Four under-the-radar prospects to watch in the DSL, FCL in 2022

This offseason, I have been able to make two trips to the Pirates’ Florida complexes in Bradenton to talk to a variety of prospects. That, paired with conversations with team and industry sources who evaluate prospects, has offered insight into the team’s minor leagues.

This is the first in a five part series where we will take a look at 20 under-the-radar players in the Pirates’ farm system that are not ranked on Baseball America or MLB Pipeline’s top 30 prospect list, but could still make an impact in the future. They will be organized based on projecting what level they will likely play in during the 2022 season.

We start with the Dominican Summer League (DSL) and Florida Complex League (FCL), the first step for just about every amateur getting their first taste in pro ball. As a result, many of these players are raw and years away from being on the major-league radar. Still, they are worth keeping an eye on, potentially for years to come.

OF Solomon Maguire

All of the players in this entry are international signees, including Maguire, who signed for nearly $600,000 in 2020 shortly after the Pirates acquired more bonus pool space in the Starling Marte trade. But instead of coming from Latin America or the Dominican Republic, he is from the other hemisphere.

“Having the whole season being in Pirate City was unreal for me coming from Australia,” Maguire said during the “Get Better at Baseball” camp in Bradenton, Fla. last month. “Baseball isn't that big there, so I didn’t really have the facilities like over here. Some older guys when they come back they’re like, ‘Oh, great. This place again.’ But me being an Australian, it was almost like heaven.”

Out of everyone on this list, Maguire is the one who is the most likely to get the call to the Class Low-A Bradenton Marauders sometime next season. But he’s turning 19 in March and played in only 17 games in the FCL last year. Starting at Pirate City seems logical.

Maguire has some good raw tools and could probably play all three outfield positions, with PerfectGame clocking his arm at 91 mph before he signed in 2020 with a 6.83 second 60-yard dash. Both were in the top 10% of players his age that season.

The bat has some potential too, but it’s been inconsistent. In a short sample size last year he recorded a max exit velocity of 102 mph, but in the sample size I was given, he averaged only 80 mph. There are some good movements in that swing when he hits all his cues, but it’s inconsistent. But at 18, that’s a coachable area.

“Just knowing my body, getting some more stability within my swing,” Maguire said about what he worked on in the camp. “I've had problems in the past [with] swinging open, not being able to control myself. So both strength-wise and with the drills, a lot of it's to do with staying within myself and staying compact so I'm able to get better swings to all over the place.”

Maguire’s defense and speed are enough for him to get him into full-season ball, and he could be on a major-league trajectory if he tightens up some things offensively.

LHP Luis Peralta

It’s no surprise that many of the players who have climbed up prospect boards in 2021 were the ones who were able to find a way to improve even without a minor-league season in 2020.

Peralta is in the category, going from throwing in the mid-80s in 2019 to sitting consistently around 92 mph last season. That speed comes with some rising movement that should play in the upper parts of the zone:

I reached out to a National League analyst for data on the secondary stuff, and while the sample is very small, it looks like he has a low-spin breaking ball and a sinking change. Neither is particularly exciting, but the analyst was high on the fastball, which should be his bread and butter pitch.

There is another catch with Peralta: He’s technically Rule 5 eligible already. He signed back in 2017 for $110,000, and while you would be hard-pressed to call someone who turns 21 next month a late bloomer, it does add a bit of a challenge of how long can the Pirates keep and develop him. He would need to have a monster year or two to even be on anyone’s radar for 2022 or 2023, but it’s worth a note.

Like Maguire, Peralta spent a good chunk of last season at Pirate City, so a jump to the Marauders seems possible, if not probable, for 2022. Last season, the Marauders often opted to use piggyback starters to manage workloads for their young pitchers. That seems like a good segue to try out Peralta in the bullpen, where he would probably fare better.

RHP Joaquin Tejada

When the Tyler Anderson trade with the Phillies for two mid-level prospects fell through at the trade deadline, the Pirates ended up reworking the deal with the Mariners shortly after for catcher Carter Bins and Tejada. Bins was a higher-level prospect and could potentially even crack the majors at the end of the season. As the trade-off, Tejada was definitely the least proven out of the four players discussed, an 18-year-old Dominican Summer League player who had just two games under his belt.

The Pirates had tried to sign Tejada back in 2019, but the Mariners outbid them with a $200,000 bonus. Tejada was someone they had heavily scouted and wanted, and the simplest way to explain why is he is a spin rate monster.

And by that, I mean he’s getting 2,800-3,000 RPM on his curveball consistently, which would put him in about the top 5% of major league pitchers already, going by 2021’s measurements. Of course there’s more to a good pitch than spin, but that’s an outstanding building block to start.

That’s the most intriguing offering of his four-pitch mix, though the slider could potentially be an above-average offering and his fastball has seen its velocity climb up to about 92 mph while maintaining a smooth motion towards home:

Tejada was recently featured on Ben Badler’s list of 10 sleeper pitchers to watch for next year. He definitely has stuff, it’s just a matter of will he grow into a complete pitcher. A full year with one organization could do a lot for that.

OF Esmerlyn Valdez

We close with a player who is a project, but that’s expected for a 17-year-old DSL player. The report I got him on him says he has swing and miss issues, and that’s partially because he is prone to chasing. (He did manage an 11% walk rate in the DSL last year, but that can probably be chalked up to the competition he faced instead of a pure knack to draw a walk.) He also has a lot of pre swing movement that will probably need to be cut out as he rises through the ranks:

But he has perhaps the quickest bat out of anyone the Pirates have in the DSL, and that’s used to generate power. Even at just 17, he averaged an 89 mph exit velocity, which is a little better than the major-league average. Of course that’s against lesser competition, but it shows that he has some pop to work with. As he faces higher velocities he will need to cut down on some hand movement, but that shouldn’t impact his pop. He's listed at 6'2", 181, so he could still grow into his frame.

Valdez’s power is probably the only part of his game that could be a plus tool, but he profiles find defensively in a corner outfield spot. He’ll be someone to watch as he continues his journey stateside.

Other players to watch: The FCL is the first stop for every draft pick, so a new batch of prospects will arrive in July. There should be at least a few holdovers from the later rounds or rehabbing players of last year’s draft to start the season. Outfielder Shalin Polanco was the Pirates’ big international signing last year. Shortstop Yordany De Los Santos, MLB Pipeline’s No. 12 international prospect for 2022, is expected to sign with the Pirates when the new signing period opens Jan. 15.