Pirates Reloaded: Meet the Battlin' Bucs' Rookies - Oneil Cruz, Travis Swaggerty, Roansy Contreras, Jack Suwinski and more

Let me start by saying it's hard to be a fan of a sports franchise that is perpetually bad. I know this because I am a long-suffering Pirates fan and in my 39 years on this Earth I have only been able to enjoy a few winning seasons. I was just a young tyke when Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla led the Buccos' to the NLCS three straight seasons from 1990 to 1992. And the resurgence of the Pirates behind younger versions of Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole only lasted three seasons as Pittsburgh made the postseason from 2013 to 2015, losing the Wild Card game two of those three times.

For Pittsburgh fans, hope springs eternal as each new season offers some optimism that the team is just a few young players away from contending again. I wish I could say this was entirely true, but the reality is that a lot of Pirate fans have become cynical and jaded over the years. After some of the recent front office disasters (the Chris Archer trade comes to mind), fans have come to expect the team to struggle and the ownership to have shallow pockets when it comes to trying to add talent through free agency.

But this crop of youngsters might offer the most hope that Pirates fans have had in some time. And while Pittsburgh won't contend this year or next, their farm system is finally well-stocked. They've featured a lot of young players already in 2022 and it's quite likely we will see a few other prospects called up as the season goes along. I'm going to examine which of these young players are worth stashing, holding, or dropping for both redraft and dynasty leagues.

The Big Names

There are two Pirates prospects that just about everyone who follows major league baseball already knows about. While Roansy Contreras is already up with the Pirates for his second stint (this time as a starter), Oneil Cruz is still down in the minors while Pirates fans (and fantasy baseball bros) anxiously await his call-up. Let's discuss these two stud prospects first.

Roansy Contreras - SP: 1-1, 2.57 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 33 strikeouts in 28 IP

Contreras is a top-five consensus prospect for the Pirates and has already made an impact. He made three appearances out of the bullpen before going back down to Triple-A to get stretched out. Since coming back up on May 24, he's made four starts now with his best being his effort against Arizona in which he shut out the Diamondbacks for 5.2 innings while racking up eight strikeouts.

It's a tad early to get too excited, but this is a high-upside arm who looks MLB-ready. He's sitting 96-97 on his fastball and features a really good slider that has a 48.2% whiff rate so far this year. He goes with his curveball to lefties which has been pretty effective, but still hasn't perfected his change-up and it's been hit hard. Developing that third pitch will be crucial, but in the meantime, he's a great add in all formats and I was amazed he was still owned in less than half of Yahoo leagues when I wrote him up last week in starting pitcher waiver wire article.

Oneil Cruz - SS: .225 AVG, 9 HR, 29 RBI, 11 SB in 214 PA at Triple-A Indianapolis

Cruz is doing pretty much what we expected him to do at Triple-A so far, hit for power and steal bases while struggling with strikeouts a bit (24%). He's the consensus overall #1 prospect for the organization and it goes without saying that 6'7" shortstops who can hit the ball 500 feet don't grow on trees. Cruz has such raw power to all fields and has been compared to Vlad Guerrero Sr. in that he's an excellent "bad ball hitter."

Oneil Cruz with 5 HR, 12 RBI in his last 12 games. Homers in back-to-back games. #Pirates pic.twitter.com/e3Qa8PVM2j

— Josh Rowntree (@JRown32) May 29, 2022

If you play in a deep league, he's likely on someone's roster but he's still only rostered in 24% of Yahoo leagues. There is a lot of speculation that he could be up as early as next week as the club can bring him up then without losing another year of control.

Cruz is the ultimate dynasty target, but the price is likely to be high. You could always try to pry him away from an impatient owner and get out in front of his debut. He got only a few at-bats last year, but he's likely going to be an everyday player and maybe even the clean-up hitter for Pittsburgh once he's up and his ceiling is massive.

Who The Heck Are These Guys?

Contreras is the only top-10 prospect currently on the big-league roster and the vast majority of their top talent is at double-A Altoona or lower. Diego Castillo and Travis Swaggerty are up with the big league club right now and Cruz is at Indianapolis. Here's a look at the Pirates' top-15 prospects courtesy of Pirates Prospects.

Travis Swaggerty - OF: .280 AVG, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 5 SB at AAA, .111 AVG so far in MLB in 9 PA

Swaggerty has a first-round pick back in 2018. After the lost season of 2020, the Pirates jumped him right from High-A to Triple=A but only played in 12 games in 2021 due to some injuries. He's a toolsy player who scouts have been high on but hasn't shown as power as has been expected at any level yet. He has plus speed, however, and stole 23 bases in 2019 in the low minors.

