Pirates Prospects Players of the Week 8/16
Axiel Plaz hit four home runs for Greensboro last week, while Jacob Bimbi had his best career outing with five shutout innings and seven strikeouts.
Axiel Plaz showed off his power this past week, hitting four home runs in Greensboro to be the Player of the Week.
Plaz homered twice on Tuesday. His first shot was an opposite field line drive to right. The second was a 116 MPH laser line drive to left field. He also homered on Saturday and Sunday, putting his season total up to 14 with the Grasshoppers. He knocked in seven runs in the process, and also added his 17th double of the season.
Greensboro doesn’t have public Statcast data, but the 116 MPH line drive announced on the broadcast confirms Plaz still has some of the best power in the lower levels. His max last season in Bradenton was 113.9 MPH, with an average of 92 MPH. This past week, his longest home run hit off the batter’s eye in center field, going beyond 400 feet. The other three were line drive shots. He has a 27.4% line drive rate this season, which is a massive increase over last year, and one of the highest rates in the system.
Jacob Bimbi was the Pitcher of the Week, after throwing five shutout innings for Greensboro. The left-hander allowed just one hit, no walks, and struck out seven. It was his fifth start of the season, and his longest outing. This also set a career high in strikeouts and innings for the reliever.
The Pirates drafted Bimbi in the 11th round in 2024 out of Western Kentucky. He only pitched four innings that season, then missed the entire 2025 season with an injury. He’s finally made his full-season debut this season, mostly working out of the Greensboro bullpen. In 62 innings, Bimbi has a 2.90 ERA, a 26.2% strikeout rate, and a 15.9% walk rate.
Below you can check out video of Plaz hitting his first two home runs last week, from the 8/11 Plays of the Day.
Individual Level Standouts
Greensboro swept the awards this week. Let’s check out how the other levels looked.
Indianapolis Pitcher: Thomas Harrington
Stats: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 0 HR
This hasn’t been a good season for Harrington. He’s mostly worked out of the bullpen, with a 6.00 ERA in 75 innings, due in part to home runs and a .284 average against. This past week was easily his best outing of the year. The right-hander went five shutout innings, only allowing four hits. It tied for his longest outing of the season. Harrington built up from single inning appearances at the end of July, and could be moving back to the rotation for the rest of the season.
Indianapolis Batter: Nick Yorke
Stats: 6-for-16, 5 R, 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI
Yorke has missed a lot of time this season with an injury, returning last week to Triple-A after missing nearly two months. He returned in a big way, going 6-for-16 with three homers. He hit one homer in a three-hit game in his return, then homered twice the next night. The Pirates called him up to Pittsburgh by the end of the week, where he picked up two hits and three RBIs in Sunday’s win.
Altoona Pitcher: Dominic Pipkin
Stats: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
Pipkin has only pitched 67.2 innings since the start of the 2023 season, due to injuries. He didn’t pitch at all last season. He’s healthy this year, and has been pitching out of Altoona’s bullpen, making a few starts. In 30.1 innings, he has a 3.86 ERA, with a 23.8% strikeout rate and a 16.7% walk rate. This last week from the 26-year-old lefty was not only his best outing of the season, but the longest outing he’s had this year.
Altoona Batter: Will Taylor
Stats: 5-for-10, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, SB, 3 BB
Taylor’s week was highlighted by a four hit day on Saturday night, which also saw him hit his eighth homer of the season. The 2024 5th round pick is batting .244/.343/.378 with Altoona. He’s not showing off a lot of power, but he gets on base with an 11.9% walk rate, and has 22 stolen bases on the season. That’s one shy of his career high set last year.
Bradenton Pitcher: Reinold Navarro
Stats: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
Navarro had his best start of the season over the weekend, throwing five shutout innings with one hit allowed, no walks, and six strikeouts. He’s reportedly being promoted to Greensboro, which means he ends his time in Bradenton this year with a 2.60 ERA in 69.1 innings, and 117 strikeouts, which ranks second in the system. I’ll have more on Navarro later today in the latest Prospect Watch.
Bradenton Batter: Cristian Jaruegui
Stats: 6-for-15, R, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 5 BB
It was a good week for Jauregui, led by a three hit game on Saturday, which featured his fifth homer of the season. That helped lead the Marauders to a 7-0 victory. Earlier in the week, he hit a two RBI triple to help lead to another win. The video of that triple is in the 8/11 Plays of the Day video above. Jauregui is hitting .228/.332/.333 this season, but is on a hot streak lately. In his last 30 days, he has an .801 OPS and two homers, getting on base at a .393 clip thanks to a 14.5% walk rate.
DSL Pirates Pitcher: Leudy Reyes
Stats: 4.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
Reyes was signed at the start of the 2025 international period, and has taken a huge step forward this season. He had an 8.14 ERA in 21 innings last year, but has improved to a 3.00 ERA in 27 innings this year. The improvements come with a lower, but still high walk rate, and an average against that has been reduced to .163.
DSL Pirates Batter: Yoander Santana
Stats: 7-for-15, 5 R, 2B, 6 RBI, 4 SB, BB
The Pirates signed Santana in 2025, and he’s been a consistent hitter in each of his first two seasons in the DSL. He has a combined .291/.414/.445 line with three homers and 25 stolen bases. He only has one homer this year, but 20 steals. He also has an 11.4% strikeout rate to a 20.4% walk rate. He was the DSL hitter of the month in June.
One More Report
The biggest play from Dylan Palmer this past week was not a hit, but a walk off winner on Thursday on an opposite field line drive that went off the glove of the third baseman to win the game in the bottom of the tenth inning.
Palmer has seen no shortage of hits.
The second baseman currently has a seven game hitting streak. He’s also reached base safely in each of his last ten games. He’s reaching base at a .525 rate over his last two weeks, with seven walks and three strikeouts, along with a .438 average.
Palmer was drafted in the 11th round in 2025 out of Hofstra. He has split this season between Bradenton and Greensboro, and stands out the most for his speed. He has 39 stolen bases between the two levels, while combining for a .291/.368/.356 line.
His ability to get on base is fueled by a 12.2% walk rate, while also showing good patience with a 15% strikeout rate. The latter has actually dropped to 11.7% in Greensboro, where Palmer is walking more than he’s struck out in 179 plate appearances.
There’s not much power to his game. In his time with Bradenton, Palmer had a 78.4 MPH average exit velocity, with a max of 104.4 MPH. Both marks were among the lowest on the team, and his launch angle is built for ground balls, leading to a 61.3% ground ball rate that is among the highest in the system.
His speed and plate patience stand out. He also had the highest contact rate in Bradenton, finishing above Edgleen Perez. Palmer has played more second base in his career, but has spent some time this year in center field, where his contact/on-base/speed profile plays better if he can add some defensive value.
Next year will be a test for the bat of the 22-year-old. He should handle the jump to Double-A better than most with his contact abilities and plate patience. His time in Altoona will start to show how well he can do in the upper levels without power.
For now, Palmer will challenge teammate Yordany De Los Santos for the most stolen bases in the system this year. He’s currently two behind, but will have plenty of opportunities if he continues getting on base at this exceptional rate.
Until the next time I go live…
-Tim Williams