Breaking down MLB Pipeline's Pirates Top 30 update

With the draft and trade deadline past, MLB Pipeline has updated its Top 30 prospect lists for every organization. This list includes signed picks from the 2026 draft, as well as any prospect added during the trade deadline.

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, there are plenty of new names, primarily from the draft, along with a few existing prospects appearing for the first time.

Glancing over the team’s Top 30, here are some of my takeaways:

Six of the team’s 18 signed draft picks show up in the updated Top 30, with first-round pick Derek Curiel leading the way (#3). The team’s top three picks, Curiel, Aiden Ruiz (#6), and Chris Rembert (#9), all debut in the Top 10.

Tre Phelps, the team’s ninth-round pick, checks in at #24 on the list, showing some of the value they received in drafting the Georgia third baseman. He was the 121st-ranked prospect in the draft, according to MLB Pipeline, and the Pirates picked him 258th overall.

Selected in the third round out of North Carolina, Jason DeCaro is the lone pitcher drafted by the Pirates this year to crack the Top 30 on Pipeline. Finally, the team’s fourth-round selection, outfielder Andruw Giles, opens up 18th on the list.

While Seth Hernandez is the top prospect in the system, one of the best in all of baseball, the Pirates’ system continues to shift to being more hitter-heavy. After Hernandez, the next 10 prospects on Pipeline are all hitters. The next pitcher, Levi Sterling, is ranked 11th in their update.

Out of 30 prospects, only eight are pitchers. While the organization has a reputation for its work with pitchers, it has clearly focused on adding hitting depth, and it is starting to show throughout the system.

Acquired in the David Bednar trade, Edgleen Perez has some of the best strike zone awareness in the system. He’s also one of the better defenders behind the plate.

Now, Perez was having a solid season up to the point where he was hurt and put on the 60-day injured list, effectively ending his year. He repeated Low-A and was noticeably better.

In 454 plate appearances last year, Perez posted a 90 wRC+ and hit .204. Compared to this season, where he hit .296 with a 104 wRC+ in 335 plate appearances.

That’s improvement, and he is still just 20 years old (won’t turn 21 until the 2027 season starts), so time is still on his side.

It’s just a bit of a shock to have him that high, especially considering he isn’t going to be projected to hit for much power; he has two home runs over the past two seasons combined.

Pipeline does give him a ‘60’ for his field and arm, so they must really be buying into the glove here.

This doesn’t just apply to Pipeline, as FanGraphs recently bumped Plaz into their Top 100 prospect list, and he jumped a few spots on Baseball America as well.

Plaz is still flashing an incredible amount of raw power; BA mentions that he has a 90th-percentile exit velocity of 110 mph at the time of their update. He has 13 home runs in 80 games played, has a sub-20% strikeout rate, and is batting around .300.

The two biggest questions with Plaz are the defense, although most believe the tools are there, and the swing decisions. With the momentum he’s gained in the industry, there has to be some confidence that he can improve on both.

I was blamed once again for being a mouthpiece for the Pirates, all because I watched some of the team’s YouTube stream of their DSL games and noticed that Carlos Tejera was hitting the ball much harder than anyone else out there, was stealing a lot of bases, and walking quite a bit.

I didn’t put him in my midseason update because his strikeouts were on the higher end; he was still in the DSL when I put the list together, and I wasn’t quite ready to add anyone from there.

That being said, I wish I had, since Pipeline jumped the gun and was the first to add him to a list, and he checks in at 25. A ‘45’ power tool seems on the lower end, but I agree there is certainly breakout potential.

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