Since coming up to the bigs he has only started a handful of games and hasn't done much. The Pirates seem content to rotate outfielders around Brian Reynolds and have been alternating starts with all of their young guys so playing time in the short term is definitely not guaranteed. Of all the outfielders on the roster, Swaggerty has the best pedigree and probably the best chance of extended playing time down the stretch. He's worth watching over the next few weeks in redraft, but he's an add now in dynasty leagues as he has a lot of paths to playing time in the second half of the season, especially if Brian Reynolds were to be moved. He probably needs some more time down in Triple-A to be honest, but the Pirates seem to be making a conscious effort to go with the youth movement this year so we will have to see how it all plays out.

Diego Castillo -SS: .210 AVG, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 24% K% in 148 PA

Castillo looked good early on for the Bucs but has really fallen off a cliff over the last month. He made the opening day roster after spending only 18 games last year in Indy and I think it's very likely they promoted him too soon. He could be sent down when Cruz comes up and that's probably the best move for both him and the team. He's still only 24 years old despite being in the Yankees organization for four years and the Pirates for two as he debuted as a 17-year-old in rookie ball for New York.

He's hit throughout his minor league career though and was excellent in Triple-A at the end of last season. For dynasty folks, he's certainly a hold for now with the hopes that he just needs a little more seasoning. Oneil Cruz may not end up being a SS at the next level - that remains to be seen and Castillo's glove is solid. He could end up being a part of this rebuild or a trade chip down the road, but he's definitely a promising young player who should be on your radar for the big picture.

Jack Suwinski - OF: .231, 8 HR, 16 RBI, 2 SB in 130 PA

Suwinski's power surge has been easily the biggest surprise for Pittsburgh. He leads all rookies with eight home runs and has come out of nowhere in doing it. He was hitting the ball well in Double-A Altoona (.353) and made the jump all the way to the major league level. He wasn't on anyone's radar as far as being a prospect and his scouting report really only mentions his raw power as his lone trait. While the long balls have been nice, he hasn't done much else and is striking out 28% of the time with only a 5% walk rate.

He's really only an add in the deepest of redraft leagues right now, and probably not worth a look in dynasty. He's most likely a placeholder for the Pirates until Swaggerty is ready to be an everyday player. The hot start for him has been fun, but there's no real reason to think he can keep it up, sadly.

Off The Radar For Now

Tucupita Marcano - INF: .270 AVG, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB in 43 PA

Marcano made a big splash when he homered twice in his first few at-bats, but there's really not much to see here. He's basically a light-hitting middle-infield prospect who hadn't hit much in the minors before hitting .312 at Double-A Altoona last year in 29 games. He's not part of the future of this team and falls into the same category as this next guy I am going to mention, too - young players who are simply filling a roster spot in a throw-away season.

Cal Mitchell - OF: .239 AVG, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB in 50 PA

Mitchell has been up no for a few weeks and is getting fairly regular playing time in the outfield. He's put up some respectable numbers and has been able to hit for average throughout his time in the minors. Unlike some of these other guys that are up now, he at least has some pedigree as he was a second-round pick back in 2017. He does a little of everything, but nothing all that well. I think he makes for a fine fourth outfielder, but he doesn't project as an everyday player in the majors. He was hitting .306 at Triple-A with five homers and six steals and he's going to get his opportunities this year so I don't mind adding him in shallower leagues for redraft (like Suwinksi), but I don't see a lot of appeal in dynasty formats.

Yerry De Los Santos - RP: 3.60 ERA, 6 strikeouts in 5 IP in MLB, 1.72 ERA, 20 strikeouts in 15.2 IP at Triple-A

De Los Santos has been a nice addition to the Pirates' bullpen, a unit that has been somewhat underrated so far this season. He hasn't been used in high leverage situations that often yet, and the Bucs have several relievers ahead of him that they trust in those late innings, but as far as his stuff goes he has a solid fastball and slider and he's been effective throughout his minor league career, though he hasn't logged many innings in the high minors either. He could stick in the bullpen for the rest of the year, but it's hard to see him becoming the setup man or closer even if the Pirates were to deal a reliever at the deadline. If he projects to just be a middle reliever, there isn't much reason to get all that excited about him in any format.

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