45.5 F
Pittsburgh

P2Daily: Jack Brannigan Hits Ground Running In Bradenton Debut

Published:

Since the draft, and the signing deadline, we haven’t heard much about the Pirates 2022 picks. Within the last couple of days, third round pick Jack Brannigan made his professional debut in the Florida Complex League.

Apparently two games at the FCL level was enough, as before Bradenton’s game on Saturday, they promoted the product of Notre Dame and he made his Single-A debut. He was the first of the draft picks to play with the full season minor league teams.

He made an immediate impact, going 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored, two RBI, a walk as well as two stolen bases. Not bad a bad debut for someone a lot of scouts thought had a brighter future on the mound.

That was the big question mark with Brannigan, and something that we probably won’t get an answer to for the rest of the season. Brannigan both hit and pitched (although his time on the mound was limited) in college, and was announced as a two-way player when the Pirates selected him.

He’s made it known he wants to hit, but obviously the Pirates want to try him out on the mound as well. Going by their path from last year’s draft, we probably won’t see too many pitchers from the 2022 class get into game action. For Brannigan, it’ll most likely follow Bubba Chandler’s path from 2021, where he hit but never made an appearance on the mound.

That does give him an opportunity to put the right foot forward and show the Pirates he can have a future on the mound, and he certainly put on a show on Saturday.

The Two Sides Of Quinn Priester

There’s a lot to like about Quinn Priester. He’s ultra-competitive, with the mindset of the guy that you want to hand the ball over to when the game is on the line. He has one of the best curveballs, maybe in all of the minors, and has shown evolution in his game over the years adding a sinker, slider, and shown strides in throwing a changeup recently.

He can run the fastball near the mid-90s but at times it looks really flat coming off a downward plane. He can also look very hittable at times, in a way that he did on Saturday. He allowed eight overall hits in 4 2/3 innings, and it took a couple of great defensive plays early on to keep a couple of extra runs off the board.

Priester strung together a very good month of July, but Saturday was a reminder that he is still just 21-years-old, missed the start of the season, and was more on the raw side when he was drafted back in 2019.

Sometimes the numbers don’t match how a pitcher is playing, and while this isn’t saying he hasn’t pitched well, maybe looking past some of the base numbers, we have to remind ourselves of how he is still working through things.

Nick Gonzales Returning, What Else Follows?

Mike Burrows was one of the more dominant players in the system right out the gates with Altoona. He’s recently gotten a promotion  to Indianapolis and while the numbers haven’t been there, he’s facing better competition which is just as good for his development, even if he struggles.

Gonzales moved his rehab to Bradenton on Saturday, and should find himself in Altoona soon after. When he gets back in the fold, the Curve have a few options that should be looked at to maybe get a little bit of a push competition wise, Andres Alvarez, Blake Sabol and even Jared Triolo among them.

Pirates Prospects Spotlight

Prospect Roundtable: Who Was Your Favorite Trade Deadline Acquisition?

Pirates Links

Prospect Watch

Today: Three Afternoon Contests and a Night Game for Altoona

Yesterday: Quinn Priester Part of Altoona DH, Mike Burrows Set for Indy

Daily Video Rundown

Today: Quinn Priester Curveball, Hoy Park Home Run, Liover Peguero Bunt

Yesterday: Kyle Nicolas Short Outing, Roansy Contreras Starts, Blake Sabol Walk-Off

Pirates Discussion

Today: Give Drew Maggi His Major League Debut

Yesterday: This is a Completely Different Mitch Keller

Pirates Prospects Daily Articles

PREMIUM ARTICLES

Williams: Breaking Down the Pirates Roster After the Deadline

Prospect Roundtable: Who Was Your Favorite Trade Deadline Acquisition?

Prospect Roundtable: Evaluating the 2022 Pirates Draft Class

Malcom Nunez: Making Progress In Unlocking Raw Power

Miguel Yajure finds trust and comfort with the Pirates

Williams: Ben Cherington’s Pittsburgh Pirates Trade History

Prospect Roundtable: Which Second Half Surges Are You Buying?

Prospect Roundtable: Which Players Might Repeat a Level Next Year?

Angel Basabe: Hot July Earns Quick Promotion To Greensboro

Song of the Day

Anthony Murphy
Anthony Murphy
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles