Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League Splits
Taking a deeper look at the Greensboro Grasshoppers with the latest feature on the new PiratesProspects.com.
Over the weekend, I said I wasn’t going to be adding any new features to Pirates Prospects this week.
After one full day off on Sunday, I returned on Monday to add a new feature. I spent Tuesday diving through the new data, and ensuring everything looked correct.
Minor league splits can now be found on PiratesProspects.com.
If you go to an individual player page, there’s now a tab at the bottom for Splits. Here is the page for Seth Hernandez to try it out. The splits available track:
Recent Performance (Last 7, 14, 30 days)
Home/Away
Day/Night
Left/Right
Starter/Reliever (or vs Starter/Reliever for hitters)
Runners On situations
Stats by Inning for pitchers
Stats by Batting Order for hitters
I also added sortable splits to the Stats page. These can be found by selecting the Splits dropdown under the Batting and Pitching tabs in the stats table at the bottom of the page. This allows for a comparison of splits across the entire system, or any individual level.
Want to know who the best hitter in the system is against lefties?
A sort of players with 50+ plate appearances shows Esmerlyn Valdez at the top, with a 1.181 OPS. Lower that to 40+ plate appearances, and Jhostynxon Garcia takes over with a 1.233 OPS. Jhonny Severino also enters this mix at third overall with a 1.163 OPS
There is one search that really stands out when it comes to the sortable splits.
Greensboro Grasshoppers Splits
The best practical application for the sortable splits is with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ High-A affiliate.
Greensboro has a very hitter friendly park. The outfield is restricted in size due to a road that passes behind the stadium in right field. This works to shape the outfield in a way that there are no alleys in the center field gaps. If you hit a fly ball, it’s got nowhere to go but out of the park.
I wrote about the Statcast leaders in the minor league system yesterday. The downside to the public Statcast data is that it stops in Greensboro, and picks back up in Indianapolis.
Pittsburgh Pirates First Half Minor League Statcast Leaders
The 2026 minor league season hit the half way mark this past week.
Without Statcast data at the middle levels, a player can go to Greensboro and crush the ball, and you have very little underlying evidence of whether the power surge is legitimate, or just a factor of the park. If a player goes to Altoona and struggles, you don’t immediately know whether he’s struggling with the more advanced competition, or if the struggles quietly began in High-A.
Home/Away splits provide some underlying truth. There are other hitter friendly parks in the South Atlantic League. Asheville, for example, might be worse than Greensboro. However, Greensboro is going to amplify offensive numbers. If a player’s stats are limited to success at home in Greensboro, it’s an indicator that the results are park-assisted.
Greensboro Hitters in 2026
Looking at the hitters in High-A this year, there are a dozen players with 50+ plate appearances at home. Seven of those players are above an .800 OPS in that split.
Here are those players, ranked by their home OPS, with their road splits included.
1.178 OPS at home, 53 PA
.862 OPS on the road, 51 PA
White was better at home, but he wasn’t bad on the road. He’s since been promoted to Altoona, a more neutral setting, where he has continued hitting to the tune of a .916 OPS. His success both home and away in Greensboro might have been an indication that his bat was real, before he continued proving it in Double-A.
1.079 OPS at home, 68 PA
.990 OPS on the road, 55 PA
Gray is dominating both home and away, following a start to the season where he crushed a pitcher-friendly Florida State League. His power and hitting isn’t a product of Greensboro’s park. It could be assisted by a lower level of competition across A-ball. However, he’s hitting so much that there’s some legitimacy to the power results that are bound to carry over to the higher levels.
1.055 OPS at home, 115 PA
.781 OPS on the road, 111 PA
Sanford is the first warning sign here. His road results aren’t horrible, but don’t match his home stats. Seven of his ten home runs this season have come at home. His batting average in Greensboro is .326, and it’s nearly 100 points lower on the road at .235. He still gets on base at a high level on the road, and has some pop to his bat, but his overall numbers are assisted by the home park.
.964 OPS at home, 107 PA
.392 OPS on the road, 117 PA
Sanchez has the biggest home/road splits. At home, he looks like a legit hitting prospect with some power, collecting all four of his home runs and batting .310. On the road, he has no home runs and a .144 average. He’s the fourth best hitter at home, but in total has a .656 OPS.
.935 OPS at home, 90 PA
.846 OPS on the road, 103 PA
Plaz is fairly even with his splits, which isn’t a surprise. He hit for power in Bradenton the last two seasons, while showing improvements with his Statcast metrics in 2025. His average exit velocity was 92 MPH and his hard hit rate was 48.7%. His even splits in Greensboro are an indication the power is carrying over, and isn’t merely a product of the home park.
.915 OPS at home, 85 PA
.939 OPS on the road, 82 PA
De Los Santos is another player with even splits in Greensboro. He spent part of this season in Bradenton. In a small sample of 22 plate appearances with the Marauders, he posted his best exit velocities and hard hit rates of his career. That could be an indication he’s taking a step forward with his power. The even splits in the SAL provide further evidence of this theory.
.871 OPS at home, 111 PA
1.048 OPS on the road, 101 PA
The next few batters start to make this interesting. Jones is the first of a few hitters who have reverse splits. The 2025 ninth rounder has the best road stats of anyone in Greensboro, and he’s not doing bad at home. He’s hit six homers in Greensboro, and four on the road. The biggest split is his .366 average on the road, compared to .284 at home. He’s an extreme line drive hitter, with a 35% rate this season, so it could be that the lack of outfield space in Greensboro is robbing him of hits.
.777 OPS at home, 121 PA
.930 OPS on the road, 122 PA
Carmichael also has reverse splits, and a similar trend to Jones. His power is split even, with six home runs at home, and five on the road. The average is .333 on the road and .268 at home. He doesn’t have the extreme line drive tendencies of Jones, but he does have a 21.4% line drive rate. This is a working theory on the lower results for this group of players.
.774 OPS at home, 114 PA
.845 OPS on the road, 130 PA
Severino is one of the leaders in the minor league system in home runs, with only Gray ahead of him. Severino’s power is split, with seven homers in Greensboro and eight on the road. Like the previous two hitters, his average is higher on the road with a .275 versus a .236 at home. Also like the previous hitters, Severino has a 22.4% line drive rate, which is the highest rate of his career.
.752 OPS at home, 103 PA
.867 OPS on the road, 108 PA
The previous trend stops here. Blanco’s power is evenly split, with five homers in Greensboro and seven away from the hitter friendly park. His average is about the same, around a .235 mark across the league. He has the same line drive tendencies at 23.8%, but has a pop-up tendency at 10.3% which the other hitters don’t have. The tendency to get under the ball, versus hitting it square, might be hurting his average at every park.
.726 OPS at home, 93 PA
.642 OPS on the road, 80 PA
Florentino was one of the top hitting prospects in baseball entering the season, making some top 100 prospect lists. His hitting has struggled in Greensboro, and those struggles have existed in all parks. His average is below the Mendoza line both home and away. He does have seven homers, but the 19-year-old seems to be facing a difficult challenge in his first run through this level.
.715 OPS at home, 86 PA
.620 OPS on the road, 100 PA
Polanco was in Greensboro last season, and posted similar results to his 2026 numbers. The Pirates have since promoted him to Altoona, which might not be a good sign for their top international signing from 2021. He’s being treated less as a prospect with that move, and his numbers at the higher level have gotten worse. The other side of the Greensboro park factor is that if you can’t hit at this level across multiple seasons, it might be a red flag.
Greensboro Pitchers in 2026
When I was reporting, I used to ask the Pirates’ development staff about how they evaluate the park factors in Greensboro. The common line was that the Pirates wanted their hitters to trust that the stats were real, and not just a park factor. They wanted to use the power results as a confidence boost.
That’s a double-edged sword. If the park factors provide a confidence boost for hitters, they would also crush the confidence of pitchers. I want to take a different look at the pitchers, checking out their HR/9 rates both home and away. I included the top ten pitchers who have factored into the starting rotation this season.
The results are sorted by HR/9 rate at home, highest to lowest.
5.7 HR/9 at home, 12.2 IP
0.0 HR/9 on the road, 8.0 IP
The Pirates added Robinson earlier this season for Alika Williams. He shows a good ability for strikeouts, but he’s been absolutely crushed by home runs. Robinson has allowed eight homers at home, with none on the road. He pitched in the Midwest League (A+) prior to the trade, where he had an 0.33 HR/9 in 27.1 innings. All signs show he’s being impacted negatively by the home park.
4.4 HR/9 at home, 10.1 IP
0.0 HR/9 on the road, 7.0 IP
Ager was also getting crushed by home runs in Greensboro, allowing five compared to none on the road. He’s since been moved up to Altoona, where his total HR/9 is 0.6 in 30 innings. His overall results have also improved, going from a home run inflated 4.67 ERA in Greensboro to a 4.06 ERA in Altoona.
3.7 HR/9 at home, 12.1 IP
0.6 HR/9 on the road, 14.2 IP
Castillo has a 5/1 home run split this season, leading to poor overall results. He is getting hit to the tune of a .281 average and an .827 OPS on the road, so there’s still some development work for the 20-year-old right-hander. It’s just not as bad as his overall 6.00 ERA would indicate.
3.4 HR/9 at home, 13.1 IP
0.6 HR/9 on the road, 16.0 IP
The top pitching prospect in the system has not been immune to Greensboro’s tendencies. Hernandez has allowed five home runs at home, with one on the road. He’s nearly unhittable on the road, with a .383 OPS against. His home numbers have produced a 1.012 OPS. His recent gem of six shutout innings and eight strikeouts came on the road. His five no-hit innings in his debut also came on the road. Hernandez is young, but he’s not the type of prospect who I’d want to risk leaving in Greensboro for a long period of time. There might be less risk to his confidence by challenging him earlier with the upper levels, versus leaving him in a bandbox for half his games.
2.8 HR/9 at home, 19.0 IP
2.4 HR/9 on the road, 22.1 IP
This is the second season that Cheng has spent in Greensboro, and he’s been more prone to the long ball this year. He had a 1.6 HR/9 at home last year, compared to an 0.8 on the road. This year he’s giving up a lot of home runs no matter the park. This doesn’t seem like it’s just the home park factors for Cheng.
2.7 HR/9 at home, 20.0 IP
2.3 HR/9 on the road, 19.1 IP
Cabreja is a similar story to Chang. His home run issues this year aren’t just a product of the home park. He’s never had extreme home run problems in the past, including an 0.4 HR/9 in 90.2 innings with Bradenton in 2025. This hasn’t been a good year for the 24-year-old, who has mostly pitched in relief.
1.8 HR/9 at home, 29.2 IP
1.7 HR/9 on the road, 21.2 IP
The Pirates added Mena in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft this past offseason. His home runs aren’t as bad as Cheng or Cabreja, but he is giving up homers both home and away. This is the first run through High-A for the 21-year-old, who also allowed a 1.6 HR/9 in his first season in Low-A.
1.4 HR/9 at home, 32.2 IP
0.0 HR/9 on the road, 21.2 IP
Reed looks like a classic case of a pitcher getting hurt by the home park. He’s allowed five homers in Greensboro this year, with none on the road. He is getting hit on the road, and giving up more walks than his home results. This is his third season spending time in Greensboro. He has a 1.01 HR/9 in 80 combined innings at home, compared to an 0.4 HR/9 in 68.1 innings on the road. For some reason, his control problems are consistently more prevalent on the road.
1.0 HR/9 at home, 26.2 IP
2.5 HR/9 on the road, 25.2 IP
Keshock has a reverse split, getting hurt more on the road than at home. That’s not only with a 7/3 HR split, but with a .214 average at home compared to .283 on the road. He also strikes out more and walks fewer batters at home. The 2025 12th rounder is one of the more regular starters for Greensboro, so the Pirates have him elevated for innings priority. One interesting dynamic is that he’s given up four home runs in Winston-Salem.
0.4 HR/9 at home, 20.2 IP
0.4 HR/9 on the road, 23.0 IP
Oliver had some of the best numbers in Greensboro this year, limiting home runs at home and on the road. He was moved up to Altoona, where the lefty has an 0.9 HR/9 in 9.2 innings, with an 0.93 ERA. Oliver actually struggled with home runs in Greensboro last year, allowing a 3.8 HR/9 versus none at home. He found a way to improve at home this year.
Greensboro to Altoona Success Stories
The Pirates have seen a few promotions from High-A to Double-A this season. Looking at the splits in High-A and the early results in Double-A, there might be some indicators that predict future success stories.
On the hitting side, Lonnie White wasn’t just hitting at home, but hitting everywhere in the South Atlantic League. He’s continued hitting in Altoona. It’s a simple trend that if you hit well everywhere in High-A, you are a candidate to hit well in Double-A. At the least, White showed that he wasn’t just a product of the home park.
Other hitters who don’t look like a product of the home park: Murf Gray, Axiel Plaz, Yordany De Los Santos, and Jared Jones.
On the pitching side, Connor Oliver was a rare case of someone who became immune to home runs. This has led to a great early start in Altoona. Meanwhile, Matt Ager has a more traditional story, getting crushed at home in Greensboro, but not allowing home runs on the road in High-A.
Ager went on to post improved results in Double-A so far. If that’s the trend, it speaks well for Kyle Robinson, Carlos Castillo, and top prospect Seth Hernandez once they get out of Greensboro. Carlson Reed also might be on that list, but his control problems on the road are a concern.
There’s no Statcast data at this level, and none in Altoona to confirm future results. That doesn’t mean there aren’t indicators of a player’s true abilities in Greensboro.
Splits aren’t the tell-all stat, but they do give a good indication of how much of a player’s results are talent, and how much is due to park factors.
Feel free to head over to the Stats page at Pirates Prospects to browse through the latest data for yourself.
Until the next time I go live…
-Tim Williams