Players I'm watching who should jump to full season ball

Some players of note who should be making the jump to full season baseball in 2024.

Photo Credit: WTM

Making the jump from rookie ball to a full-season assignment can be a tough adjustment. First, there are more games to play, so there’s the physical attrition part.

Then, the players will also be more experienced and have a higher skill level.

I remember talking to Altoona manager Robby Hammock (then at Greensboro), who said consistency is the most significant difference when moving from level to level. They are in pro ball for a reason, they have the talent.

It’s just putting together more prolonged stretches of you are your best that separates those who succeed and those who don’t.

Things don’t always work out immediately. Javier Rivas had to be sent back to the Complex after struggling with Bradenton to start 2023. Yordany De Los Santos was perhaps one of the best players in the FCL last year, before really struggling with strikeouts, and never really flashing any of the raw power he was showing prior to his promotion.

That said, the Pirates had some intriguing names on their complex-level team, which will be worth monitoring as they transition from rookie league ball to full-season Bradenton.

Michael Kennedy

This one is cheating since he already made his Bradenton debut at the end of 2023, but to the tune of just 4.1 innings pitched over two games.

Few pitchers were better than Kennedy in the FCL last year, as he posted a 2.13 ERA while striking out 55 batters in 42.1 innings pitched as an 18-year-old. He did walk 13.1% of the batters between the two levels but also posted a strikeout rate of 33%.

The Pirates have perhaps the deepest stable of pitching prospects in baseball, so it’s easy to overlook Kennedy. Had Jun-Seok Shim not had to start the year on the injured list, Kennedy probably wouldn’t even be the highest-profile pitcher on the Bradenton roster.

Kennedy has some upside, and it will be interesting to see how he handles the challenge as a 19-year-old in Single-A.

Side note: You can also throw Esmerlyn Valdez in this section, as he also got a brief cameo with Bradenton (eight games). He batted .250/.348/.400 with a double, triple, and four RBI in 23 plate appearances.

While in the FCL, Valdez, at 19, had an OPS of .895 with 16 extra-base hits in 40 games.

Eddy Rodriguez

The rest of these players have zero experience at any full season affiliate. Rodriguez is one of these players, have a really strong 2023 in the FCL.

In 159 plate appearances, Rodriguez hit .295/.409/.442 with four home runs, 24 RBI and eight stolen bases. He walked 11.9% of the time, as well as 11 total extra-base hits.

Power doesn’t really show the same way in the FCL, as John Dreker put it in this article on Rodriguez last year, but there is plenty of potential in his bat.

Of the hitters that are could be making the jump to full season ball, he and Valdez are right at the top of the list.

Jeral Toledo

All you want to see from players in the lower levels is to improve. As they get more comfortable with pro ball, you should slowly start to see the results turn in their favor.

Toledo, 21, cut down on his strikeouts by nearly 10% from 2022 to 2023, and his wRC+ went from 83 (2022) to 134 last year.

In total, he slashed .306/.413/.479 with two home runs, 21 RBI, and 11 stolen bases. The 14 total extra base hits in 151 plate appearances helped really drive up that slugging percentage despite hitting just two home runs.

He primarily played second base last year, but the Pirates did have Yordany De Los Santos and Javier Rivas on the FCL team for the majority of the season, so playing time was harder to come by at shortstop.

Toledo has experience at second, third, short, as well as the corner outfield spots.

College Pitchers

This also may be cheating a bit, but there are a few college pitchers that either only debuted in the FCL, or didn’t at all last year among the 2023 draft class.

Carlson was the closer at West Virginia before being drafted in the 4th round by the Pirates. His pro debut was, interesting, as he allowed four runs (only one earned) on just one hit and one walk in one-third of an inning.

He allowed a lead off double, who then scored after an error, which allowed that runner to second, who then also scored after two wild pitches. Another error before a walk and eventual ground out ended his wild day.

It was a much cleaner outing by the end of things, allowing just one hit while striking out three across three innings pitched.

Carlson has good stuff, it’s just a matter of how much he can control it. He’s likely a reliever, but it wouldn’t be shocking if he’s in the Bradenton rotation to start.

Small sample size, but he did walk just 8.8% of batters he faced in the FCL, compared to his 12.1% career college mark (14.4% his junior year).

Khristian Curtis is a guy I’ve talked about before on here, and we saw a little bit of the raw stuff in the Spring Breakout game, although he wasn’t able to control it well. He’s another guy that is probably a reliever long term, but could get a look in the rotation, or at least as a multi-inning guy out of the bullpen.