Scouting the Pirates system 2024: Best power tool

Who has the best power tool in the Pirates system?

Oct 25, 2024

The ‘Best Tools’ series is a look throughout the Pittsburgh Pirates organization at who has the best tools in the system.

It’s the loudest and the one that stands out the most of all the hitting tools. Power. You hits the ball the hardest and the furthest.

In a day and age where exit velocity and launch angles are all the talk, more attention is paid to a player’s ability to hit the ball hard more than ever.

There are two ways to look at power, and we are starting to see more scouting services grade that way.

‘Game power’ is a player’s pure output while in games, while ‘raw power’ looks more at how hard/far they can hit a ball in general.

Not all raw power will translate into games for multiple reasons. Generally speaking, your raw power grade will always be higher than what you do in games, but they can be close/the same.

For this article, I began with players with some of the best in-game power. There is a follow-up section for players who haven’t quite put up the power numbers in games but show signs of having more in the tank.

Matt Gorski

Since 2021, only 15 players have hit more home runs in the minors than Matt Gorski. He also has nearly a 20-home-run lead when it comes to the Pirates’ system (Aaron Shackelford and Mason Martin are the two closest).

He’s reached the 20-home run plateau for the third straight season and hit 17 back in 2021. There are few with Gorski’s power in the system, and despite high strikeout numbers, he’s continually been able to produce in games.

Esmerlyn Valdez

At just 20 years old, Esmerlyn Valdez led the Florida State League in home runs with 22, and thanks to his age, you would generally think there could be more in the tank.

Even if he doesn’t add that much more muscle, the exit velocity numbers already have him with at least above-average power, and he could reach a plus level should he pack on some added muscle.

He was a player who was mentioned as someone who could make a top 100 list in 2025, much of that likely due to his power.

Shawn Ross

Usually, you’d have some hesitation over buying too much into a 25-year-old who has played the last two seasons at High-A, but Shawn Ross has actually slugged better on the road than at First National Bank Field.

He’s also hit 37 home runs in 147 minor league games the last two years, one of the better numbers in the system.

Raw Power

Axiel Plaz

You can probably make a solid case that he belongs in the ‘game power’ section, as he hit 15 home runs (26 extra-base hits) in 76 games for Single-A Bradenton at 18.

His max and 90th percentile exit velocity point to above-average power already, although most feel he doesn’t have the ideal projection going forward.

Omar Alfonzo

Although he’s put up some of the best exit velocity numbers in the system, it remains a matter of elevating the ball more in games to fully unlock Omar Alfonzo's power.

His 90th percentile exit velocity (106.5) is better than Matt Gorski (105.9), Esmerlyn Valdez (105), and Axiel Plaz (105.7), which projects better long-term success. He started hitting the ball up a little more at the end of the year, slugging five home runs in 24 games with Greensboro, but he will have to do that in a larger sample size to buy into fully.

Player to Watch: Tony Blanco Jr.

There’s a good chance that Tony Blanco Jr. stands alone regarding power, no matter how you view it.

After lighting up the Exit Velocity gun in the Dominican in 2023, he did more of the same in the Florida Complex this past season. That includes a foul ball he hit over 120 mph on a streamed game via YouTube.

Everything he hits is hard, even the routine grounders. He had the hardest-hit ball in a Spring Breakout game against the Orioles, a 106.1 mph single (Jackson Holliday had the second hardest-hit ball).

The power is special, and the lone thing that may hold him back is making enough contact.

NolaJeffy - Tony Blanco Jr.

There isn’t publicly tracked data available, but just from watching a handful of Florida Complex League streams, it’s clear that Blanco Jr. has an immense amount of raw power. Foul balls, groundballs nubbed the other way, and generally, anything he gets ahold of exits the barrel at a very high velocity. If he can see progress as he moves up the ladder, there is an immense amount of potential in his bat.

WTM also picked Blanco Jr.

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