Prospect Watch: Reliever Churn, Prospect Promotions, Top 30 Performances

The Pirates made several roster moves throughout their system to start the week, and a lot of top 30 prospects had a big night on Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates reliever churn is nearing a maximum.

Under the current MLB rules, a team can option a player to the minors up to five times during any individual season. This is in addition to the rule that each player has three seasons in which they can be optioned.

Antwone Kelly was recalled by the Pirates on Tuesday. Kelly had previously been optioned four times. The last time he was called up, he pitched three innings for the Pirates, before being optioned again. He has since gone on to pitch six innings with one run in Triple-A across two outings.

The Pirates can still option Kelly one more time before he has to be in the big leagues the rest of the season.

Isaac Mattson was optioned to the minors to make room for Kelly. This was the fourth option for Mattson, who can be called up two more times and optioned once more this season. Mattson made one appearance for the Pirates in his latest trip to the Majors, allowing one run in two innings.

The Pirates have been using Kelly, Mattson, Hunter Barco, and Wilber Dotel, and others as long relievers over the last month, churning each one through the final roster spot to ensure there is always a fresh arm ready to go multiple innings out of the bullpen.

It’s not a bad strategy, especially now that the rest of the bullpen has been upgraded to the point that all of these relievers are depth options. There was a time this season when Kelly, Mattson, Barco, and Dotel would have been fighting for regular spots in the bullpen.

The strategy is nearing the point where the Pirates can only use certain pitchers 1-2 more times before they have to be in the big leagues for good.

One wrinkle to that restriction is that rosters expand in about two weeks, giving an extra roster spot for the pitching staff.

Termarr Johnson to Have Surgery

The season is officially over for Termarr Johnson. After injuring his knee earlier this month in a play at first base, Johnson was placed on the full-season injured list.

Johnson will have surgery on Thursday, according to Pirates reporters. The surgery will include an ACL reconstruction, and an LCL procedure.

Due to the timing of the injury and surgery, this could impact Johnson’s 2027 season. Fortunately, he’s only in his age 22 season and in Triple-A, so he’s got plenty of time to recover and get back to playing ball at a younger age for the top minor league level.

Prospect Promotions

The Pirates sent Robert Hassell III to Indianapolis from Altoona. The outfielder was acquired for cash a month ago from the Nationals, after previously being the eighth overall pick in the 2020 draft.

The 25-year-old Hassell spent 206 plate appearances with Washington in the Majors last season. He struggled this year in Triple-A, batting .215/.304/.289. Since joining the Pirates, he’s played with Bradenton and Altoona, working his way back to Triple-A. He’s more of an upper-level depth option at this point, with a career OPS under .700 in the upper levels. He also could be an interesting lottery ticket option if there’s a development adjustment to be made.

Reinold Navarro and Levi Sterling were officially promoted to Greensboro. I wrote about both pitchers on Monday.

Left-handed pitcher Isaias Uribe is joining Navarro and Sterling. Uribe has missed a lot of time the last few seasons, being limited to 20.2 innings since the start of the 2024 season. He missed all of 2024, and was out from May 2025 to July 2026. He’s only pitched eight innings between the FCL and Bradenton this season, but hasn’t allowed a run.

The 24-year-old Uribe sits 94-96 with his fastballs, generating a good whiff rate on the sinker. He also gets a 44.4% whiff rate on the slider. He should work out of Greensboro’s bullpen down the stretch.

All of the pitching promotions from Bradenton to Greensboro opened up spots in Low-A. Two of those have been filled by this year’s draft class.

Bryson Moore and Alex Overbay were added to the Marauders roster on Tuesday.

Moore was drafted in the seventh round out of Florida State. He sat 92-94, touching 96 in college, after transferring to FSU and overhauling his pitch arsenal. He added a cutter, converted his slider to a sweeper, and adjusted his changeup grip. His mass-development in a short time period stood out to me on draft day, as that’s usually an indicator of someone who can continue developing positively in the future.

