Pirates State of the System 2023: Infielders

A look at the state of the Pirates system when it comes to the infielder group.

Photo Credit: WTM

‘State of the system’ is a four part series taking a look at the Pirates farm system to see where the general strengths and weaknesses are of each positional group - catchers, infielders, outfielders and pitchers. 

Going into the 2023 season, there weren’t a lot of positions that had concrete answer to, but one thing that could always be said about the middle infielders - there were plenty of options to work with.

While injuries are never good, especially in the case where they lost Oneil Cruz for most of the season, but it did provide an opportunity to comb through all of those options and get them the playing time to really evaluate where they stand in the organization.

The Pirates rotated through quite a few options when it comes to middle infielders, with most of their depth in the upper levels graduating from prospect status.

Nick Gonzales fell just short of graduating, but he had his fair share of issues at the plate against major league pitchers. He’ll be 25-years-old next, and as a former first round pick has yet to establish himself as a major league regular, and might have fallen a few steps down the organizational depth chart.

They have some hitters with a lot of power, but have struggled to make contact, and are limited to first base - Mason Martin, Malcom Nunez, and Aaron Shackelford. When it comes to Martin, he’s one of the most accomplished home run hitter in the minors the last couple of years, but saw his playing time diminish in a year he becomes a minor league free agent.

The Pirates have a couple of other middle infield prospects that are close to or are in the upper levels - Tsung-Che Cheng and Termarr Johnson.

Cheng hit his way out of Greensboro, but the questions about his power showed up in Altoona. He’s a strong fielder with speed and gap power - plus he may have one of the best hit tools in the system - so he will always be one to watch.

Termarr was the team’s first round pick in 2022, and drew over 100 walks and slugged 18 home runs as a teenager, splitting time between Bradenton and Greensboro. There was a little swing and miss in his game, but it’s easy to forget his age sometimes and scouting services giving Hall of Fame hitter comps didn’t really do him any favors.

One player that’s easy to forget is Dariel Lopez, who has sneaky raw power but missed all of last year after dislocating his knee during training. He was already the fringe as a fielder, and depending what his range is when he returns may need to slide over to first base.

Jack Brannigan was the site’s choice as minor league hitter of the year, and is currently working on his game in the AFL. He just missed out on a 20/20 season, and he missed some time early in the year to an injury.

Josiah Sightler kind of came out of nowhere and provided some much needed power to the lower levels. He was a two-way player at South Carolina, and MLB Pipeline threw out the idea of him playing the outfield when he fully recovers from surgery that limited him to first base.

Until then, he has the opportunity to hit his way into one of the better first base prospects.

Bradenton and the Complex League had plenty of intriguing names come through, which seems to be a common theme no matter the position group, and no other name sparked interest than Yordany De Los Santos.

He crushed FCL pitching at just 18-years-old, but struggled in Bradenton. He has a frame that looks like he can grow into plenty of power and become a slugging third baseman, but is plenty slick in the field as a shortstop currently.

Mitch Jebb is a near Cheng/Ji-Hwan Bae clone, with a great hit tool and speed, but below average power. He had one of the lowest Swinging Strike rates (SwStr%) in the minors last year.

In all of the minors, four teenagers topped 100 walks in the season - Termarr was one of them, and Jesus Castillo was the other. He was the ‘jack of all trades’ player in Bradenton, playing all over the field.

Javier Rivas is another really tall shortstop that has all the motions of someone that can stick at the position, but really struggled with non-fastballs during his time with Bradenton.

Acquired in the Carlos Santana trade, Jhonny Severino hit a home run in his first FCL game for the Pirates, but then missed time with an injury. Jeral Toledo finished the year strong, and flashed some strong exit velocity numbers in Instructionals.

Infielders

Strengths - The corners, if you include YDLS, have a lot of power potential. They have quite a few above average or better middle infielders when it comes to hit tool. Depending on how they construct their roster, there could be plenty of notable names trickling down to Triple-A.

Weaknesses - A lot of the upper level guys provide something that can be beneficial to the major league team, but not sure if they have to well-rounded game to stick. The lower level guys had some swing and miss concerns.

Top Prospect - Termarr Johnson. He really showed that you can’t buy into predraft hype when it comes to hitting tools, especially when it comes to prep kids. It’s easy to forget that he didn’t turn 19 until halfway through the season.

Where as he was being touted as someone with a double plus or better hit tool, he may be a little more power over contact at this point, but the 100 walks show the approach is there.