MLB Pipeline posted an updated top 100 prospects list on Monday. The list reflects players graduating from the list, as well as some movement they felt necessary throughout the list. It’s a bit different than their complete re-rankings, but there is some movement involving players on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
When Pipeline released their new top 100 in late January, they had four Pirates players on the list. The order of those four players hasn’t changed. As you will see, some of the movement is related to players no longer eligible for the list, but there are some positive adjustments in the group as well.
Infielder Termarr Johnson moves from 26th on the original list, up to 22nd in the update. He’s been struggling early on this year, after a hamstring injury led to a late start to his season. He is currently batting .234/.357/.277 in 14 games.
His strikeouts are very high so far, plus he has made some errors. It feels like part of the problem is that the Pirates rushed him from his first game action at Pirate City after five missed weeks, into actual games.
Catcher Endy Rodriguez remains in the #2 spot among Pirates players. He moves from 55th up to 45th, moving slightly more than just a normal jump from players graduating. A total of seven players ahead of him in the January rankings, dropped below him in the update.
Rodriguez missed some time with a forearm injury, and he hasn’t done much since returning not long ago. He’s hitting .244/.352/.389 in 23 games, with an OPS that is 47 points below average for the league.
Catcher Henry Davis is third among Pirates. He went from ranking 57th to 48th. He had six players move from ahead of him in January, to behind him on the update.
Davis was named as our Batter of the Week for the second time in three weeks. He’s batting .308/.452/.648 through 25 games. That gives him the best OPS in the Eastern League.
The final player is pitcher Quinn Priester, who did not move up the list, despite graduations. He ranked 60th back in January. He now ranks 67th in the update.
Priester has a 5.40 ERA through seven starts, with 33 strikeouts and a 1.36 WHIP in 31.2 innings. The International League has a 4.99 ERA this year, 36 points ahead of last year’s rate. He has been much better in his last two starts.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
It’s alright, Nick G going to prove the haters wrong
I sure hope so! Could be nice to have someone take 2B for theirs
Where does Crews jump in at.
BA just did an article on this exact question and landed “Top 10”, which is pretty wild in and of itself.
Did they say where the other top 5 would slot at?
Only to say that we’re in a period where there’s no clear cut top list, more a mix of the Walker/De La Cruz/Eury/Holiday mix. Even they seem little different than a dozen dudes behind them IMO.
Pipeline would have Crews 1 and Skenes 2, both having 65 FV. Walker their number 1 only at 60 FV.
ESPN would have Crews around 10 and Skenes somewhere after 15.
I think most places have him at 60 FV which is top 15-20
And a Fangraphs update should be available in a few weeks
https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/farm-system-rankings
They have to really be lacking personnel. This is second season in a row other publications are coming out with mid-season updates, and they haven’t even finished all of their individual Top 30’s (and then some). They don’t even graduate prospects anymore off their list.
It’s pretty much this. When they had two prospect guys (McDongenhagen and then Goldhagen), there would be a bit of overlap, but they’d always be done with their lists by end of April. But they haven’t finished half of the lists.
But Goldstein left, I think around spring training in 2022, and they never got another full time prospect analyst. It doesn’t help that they seem committed to the huge long-form write-ups. Those are great, but the amount of effort that goes into condensing that information into a readable format is enormous. They either need another full time prospect person or they need to scale back how they run the prospect section.
What they’re doing now for some teams is putting out lists that readers consider “imminent big leaguers,” or those who might play in the majors in the coming season. I’m not sure how well that will fly.
Just wild they’ve still ONLY released 2/3rds of the “pre-season” lists.
I hope Endy starts hitting like 2022 Endy again! Maybe that forearm issue is still bothering him? Termarr is still just a teenager! He’s got a long time to develop. This year’s version of Priester has been a bit of a downer. Overall, Indianapolis was hyped up at the beginning of the year but has laid a bit of an egg so far. Maybe things will change with the weather!
Can’t wait for O Henry bars to make a comeback!
Endy started slow last year, he’s walking at the same rate as he’s striking out. I think he’ll start hitting with authority again and get his slash line back up.
It’s too soon to call Priester a bust, right??
Honestly, he’s always seemed a 3 to me so not as big a deal as Terrmar. Look when you compare a kid to Wade Frickin Boggs, then he better be better than any other players in his age group by a solid stretch and… he’s stinking up the Diamond in just about every way. THAT is a big deal.
Yes, too soon to call Priester a bust. People were still calling Mitchy The Kid a bust this time last year.
Who compared him to Wade Boggs? And why would anyone listen to a comp to a HOF player is beyond me. That’s insane.
I am pretty sure I heard the unfair Wade Boggs comparison on the MLB player draft show and again when they did their countdown show. I can vouch for Robert that the comps were there.
Christ how irresponsible of them (MLB network) to do that. I figured they were the culprits.
Have you ever watched the mlb prospect countdown show? They try to find a comp for half the guys to the point where it is humorous. I am guessing they will start with the Bryce Harper comps to Dylan Crews when it gets closer to draft day.
They just try and pick players that resemble the drafted players game. It gives the fans an idea of the skill set that the new player has. They clearly state that nobody expects these rookie players to be the next wade Boggs , just that his skill set resembles what Boggs did well. I’m not sure why so many people get mad about this.
I usually don’t because of that reason. It’s insane and unrealistic. It’s funny, but Pipeline is on Spotify and Callis and Mayo are much more measured on there on what to expect from drafts. At least they sounded that way when doing a redraft of 2013 and they noted that going from top to bottom in WAR, guys like Luke Voit and Corey Knebel are among the top 30 players in that draft.
Makes a bit more sense when realizing Pipeline is just the marketing arm of Minor League Baseball and nobody sells tickets with moderate, realistic takes.
Already a full 56 PA this year, too, so it’s not like it’s a small sample size.
I’m sensing sarcasm so I’m liking your style. If you are being serious then ignore this post.
Throw a hat over those top three in my book. At this point, I am more confident in Davis and Endy. Termarr is still too far away.