Download Italian Movie Episode 1.113
George
Naturally there are going to be some logical promotions for players who performed well with the Marauders last year, in addition to those that have simply aged out of the Low-A level; more often described simply as organizational players.
Obviously, these guys have a place in the system, and can actively contribute to their ball clubs and/or the development of teammates; still, we have to start being realistic about expectations for prospects.
Prior to the 2022 Minor League Season, Solometo was a prospect that was piquing my interest ; and why not? Compared to MacKenzie Gore and Madison Bumgarner due to his funky mechanics, the Pirates 2nd Round Pick in 2021-37th overall-had a fairly raw three pitch mix that that missed bats, and found the zone; but, potentially needed some polishing and velocity-especially the later with the fastball.
Given the fairly aggressive assignment of skipping the FCL, in favor of Low-A Bradenton; Solometo baffled hitters pretty regularly, to the tune of a 2.64 ERA, a 1.049 WHIP, 51 strikeouts and 0 homers allowed in 47.2 innings.
Drafted in 2019-18 selections after a pretty notable pitching prospect-at the 37th Overall Pick Comp-Round A out of William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, Siani has yet to accumulate even 800 plate appearances in his Minor League Career.
Following a quick introduction to Pro-Ball in the Gulf Coast League League-now the Florida Complex League-exactly three weeks after being drafted, the younger brother of Reds Outfielder Michael was made to sit out the 2020 Season; just like almost every other MiLB player.
When baseball returned, he once again found himself in Bradenton; only this time it would be at LECOM Park with the Low-A Marauders, instead of the backfields at Pirate City. Unfortunately, after the first 55 games of the season, Siani once again found himself being forced off the field; only this time it was because of injury.
At this point you are probably wondering why Siani is on a list like this; as they usually consist of prospects that are top performers: not ones that had a .625 OPS and a 79 wRC+ during the most recent season.
Prior to arriving in Greensboro this past season, Hofmann had posted a 3.59 ERA with a 1.113 WHIP and 103 strikeouts across 82.2 innings as a swing-man on the Bradenton Marauders pitching staff the previous season,
Then without any real explanation, the man from Muenster, Saskatchewan (population 430), lost his command and control at unpredictable levels. His WHIP skyrocketed to 2.103, he started walking batters at a clip of 9.1 batters per 9 innings, and only struck out 25 batters in 35.2 innings pitched-solely out of the pen.
During a recent episode of my podcast-where Anthony Murphy from Pirates Prospects and myself broke down the potential Greensboro roster-both of us lit up when discussing Cheng; and, not only for his work with bat, or his 33 stolen bases. Watching Cheng play defense, it possible that he is one of the best, if not the best defensive middle infielders in the system.
Over the past two seasons Greensboro has been absolutely stacked with the Pirates Top Prospects; especially when it comes to the pitching staff. And, although this may not necessarily be the case at the moment, the situation can clearly change as players emerge/breakout, are promoted up from Bradenton or in some rare cases arrive on the scene straight from the MLB Draft.
He definitely could be. I tried to find out for sure when I was down at Pirate City this past weekend, but everyone was pretty tight lipped about assignments. But I did get to see a Sim game where Solometo faced off against Chandler as starters. Both looked good.
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