Overbay was drafted in the eighth round out of Arizona State. The son of former Pirates first baseman Lyle Overbay, Alex was a two-way player early in his college career, and converted to pitching full-time in 2025. He made four starts in 2026, before ending in the bullpen. He’s only pitched 73 innings in college ball, and throws 95-97, touching 98 with his fastball, and uses a cutter often. He’s raw, dealing with control problems, but has some interesting stuff.

The Pirates also promoted Claudio Estelie from the FCL to Bradenton. Estelie pitched all year in the FCL bullpen, putting up a 4.26 ERA in 31.2 innings, with a 34:19 K/BB. His fastball sits 92-93, and he generates high whiff rates with his slider, cutter, and changeup. Those are in small sample sizes, and he should get a larger sample of Statcast data in his time in Low-A.

Rehab Updates

The Pirates sent Po-Yu Chen and Garrett McMillan on rehab assignments to Bradenton.

Chen hasn’t pitched in Altoona since May 6th. He returned for a rehab assignment in the FCL in mid-June, but was shut down after June 15th. The right-hander has been a starter for the Pirates in Altoona over the last three seasons, with a combined 4.97 ERA in 253.1 innings.

McMillan has been out all season, after going on the injured list last year in late May. Prior to his injury last year, he was pitching in the Greensboro and Altoona rotations. He had a 1.55 ERA in 29 innings with Greensboro, before a 4.26 ERA in four starts with Altoona. McMillan was drafted in the 14th round in 2023 out of Alabama.

Additions and Subtractions

The Pirates recently signed undrafted free agent Jack Scanlon. Technically, Scanlon was just a regular minor league free agent, as he signed an UDFA deal with the Mets, before being released after 15 games in Low-A. The 25-year-old catcher went to Miami University. He’s played one game so far for Bradenton, going 1-for-4 on Sunday. He should help the lower level catching depth the rest of the season.

Johnathan Rodriguez was designated for assignment on Monday to make room for Oneil Cruz coming off the 60-day injured list. Rodriguez was added by the Pirates in a trade with the Orioles for cash at the end of July. He hit .351/.424/.509 with two homers in 66 plate appearances in his time with Indianapolis.

Dominic Fletcher was released from Indianapolis, after hitting for an .871 OPS this season. He was signed to a minor league deal in December, adding a player with 377 career MLB plate appearances. He didn’t get a shot at the big leagues this year, but helped the Triple-A team. This is actually the second time he’s been released this year, after exercising an opt-out in July and eventually returning. This could be a similar attempt for Fletcher to test the market for a big league shot.

Tuesday’s Prospect Watch

I woke up around 8:30 PM on Tuesday, with a lot of the daily action completed. This is a pretty normal schedule for me lately. I’ve been sleeping during the days and working at nights for the last few months, and genuinely can’t escape this schedule.

That’s one of the personal benefits of the new Pirates Prospects. It allows me to keep track of the entire system with a quick recap of the homepage. And since it can be disorienting to start your day around 9 PM instead of 9 AM, there’s a certain grounding effect involved with checking the latest baseball stats and scores.

Tuesday was a big day throughout the Pirates’ minor league system, highlighted by a lot of big performances from the top 30 prospects. If you missed the recent top 30 update, you can find the full list for free on the Pirates Prospects homepage. Substack paid subscribers can get the top 30 scouting reports (the first few are free):

A quick rundown of what stood out to me on Tuesday night:

• Edward Florentino (#4) hit his 21st homer of the season and stole his 10th base.

• Wyatt Sanford (#7) hit his 14th home run of the season.

• Khristian Curtis (#8) struck out five in three innings, allowing one run on one hit.

• Richard Ramirez (#9) hit two homers, giving him 17 on the season. He was the Player of the Day.

• Easton Carmichael (#15) hit his third homer for Altoona and 19th on the season.

• Chris Rembert (#22), drafted in the second round this year, went 3-for-4.

• Duce Gourson (#24) went 2-for-4 with his 18th double of the season.

• Yordany De Los Santos (#25) had two stolen bases, giving him a system-leading 43 this year.

• Antonio Pimentel (#30) went 3-for-5 with his 17th double and two steals, giving him 27 this year.

You can check out all of the daily home runs in the Plays of the Day video, which also includes the double from Pimentel.

Until the next Richard Ramirez home run…

-Tim Williams