, but Shim has all the tools to be the exception right now.

He’ll be 20 by the time the season starts and could head straight to Bradenton this coming season. If the pieces start to fall together quickly, he has the kind of stuff that would be a strong candidate for a promotion at some point, especially if they view him at the same level as their other top pitching prospects, who they’ve been aggressive with recently.

When talking about raw talent, there is no denying the kind of talent that Cherington has brought in has been incredible. On the corresponding podcast to the Just Baseball article, they believe Shim will be in the Top 100 by year’s end.

Baseball America has three Pirates’ pitching prospects in their Top 100, with another three getting votes.

It’s just a matter of getting some of them to convert into having success at the major league level. Shim would be extra special, as it would be an added win for the international department.

If you are making up a short list of players to follow this season in the Pirates system, especially in the lower levels, he may be right at the top of it.