Pirates State of the System 2023: Pitchers
The true strength of the Pirates system is in it's pitching.
‘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.
There is no denying where the strength of the Pirates minor league system lies at, and it is the pitching.
The amount of hitting prospects graduating aided in that, but it wasn’t completely by default.
General Manager Ben Cherington and the Pirates’ front office have heavily invested in pitching, even taking Paul Skenes with the number one overall pick this past year.
As one of the most heralded pitchers to come out the draft in recent history, Skenes easily slides in as the top prospect for the Pirates, in a system that is loaded with arms.
In each draft under Ben Cherington they have gone over slot on at least one prep pitcher, and that has worked out perfectly for them.
Bubba Chandler, Anthony Solometo, and Jared Jones are all among their best pitching prospects. After a rough start to the season, things started to come together for Chandler and he ended things showing his immense potential.
Solometo (Double-A) and Jones (Triple-A) both jumped up levels that put them among the youngest players there, and pitched most of the season at that stop.
After a great debut in 2021, Solometo answered a lot of the questions about his game by decreasing the walks, and kicking up the velocity. After sitting 89-91 in Bradenton, he bumped that up to 92-93, getting as high as 95. He wore out towards the end of the season, but ultimately crossed the century mark when it comes to innings pitched, not bad for a 20-year-old.
For the second straight season, Jones at least shared the system strikeout lead, and has over 300 career punch outs by the age of 22.
Returning for the first time since 2021 after Tommy John surgery, Braxton Ashcraft put up a strong enough season to be named the ‘breakout’ player of the year in the system right here on this site. He mixed in a mid to upper 90s fastball and two at least above average breaking pitches to put up on of the best strike and walk rates in the system.
Drafted in the compensation round, Thomas Harrington pitched both in Bradenton and Greensboro, sharing the system lead in strikeouts with Jones. He doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, but the metrics are on his side and allows him to have a lot of success with it.
Over the last two drafts, the Pirates have invested in a lot of college pitchers, mainly relievers, hoping they can make a few changes and get more out of them. It looked like they were on the right path with JP Massey, who went from senior savings college draft pick to playing in the Future Game a year later.
He made it to Greensboro and the control issues that plagued him in college came back to the surface.
Speaking of prep pitchers, Michael Kennedy was among one of the best pitchers in the FCL despite being 18 for the entire season. He got a taste of Bradenton to close out the season, showing some flashes (and that he’s still 18).
They doubled down on the drafting college relievers in 2023, but there are names that have intriguing stuff - Patrick Reilly, Khristian Curtis, Carlson Reed - but have varying areas of concern in their game, control among them.
Jun-Seok Shim was a big international signing, but was limited to just eight innings pitched in 2023. He did strikeout 13 batters and posted a 3.38 ERA, but the lack of innings is a blow to his development.
Overall, the Pirates have plenty of pitching spread around the system, with multiple players with the potential to play at the highest level.
As has been the case with the hitters, we’ve seen some of the even more promising arms hit a wall in the upper levels - more specifically the majors.
Quinn Priester, Luis Ortiz, and Roansy Contreras have struggled to establish themselves as major league regulars, despite being some of their more highly touted arms.
Pitching
Strengths - Overall depth of top end arms. Have four, potentially five pitchers with Top 100 prospect upside, depending on how Harrington handles the jump to Double-A.
Weaknesses - Left handed starting pitching depth. Solometo has one of the highest floors in the system despite being 20, and the team has Kennedy and Hunter Barco as fellow southpaws.
But one is just 18-years-old and the other hasn’t pitched a full season in pro ball yet after returning from Tommy John.
For as impactful the top arms may end up, they don’t come without question marks.
Top prospect - Paul Skenes gets the nod as the top prospect, although he isn’t excused from having his own set of concerns he will have to answer in pro ball. After watching him in person and how he’s progressed, the gap between Skenes and Bubba Chandler may be closer than some think.
Unrelated to this thread, but found this interesting tidbit on fangraphs: "• Jung-hoo Lee 이정후 might get posted this offseason.
Lee doesn’t have Yamamoto’s high profile and he’ll come at a significantly lower price tag, but Lee could very well land a healthy contract himself during an offseason that is generally short on premium free-agent position players. Like Yamamoto, Lee is also 25 years old, would be subject to a posting fee, and has impressed observers over seven seasons of international ball.
Lee has hit .340/.407/.491 over 3946 career plate appearances for the Heroes, with 65 homers and 244 doubles. His resume includes KBO League MVP honors in 2022, five KBO Gold Gloves for his defense (mostly in center field), and a standout performance for South Korea’s team in the last World Baseball Classic."
Stack 'em up.