This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf¡¯s Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Following the journey of a top prospect is one of the most exciting and well-documented parts of the Minor League season, but if you really want to get a feel for a farm system, you need to look beyond the top 10 prospects. There are plenty of players in the Majors who were either late bloomers or just weren¡¯t as highly rated as other young players at the time but still went on to have great careers and contribute to their team.
Today, we¡¯re taking a look at a prospect at each of the Pirates¡¯ affiliates who isn¡¯t in the top half of MLB Pipeline¡¯s Top 30 prospect list, but is still worth watching:
Triple-A Indianapolis: RHP Chase Shugart (not ranked in Top 30)
Most of the heavy hitters in Indianapolis are going to spend time in Pittsburgh this season (Bubba Chandler, Nick Yorke, Thomas Harrington, Braxton Ashcraft), so let¡¯s take a look at Shugart, who has already done some bouncing between the Majors and Minors. His sweeper and cutter get a ton of spin and horizontal movement (4.6 inches and 2.3 inches more than their respective league averages), and both pitches can miss bats.
Double-A Altoona: RHP Wilber Dotel (not ranked)
Dotel is coming off a rough season with High-A Greensboro last year when he walked a ton of batters (4.6 walks per nine innings), gave up a ton of home runs (1.8 HRs per nine) and allowed a lot of runs (5.33 ERA). Maybe not the best elevator pitch of a prospect, but he is just 22 years old and Greensboro is a hitter-friendly park.
And don¡¯t let the statline scare you -- Dotel has some serious stuff. His fastball is coming in at 95-97 mph with some sink, which pairs well with his slider, cutter and changeup. It¡¯s a remarkably similar pitch mix to Luis Ortiz, who followed a similar career trajectory. There¡¯s a chance Dotel could be moved to the bullpen if he can¡¯t figure out the command issue, but if you want to buy in on raw stuff, Dotel is a solid pick.
High-A Greensboro: C Omar Alfonzo (No. 19 prospect)
At the affiliates with Baseball Savant data (Indianapolis and Low-A Bradenton), Alfonzo had the highest average exit velocity (92.8 mph) of any Pirates Minor Leaguer last year. After doing some work with the team this winter, he¡¯s elevating that hard contact more, homering three times in his first nine games. Mix in a great batting eye and an ability to draw a walk (13.5% walk rate in 2024), and he could emerge as one of the team¡¯s top hitting prospects this year.
Single-A Bradenton: LHP Connor Wietgrefe (not ranked)
A seventh-round pick in last year¡¯s MLB Draft, Wietgrefe has a high-spin slider (2,600 RPM) that can move and miss bats, but his fastball is what¡¯s fascinating. He was a sinker-baller with the University of Minnesota, but he started to mix in a four-seamer with the Pirates (all his fastballs this season have been qualified as sinkers, but some have four-seam traits and locations). I¡¯ve had several league sources opine the four-seamer would suit him better -- and he could be a draft steal if he made the change.
Rookie-level Florida Complex League: OF/1B Edward Florentino (No. 23)
Florentino signed for $395,000 in January 2024, and the left-handed hitter was arguably the top Pirates player in the Dominican Summer League, slashing .260/.432/.459. He¡¯s aggressive at the dish, has a 6-foot-4 frame that could fill out and he walked more than he struck out last year. It¡¯ll be years until the 18-year-old outfielder is on a Major League radar, but he has Top 100 potential.