Scouting the Pirates system 2025: Best speed tool
The fastest players in the Pirates' system
Over the next several days, we will be looking at some of the players with the ‘best tools’ in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization. It will focus on players who still hold prospect status within the farm system.
On the hitting side, here is how the series will break down:
Wednesday: Hit
Thursday: Power
Friday: Speed
Saturday: Infield Defense
Sunday: Outfield Defense
With the introduction of rules to speed up gameplay, players were given more leeway to be more aggressive on the bases. With a pitcher allowed to throw only a limited number of times, it can be easier to predict and anticipate, leading to more stolen bases.
While stolen bases aren’t the only way to quantify speed in the minors, it is a good starting point. Generally, the guys with the higher amount of stolen bases are going to have at least some speed in their game.
It extends out to their defense, as well. Strong defenders, especially in the outfield, can help cover ground with their plus speed.
The Pirates had two players reach 50 stolen bases in 2025, both of whom will be featured here.
Here’s a look at some of the Pirates’ prospects with the best ‘speed’ (or run) tool in the system:
Konnor Griffin
Playing the entire 2025 season as a teenager, Griffin led the system with 65 stolen bases. Even if he didn’t steal that many bases, the speed is very clearly evident when playing.
Watching Griffin run from first to third one time, or patrol center field, it becomes very evident that we are looking at top-of-the-line speed. Most outlets give him a ‘70’ for his speed, and there were times when it seemed he was putting up run times better than that.
The De Los Santos brothers
With 51 stolen bases, YDLS finished second to Griffin in the system and has over 80 swiped bags over the past two years.
It’s a mix of longer strides and some natural speed. It’s crazy to think that, even with all the success on the bases, he might not even be the fastest person in his family.
That honor goes to his brother, Johan, who swiped 34 bags in his first pro season down in the Dominican, which included a game in which he stole seven bases.
While things can get a little crazy in the DSL, there were talks of Johan putting on some ‘80’ grade run times, and one watch of him running a first to third, and you can see it.
They’ll both be Stateside next year, so it will be fun to see how many stolen bases they can rack up as a tandem.
Wyatt Sanford
More of an old-school, gritty shortstop, Sanford features a plus glove that also comes with plus speed. He stole 34 bases in 65 games in 2025, as he got plenty of opportunities after being hit 16 times. Add in the 34 walks, he had an extra 50 opportunities of getting on base to steal on top of his hits.
He didn’t waste many of those opportunities, as it’s an easy plus run for the shortstop.
Others to Watch
Mitch Jebb stole 33 bases with the Altoona Curve in 2025 and led the system with 43 in 2024. The plus speed helps cover, to an extent, his lack of power as he’s able to turn a lot of singles into doubles.
He also uses it to cover center field, where he’s shown an above-average ability with the glove at a new position for him.
Armstrong Muhoozi swiped 24 bases in 36 games and looks to have at least an above-average run tool that’ll allow him to play a solid outfield. Edward Florentino stole 35 bases in 2025, but a high amount of those bases seem to be instinct-based as opposed to raw speed. A lot of his game seems to be based on instincts, but he does move a lot better than you’d assume looking at his frame.
How much of that he keeps as his body develops remains to be seen. Most of the ‘speed’ that Estuar Suero has is generated from his long strides, but there are few in the system who are more exciting to watch go from first to third than him.
Carlos Caro got to show some of his speed when he made the switch to the outfield late in the season. He only played three games at the end of the season (an injury ended it), but Dylan Palmer flashed plus speed. He stole 82 bases in his three years at Hofstra.
Bucs on Deck 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates Top Prospects: Final Update
The 2025 minor league season is now over, so we can give one final update to our 2025 top prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization.
Couple of thoughts about this topic:
1. Speed is the biggest reason I am in favor of Griffin being on the OD roster. Even if he struggles to adjust to MLB pitching early on, he will offset this a good bit by pressuring the opposing Pitcher and infield with his legs. Opening up holes for Horowitz, Reynolds, and Cruz to take advantage of. Not to mention causing the opposing Pitcher to throw more fastballs to these hitters.
2. Stolen Bases is a convenient metric to gauge speed, but there are many other ways speed affects the outcome of a game. Taking an extra base, avoiding double plays, beating out infield hits, and covering ground defensively are some that come quickly to mind.
Speed will never fully replace power, but it’s a whole lot easier to find and develop, and a whole lot cheaper to acquire.
For the love of Pops, can you guys caption the players names below their images?!?!?!?!? It would make things so much easier when trying to recognize who the heck you're taking about. Sometimes it's obvious but a lot of times I have no clue who is pictured in an image. This has been been bugging me for a few years now. Picture a baseball card with the title "your guess is as good as mine who this player is." Anybody else have this issue or am I just a dummy?