Bare Cupboards: Fangraphs Ranks Two Pirates in Top 100 Prospects

Draft and development is critical to the Pittsburgh Pirates if they want to build a winning team capable of reaching the postseason for the first time in a decade.

Identifying talent through the draft and international free agent market is of the utmost importance and getting the most out of those players drafted and signed is how the Pirates can turn around their fortunes.

They’ve shown the ability to do that, even though much of that success has only come with developing pitching. Paul Skenes is the reigning Rookie of the Year. Jared Jones looks to be a formidable starting pitcher. Carmen Mlodzinski has been a key piece out of the bullpen.

But all three of those players — and others — are no longer considered prospects. And looking at the recently-released Fangraphs top 100 prospects list, the Pirates are lacking high-end talent in their system.

Fangraphs has just two Pirates’ prospects included in their top 100. Bubba Chandler is considered one of the top starting pitchers and ranks 23rd. Further down the list, Braxton Ashcraft checks in at 60th. That’s it.

Chandler spent most of last season in Double-A and thrived after he was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis last season. In seven games post-promotion, the right-hander went 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA, 26 hits allowed, 15 walks and 54 strikeouts across 39.1 innings pitched.

Ashcraft was a teammate of Chandler’s at both levels and combined for a 2.84 ERA with 77 strikeouts in 73 innings across 16 appearances/14 starts.

Perhaps surprisingly, 2024 first-rounder Konnor Griffin was not included. Neither was 2023 first-rounder Termarr Johnson or Thomas Harrington, another starting pitching prospect at Triple-A.

The three were included in other outlet’s top 100 prospects list, including MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. Pipeline had four Pirates’ prospects in their top 100. Baseball America had three.

Only having two top 100 prospects is concerning for the Pirates, especially considering both will reach the big leagues sooner rather than later, leaving the farm system in even worse shape.

Whether it will come by internal improvement or more success in drafting and international scouting, the Pirates need to routinely be among the best farm systems in baseball. Right now, they are not.