Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: AFL Rosters Announced

Wednesday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that seven prospects will play in the Arizona Fall League this offseason

With MLB’s regular season complete and the postseason underway that means the Arizona Fall League is right around the corer. Each offseason a mixture of prospects, young players and veterans looking to re-start their careers play in the AFL. Wednesday afternoon it was announced that seven members of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization will play in the AFL this fall.

This is a noteworthy and impressive group for fans of the Pirates to follow. Each of these players are prospects that the Pittsburgh Pirates are high on, including multiple top-100 prospects in baseball.

Leading the way is second baseman Nick Gonzales. The 7th overall pick in the 2020 draft Gonzales was limited to just 80 games with the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers in 2021 due to injury. Gonzales raked in these 80 games hitting 18 home runs to go with a .302/.385/.565 slash line and a wRC+ of 150.

With the additional at-bats Gonzales will get this fall it will help to offset the ABs he missed out on during the season. It will also be an increase in competition for Gonzales who is set to jump to Double-A in 2022 and could be in the Majors by the end of the season.

Both Roansy Contreras and Miguel Yajure are highly touted pitching prospects acquired in the Jameson Taillon trade. Additionally, both pitched in the Majors with the Pirates in 2021 despite missing time due to injury.

Pitching in the fall will help these tow young righties build up arm strength and log innings missed during the season. While Contreras, who has ace potential, will likely start the season at Triple-A Indianapolis, Yajure could be a safe bet to start the 2022 season in Pittsburgh’s starting rotation.

Another player acquired in the Taillon trade who will play in the AFL is outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba. After hitting .274/.398/.406 with an elite 16.9% walk rate in 266 plate appearances with Double-A Altoona, Smith-Njigba finished the season with Triple-A Indy where he struggled to the tune of a .095/.174/.095 slash line in just 23 PAs.

Smith-Njigba will open up the 2022 season back with Indy. However, he could be in line for his first MLB action at some point next season. The AFL experience can prove to only be a positive for the left-handed hitting outfielder.

Infielder Ji-Hwan Bae spend the entire 2021 season with Altoona. The speedy Korean product hit for a .278/.359/.413 slash line to go with a 14 wRC+ and 10.4% walk rate with the Curve. Bae is on track to make his Triple-A, and potentially MLB, debut in 2022.

Both Mike Burrows and Carmen Mlodzinski will be intriguing arms to watch this fall. Burrows threw 49 innings in 13 starts with High-A Greensboro, posting a 2.20 ERA, 3.28 FIP and striking out 34.2% of batters faced. Burrows may be the most underrated pitching prospect in the Pirate farm system and he will have an opportunity this fall to start to burst onto the scene.

As for Mlodzinski, the 2020 draft pick missed time due to an injury this past season but posted a 3.93 ERA, 9.4% walk rate and a 32.0% strikeout rate in 50.1 innings pitched in 14 starts for the Grasshoppers. He also made a relief appearance with Triple-A Indianapolis at the end of the season, allowing a run while walking 2 and striking out 2 in 2.0 innings pitched with the Indians.

It will be interesting to see what the Pittsburgh Pirates do with Mlodzinski when the 2022 season begins. Will he start at Double-A? Will the Pirates be aggressive and leave him in the Triple-A starting rotation? Either way, a MLB debut from Mlodzinski in 2022 should not be ruled out.