Pirates Prospects

Pirates Top 30 Prospects No. 17: Yordany De Los Santos

Published

6 months ago

October 26, 2023

This is one in a series of stories breaking down PBN’s Top 30 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects.

Pirates’ infielder Yordany De Los Santos continued his steady rise through the minor league system in 2023, making it to Single-A ball just a few months after his 18th birthday.

Breaking Down the Bat

The right-handed De Los Santos doesn’t have much power right now, hitting just three home runs across 114 games to begin his minor league career. That’s not to say there are plenty of positives to his game, though.

For one, De Los Santos has drawn a walk in nearly 14 percent of plate appearances throughout his career. Playing in the Dominican Summer League and rookie ball this past season, De Los Santos posted strikeout rates around 19 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

In fact, the Complex League is where De Los Santos played the best baseball of his career, slashing .328/.397/.463 in 17 games.

He came back to earth in Bradenton, posting an OPS of .578 while striking out nearly 40 percent of the time and putting the ball on the ground at a much higher rate.

De Los Santos stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 170 pounds, so at 18 years old he retains room to grow: he has a lot to work on, but has shown flashes with his bat that make him a player to watch.

Defensively, De Los Santos has spent some time at third base beyond his typical duties at shortstop.

Obviously, it’ll be a couple years before the Dominican Republic native makes his way to the big leagues—right now, MLB’s prospect pipeline lists his ETA as 2026—but it’ll be interesting to see if the Pirates start to tinker with his position in the mean time, especially given his natural athletic ability and a packed infield depth chart in Pittsburgh.