Pirates' 2024 Minor League Previews: FCL Pirates, Part One

Look at the position players for the 2024 FCL Pirates

May 04, 2024

Yordany De Los Santos *Photo Credit: WTM*

The Florida Complex League Pirates have seen their season moved up, as the complex leagues have opened play in early May instead of mid-July as in the past. This year’s FCL team will open with a lot of players from last year, as repeating levels seems to be a common theme throughout the system this year; not exactly something the development staff would want to brag about. The stagnation extends to last year’s Dominican Summer League team; of Pirates’ the dozen or so top international signings from a year ago, only three (Carlos Mateo, Carlos Castillo and David Matoma), and no hitters, are being promoted to the FCL.

I’ll cover the pitchers in Part Two. Today, the hitters.

Catcher

The FCL team will have several catchers who bring some interest. They currently have Axiel Plaz, Luke Scherrer, and Richard Ramirez. They’ll also have Miguel Sosa, who’s listed as a catcher but who’s become an outfielder almost exclusively, so I’ll discuss him there. Last year’s 15th-round pick, John Lopez, might also put in an appearance in the FCL. He’s currently on the Bradenton roster but hasn’t actually played there.

The big question with Plaz is whether he’ll actually get a good amount of playing time. Due at least in part to injuries, he only played about half the time in both 2022 and 2023 and caught only 87 innings last year. He had a huge debut in the DSL in 2022 but was overmatched in the FCL in 2023.

Scherrer is a rarity: a prep player who signed as a non-drafted free agent. He drew some attention as a draft prospect due to his good pop times and possible power potential, but he only got into four games last year.

In the DSL last year, Ramirez far outperformed Jonathan Rivero, a catcher who got the largest international bonus the Pirates gave out in 2023. (It was Ramirez’ second season at the level, but he was very young in 2022, even for the DSL.) Ramirez hit 252/361/476, had a good BB:K ratio, and threw out 54% of base stealers, so he seems like a guy to watch.

Infield

The three most prominent infielders are all returning to the level: Yordany De Los Santos, Jhonny Severino, and Keiner Delgado. Delgado, of course, was the player to be named in the trade that relieved the Pirates of J.T. Brubaker’s salary. He had little trouble in the FCL last year, in fact he led the league in runs and steals, and had a .414 OBP. He even hit eight home runs, although given his very small size scouts don’t expect much power going forward. He seems like a candidate to move up more or less immediately, but this is the Pirates . . . .

De Los Santos was a rare, seven-figure signing for the Pirates in the 2021-22 signing period. He wowed scouts in the DSL in 2022 with his exit velocities, then got off to a fast start in the FCL in 2023. The Pirates promoted him after 17 games, but he struggled badly in the Florida State League.

Severino came in exchange for Carlos Santana. He got a big bonus from the Brewers and has power potential, but has swing-and-miss concerns. Severino played little in 2023, which was his second pro season. He got into a dozen games before the trade, so he apparently was hurt, and then he got hurt after three games with the Pirates. In those 15 games, he didn’t strike out excessively and hit five long balls, so that’s good as far as it goes. Nominally a shortstop, Severino played third with the Pirates, and that’s probably where he’ll be going forward.

Share Bucs On Deck

The FCL team will have four infielders moving up from the DSL: Carlos Tirado, Roinny Aguiar, Carlos Caro, and John Zorrilla.

Tirado is a first-base prospect, which isn’t a favored demographic with the Pirates. He’s from Mexico and started off in US independent ball at age 16 in 2021. After signing with the Pirates, he had a solid year in the DSL in 2022, but they sent him back for 2023, and he had a slightly weaker season. He’s hit for only modest power so far.

Zorrilla was a fairly prominent signing for the Pirates in January 2021. He missed essentially all of that season with an injury, then spent 2022 and 2023 in the DSL, playing third and short. He’s shown some power and drawn lots of walks, but his strikeout rates have been off the charts, even by Cherington standards.

Aguiar was a fairly prominent signing in January 2022. In the DSL that year, he mostly drew tons of walks (huge walk totals in the DSL often don’t translate to anything of use higher up). Back there in 2023, he started hitting more, including a little power (although he’s a small guy), and put up an .856 OPS. He’ll probably play mostly second.

Caro signed in the fall of 2022, so 2023 was his first year in the DSL. He hit 310/440/504, although at 18 he was slightly older than the norm for first-year players there. He played second, third, and short.

Ewry Espinal and Kelvin Diaz are returning to the FCL infield. Espinal is strictly a first base/corner outfield guy. He signed way back in 2019 and showed some power in his second DSL season, 2022, but was hurt much of last year. He’s had very high walk and K rates. Diaz is a wiry infielder who runs well and can play second, third, or short. He showed a little power last year in the FCL.

Outfield

The two most interesting outfielders in the FCL are Estuar Suero and Tony Blanco, Jr. They present quite a contrast. Suero is 6’6” and Blanco 6’7”, but Suero is a speedy, very toolsy center fielder, while Blanco is a massive guy who’s probably going to end up at first.

Suero is the one piece the Pirates have left from the Rich Hill/Ji-Man Choi trade with the Padres last year. He’s . . . well . . . very toolsy. He didn’t hit a whole lot after the trade, but his swing at least looks like he should have power potential. He did seem to make some progress with contact issues.

Blanco is all about power and shows up on prospect lists just for that reason. He missed nearly all of his first season, which was 2022, then showed good power last year in the DSL, but it came with an alarming K rate.

The one outfielder besides Blanco, who’s not repeating the level, is Eduardo Oviedo. He’s a very toolsy center fielder who was a prominent signing in January 2022. His first DSL season didn’t go well, as he showed some power but didn’t do much else besides strike out. He went back there in 2023 and hit 299/389/488, although the strikeouts still need to come down. So he’s a guy to watch.

The remaining outfielders, Jhonson Pena and Miguel Sosa are returning from last year. Sosa, as I mentioned, is nominally a catcher, but he caught only 18 innings in 2023 and otherwise played left and served as DH. Except for his first DSL season in 2021, he’s hit well, drawing tons of walks and showing some power. He struck out in nearly a quarter of his plate appearances in the FCL in 2023, which happened more because he takes a lot of pitches and goes deep into counts rather than because he chases a lot. Like Axiel Plaz, he’s only been playing about half the time so far for reasons that aren’t clear other than maybe a crowded roster.

Pena is a speedy player who signed back in 2019. The Pirates moved him to center field from the infield last year. It’s possible he could move back, but his speed gives him a shot at being a good defensive center fielder. He stole 20 bases in 22 tries in 2023, but he’ll have to hit a little better than 240/357/347.

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