Pirates announce Spring Breakout roster

In addition to the roster, below are some notes for this year¡¯s Spring Breakout game.

ABOUT THIS YEAR¡¯S GAME: Following its debut last year, Spring Breakout returns this year with 16 games from March 13-16...The event showcases the future of baseball with games between the best prospects in each farm system...Nine of the 16 games will be played as traditional doubleheaders...Every game will be accompanied by a ¡°meet-and-greet¡± autograph session.

LOOKING BACK AT LAST YEAR: Pittsburgh¡¯s prospects beat Baltimore¡¯s prospects, 3-1, in the inaugural game on March 14 at LECOM Park...Paul Skenes struck out each of the first two batters he faced while retiring the side in the first inning (his first three pitches clocked in at 101, 101 and 102 miles/hour)...Jack Brannigan¡¯s first-inning sacrifice fly gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead (Tsung-Che Cheng led off the game with a walk and came around to score)...Hunter Barco threw 12 of his 16 pitches for strikes across 2.0 scoreless innings...Jase Bowen went 2-for-3...A total of 6,913 fans attended the seven-inning contest.

UNITED NATIONS: Pittsburgh¡¯s minor-league system enters 2025 with players from a total of 18 different countries, along with the territory of Puerto Rico...Those 18 countries are Aruba, Australia, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Cura?ao, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, San Marino, South Korea, Taiwan, Uganda, the USA and Venezuela.

BUILDING THE BUCS: Entering 2025, 26 of Pittsburgh¡¯s top-30 prospects (per Baseball America) have been acquired by Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington...In addition, nine of the organization¡¯s top-10 prospects have been acquired since Cherington was named general manager on November 18, 2019 (the only one who wasn¡¯t was Braxton Ashcraft)...Of those 30 prospects, 16 were selected in the draft, 11 were signed as non-drafted free agents and three were acquired via trade.

2024 AT A GLIMPSE: Pittsburgh¡¯s seven affiliates combined for a 355-359 (.497) record last season, with four of the seven teams posting a winning record...High-A Greensboro earned a playoff bid after finishing the first half of the season with the best record (39-26) in the South Atlantic League¡¯s North Division...The Grasshoppers fell to Hudson Valley in the deciding third game of the SAL divisional round...The Rookie-Florida Complex League Pirates beat the FCL Yankees, 4-3, in a one-game semifinal round of the playoffs before being swept by the FCL Tigers in the best-of-three championship round.

BEST OF THE BEST: Seven Pirates prospects paced their respective leagues in particular statistical categories in 2024...At High-A Greensboro, Shawn Ross led the South Atlantic League in home runs (23), while Wilber Dotel led the league in winning percentage (.643) and tied for the league lead in wins (nine)...At Low-A Bradenton, Esmerlyn Valdez paced the Florida State League in home runs (22) and OPS (.816)...For the Rookie-FCL Pirates, Yordany De Los Santos led the Florida Complex League in hits (66), Zander Mueth ranked first in the league in ERA (1.58) and was tied for first in both wins (six) and starts (12), and Jhonny Severino paced the league in total bases (103) and tied for the league lead in home runs (10)...For the Rookie-DSL Pirates Gold, Cesar Aquino paced the Dominican Summer League in both ERA (0.98) and WHIP (0.76).

TOP-100 BUCS: Entering 2025, three Pirates prospects are on Baseball America¡¯s top-100 list, while four are on MLB Pipeline¡¯s list...Baseball America tabbed Bubba Chandler (No. 7), Konnor Griffin (No. 57) and Thomas Harrington (No. 74) as top-100 prospects, while Pipeline recognized Chandler (No. 15), Griffin (No. 43), Harrington (No. 79) and Termarr Johnson (No. 82)...Since Pipeline started ranking top-50/100 prospects in 2004, the Pirates¡¯ 73 pre-season ranked prospects are third-most in MLB.

AWARD-WORTHY: In 2024, two Pirates prospects were recognized as their league¡¯s player or pitcher of the month...Yordany De Los Santos was named the Florida Complex League¡¯s Player of the Month in May, while Thomas Harrington was honored as the Eastern League¡¯s Pitcher of the Month in July...Additionally, Pittsburgh had 15 players or pitchers win weekly league awards, including three who were honored for their efforts multiple times (Bubba Chandler, Mitch Jebb, Carlson Reed).