Morning Rundown: MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects, Termarr Johnson FanGraphs article
MLB Pipeline releases their initial Top 100 list for the upcoming season.
MLB Pipeline released its Top 100 prospect list for the 2025 season, and four Pirates were on the initial rankings.
Bubba Chandler - 15
Konnor Griffin - 43
Thomas Harrington - 80
Termarr Johnson - 83
These are the same four names that at least got votes on Baseball America, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise for them to show up here on Pipeline. Chandler was ranked the fourth-ranked pitching prospect behind Roki Sasaki, Jackson Jobe, and Andrew Painter.
Griffin and his 30/30 upside begin in the Top 50, and inside too far away from being a Top-10 shortstop.
Harrington isn’t too much of a surprise anymore. Termarr has the upside and age on his side, which seems to be what Pipeline is buying.
More Termarr Johnson news, as he was featured in a FanGraphs article on Friday. It was an interview with Termarr and writer David Laurila. It goes through his approach at the plate, among other things.
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Interesting tidbit from an article on MLB economics over at MLBTR regarding salary deferrals. I get the use of deferrals in high tax states and Canada, makes complete sense for the player, but the interesting note came from Jeff Passan regarding the CBA which requires teams to set aside the future payroll commitments within two years of signing the contract. I haven’t read the CBA, but I would assume that non-deferred contracts would require at least the same. Meaning for teams like the Pirates, they may actually have to save up for these extensions if they are required to set aside the money when these contracts are signed. If that’s the case, it’s probably why the Pirates don’t sign many FAs to more than one-year deals, and it is also likely the reason that MLBPA dropped their grievance bc signing Hayes, Keller, and Reynolds to extensions required them to set aside those future payroll committments (approx $250m) on their balance sheet. Just some interesting stuff to pontificate.
Man I love that kid.