Morning Rundown: Pipeline top lefty prospects, Yariel Rodriguez signs, BA top 100
MLB Pipeline releases their top left-handed pitching prospects, Yariel Rodriguez signs with a team, Baseball America releases their Top 100
MLB Pipeline continued their series of Top 10 prospects by position with their best left-handed pitchers.
The previous day, Paul Skenes was named the top right-handed pitching prospect in baseball, and while the Pirates didn’t repeat with the lefties, they did have someone on the list.
Anthony Solometo was ranked the fifth-best left-handed pitching prospect in the sport, behind Kyle Harrison, Ricky Tiedemann, Robby Snelling, and Noah Schultz.
Splitting time between High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona, Solometo posted a 3.26 ERA while striking out 118 (26.2%) batters in 110.1 innings pitched. Despite not turning 21 until after the season, Solometo will enter 2024 with over 50 innings of experience at the Double-A level.
He was a part of the 2021 draft class that landed the Pirates Henry Davis, Bubba Chandler, and Lonnie White Jr.
Tuesday, it was reported that the Blue Jays were the favorite to land Cuban pitcher Yariel Rodriguez, and that deal became official on Wednesday.
The deal is for four years and worth $32 million for the 26-year-old Rodriguez, who hasn’t pitched competitively since the WBC in 2023.
The Pirates were among the favorites, reportedly, and were among the few to view him as a starting pitcher, as most saw him as a reliever.
While they added Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales this off-season, the Pirates still have a need in the rotation but could be turning to a combination of Quinn Priester, Luis Ortiz, or Roansy Contreras to fill things out.
Baseball America released their initial Top 100 prospects for the 2024 season on Wednesday, with the Pirates landing four players on the list.
The Pirates landed four players on the list, and a few more were recognized afterward.
9 - Paul Skenes
59 - Bubba Chandler
74 - Jared Jones
77 - Termarr Johnson
They also had a ‘15 MLB Prospects Who Just Missed The 2024 Top 100,’ and Anthony Solometo was included. They also mentioned that Thomas Harrington and Quinn Priester got votes for the Top 100.
One thing I missed when living the hotel life and waiting for the house to be finished was podcasting. The internet there would not support it, so I backed off of doing it. While I’m currently running off a hotspot, waiting to hear back on who is supposed to be my internet provider, I was still able to jump on NS9 to talk about some Pirates stuff.
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We talked about Yariel Rodriguez, the International signing period, and some of the best international prospects in the system. Also some more prospect talk in general, including Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, and Bubba Chandler.
Have a listen, I had a blast on the show.
Every Monday during the offseason, we will be doing a mailbag article. Please send in your questions to have them answered! Either comment below with ‘mailbag’ entered in the message or email us at bucsondeckqa@gmail.com.
I look forward to answering what you guys have!
Doesn’t really mean much, but Stumpf is forecasting an opening day rotation of Keller, Perez, Gonzalez, Roansy and Falter. In year five of a rebuild, that’s beyond pathetic. A grade of “F” for BC’s performance doesn’t remotely convey the level of failure.
Lists are fun to look at, and certainly are great for discussion, but really are meaningless. What is meaningful is the Pirates preparing their prospects to be ready to contribute when called up. You know like the good teams do.