Pittsburgh Pirates 2024 Minor League Second Team All-Stars

Top performers from the 2024 minor league season

Photo Credit: WTM

This week, we have unveiled the Pirates minor league system's top hitter, pitcher, and breakout player this season.

Yesterday, we unveiled the First Team All-Stars in the system, and today we wrap things up.

Each team will have one catcher, four infielders, three outfielders, a utility player, three starting pitchers, and two relievers. WTM, NolaJeffy, and I each submitted two teams, and I compiled the teams.

Hitters

C - Richard Ramirez
INF - Nick Cimillo
INF - Axiel Plaz
INF - Carlos Caro
INF - Liover Peguero
OF - Sammy Siani
OF - Billy Cook
OF - Cristian Jauregui
UT - Yoyner Fajardo

Richard Ramirez flashed some power as an 18-year-old in the FCL and posted a 127 wRC+, an impressive showing despite some swing-and-miss issues. However, his calling card was his defense, as he threw out 47% of would-be base stealers. Nick Cimillo was one of four players to hit 20+ home runs in the Pirates’ system this year. He also showed a strong approach with a high walk rate and a limited swing-and-miss.

Sent to Bradenton due to a need at the position, Axiel Plaz never looked back as he hit 15 home runs in 76 games as an 18-year-old, splitting time behind the plate and a first base. Carlos Caro was one of the surprise performers in the FCL, hitting .305/.410/.443 with two home runs and nine stolen bases with nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (24).

Liover Peguero drove in 79 runs with 13 home runs and 14 stolen bases with Triple-A Indianapolis. Sammy Siani finally hit his way out of Greensboro and finished the year with a sub-20% strikeout rate and a 113 wRC+.

It was only 30 games, but Billy Cook made a quick impact during his time in the minors for the Pirates. He had 29 hits in those 30 games, 12 of which went for extra bases. Five of those were home runs while also stealing nine bases.

One of two players from the Dominican to get recognition here, Cristian Jauregui, stole 17 bases and hit eight extra-base hits while walking 13.8% of the time in the DSL.

After returning in a trade with the Minnesota Twins, Yoyner Fajardo had 66 hits in 63 games while walking an additional 35 times and stole 17 bases with Altoona.

Pitchers

SP - Hunter Barco
SP - Michael Kennedy
SP - Braxton Ashcraft
RP - David Matoma
RP - Inmer Lobo

Hunter Barco struck out 83 batters in 66 innings with a 3.27 ERA while pitching for the Greensboro Grasshoppers and Altoona Curve. Michael Kennedy made his way to Greensboro as a teenager and responded with a double-digit strikeout game in his last start of the season. He struck out 95 total batters in 83.2 innings while walking only 19 between two levels.

Although his season was cut short, Braxton Ashcraft pitched well and looked even better once he got to Indianapolis. He walked just 4% of the batters he faced while striking out 77 in 73 innings.

Making the jump stateside at 18, David Matoma turned in another fantastic season, this time in the FCL. He posted an ERA under one, collected three saves, and struck out 28 in 22 innings pitched.

Inmer Lobo was acquired in the Hoy Park trade and put together a solid season between the FCL and Bradenton. He picked up four saves and posted a 1.98 ERA in the Complex.

His ERA improved in Bradenton (1.65) and struck out 50 in 46.1 innings.

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