Pirates Minor League Roster Surprises
Which assignments were pleasant surprises, which were disappointing?
One of the more interesting times of the year, to me, is the beginning of the minor league season, when we find out which of the Pirates’ prospects are getting assigned where. Most of the assignments are pretty easy to figure out based on what sort of numbers each player put up the previous year, but the Pirates have access to more information than we do, and spend a lot more time watching each player. So there are always assignments that weren’t so easy to see coming.
The Indianapolis assignments were largely a product of which players got cut from the major league roster, which is old news, so let’s start with Altoona.
Altoona
The Altoona roster is about the last place to look for surprises, because it seems like the same team every year. Pirates’ hitting prospects seem almost uniformly to stall out in AA.
It is good to see Alessandro Ercolani and Wilber Dotel open the year with the Curve. Ercolani had good numbers last year with Greensboro, but he’s still young and the Pirates have been cautious with his workload; he’s been limited to 3-4 innings tops most of the time. Dotel did not have good numbers last year, but scouts like his stuff a lot. He seems like he could be on the verge of a breakout.
Blake Townsend looked like a good candidate to make the roster, especially because he pitched well in a few games there at the end of last season after the Pirates signed him. He’s a big lefthander who’s missed a lot of time throughout his career, but he looked good in spring training, generating ground balls with a low 3/4 motion.
It was a little disappointing to see Sean Sullivan on the Altoona roster again. He got off to a great start last year before injuries intervened, but he missed some time this spring, and I’m not sure what his status is, except that he threw one inning in an exhibition game in late March.
Greensboro
The biggest disappointment with the Greensboro roster is the absence of Connor Wietgrefe and Matt Ager, neither of whom is with Bradenton, either. I have to think it’s health-related, although neither is on the injured list. The lefty Wietgrefe, last year’s 7th round pick, did well in a late-season stint with the Marauders in 2024. He started a minor league exhibition game near the end of camp, but came out after one inning. Nothing was visibly wrong, but maybe something was. Oddly, Wietgrefe isn’t on any roster that I can find. Ager, last year’s 5th round pick, hasn’t yet made his pro debut.
Another disappointment, although not a big surprise, was neither Jhonny Severino nor Yordany De Los Santos making it past Bradenton yet. The latter struggled there in two trials. Severino had good power numbers last year, but the swing-and-miss was an obvious concern, and he wasn’t there very long.
It was more of a surprise to see fifth-round pick Will Taylor return to Bradenton. He had decent numbers there late last year and, as a fairly early pick from a program like Clemson, he should be ready for high A now.
On the happier end, Khristian Curtis and Antwone Kelly both did get moved up. They both had uneven seasons with the Marauders last year, and Kelly missed a couple of months, so they didn’t seem like slam dunks for promotions. They do, however, possess some of the better stuff in the system. Kelly, in fact, fanned six in three innings on opening day. The Pirates have had several pitchers start to put things together at about this stage (Garrett McMillan seems to be another one), so Curtis and Kelly are guys to watch.
Bradenton
Konnor Griffin, of course, made the Marauders, skipping over the FCL. Wyatt Sanford and Levi Sterling didn’t. By late in spring training, the first two weren’t a surprise, given the way they were being employed. Sterling also isn’t, being a pitcher.
Also absent is Edward Florentino, who looked impressive in spring training. He’d, of course, have been skipping over the FCL. Sanford, Florentino, and Sterling could all play their way to Bradenton fairly early, hopefully.
The big disappointments here were Richard Ramirez and David Matoma. You’d think it’d be a good idea for Matoma to start facing hitters who, unlike rookie-level guys, have some chance of catching up to his fastball. Being a pitcher, of course, you also have to be concerned about injury. There’s no information about that right now.
Ramirez has the highest ceiling of any catcher in the system, except maybe Omar Alfonzo. (Well, Henry Davis . . . .) Ramirez did strike out a lot last year, but according to Baseball America, he showed an improved approach this spring, going the other way more often. Hopefully, he’s another guy who’ll play his way to Bradenton fairly early.
One final surprise on the Marauders’ roster is Jesus Clode. A RHP with a sidearm motion, he spent three, partially injury-riddled seasons in the DSL, and now is skipping over the FCL. He gets up to 94 mph and has pretty good secondary pitches. It’ll be interesting to see whether he’ll be starting.
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would like to see the pirates get more aggressive with their promotions. you’d think GMBC would show some urgency now that he’s most definitely on the hot seat