Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Previews: Roansy Contreras
As we continue down the Pittsburgh Pirates 40-man roster for our 2021 season previews, the next man up has been in the organization for a total of one day. He was acquired in the Jameson Taillon trade with the New York Yankees and ranks as the Pirate's #19 prospect in the organization. He has a high-powered fastball at 97 miles per hour and is looking to show consistency at the higher levels of the Minor Leagues. Roansy Contreras enters the 2021 season at 21-years-old and is the 11th top prospect that General Manager Ben Cherington has added to the system since taking over in November 2019. Contreras faced the biggest workload he has ever faced in 2019 before the Minor League shut down, and after working at the Yankees alternate site last season, he looks to build on that in 2021.
During 2019, he made 24 starts at Class Low-A Charlotte and went 12-5 with a 3.33 ERA in 132.1 innings of work. He missed bats at a high rate allowing an opponent batting average of .225 while striking out 21% of the batters he faced. He will get a chance to prove himself in Spring Training to show how he improved despite not having a season. I don't see him cracking the Opening Day roster, but look for him to make a splashdown in the Minor Leagues. His stuff is good, with a fastball that reaches 97 miles per hour, he just has to learn how to develop it and get it ready to face better hitters at the higher levels of the Minor Leagues and the Big Leagues.
2019: A Year For Change
The 2019 season brought on a lot of changes for 19-year-old Roansy Contreras as he was becoming a highly-touted prospect. After conquering Rookie Ball, and bouncing between Short Season and Low-A the year prior, Contreras finally had a permanent home. He was in the Low-A Charleston Rotation all season long and would be allowed to develop his arsenal there. He would not disappoint going 12-5 with a 3.33 ERA over 132.1 innings of work while getting the biggest workload of his MLB career. His fastball played well in the South Atlantic League and he proved that he could consistently miss bats, holding opponents to a .215 opponent batting average.
He got off to a hot start right from the get-go, rattling off quality starts in four out of his first five appearances that season. However, he hit a rough patch at the end of May and the beginning of June that made the first five starts look like a fluke. From May 13th to June 23rd, Contreras combined to go 2-3 with a 5.73 ERA over seven starts. After not posting a win in 12 starts in 2018, the fear was that Contreras was slipping back into the struggles that he saw during the 2018 season. He walked 15 batters during that stretch and struck out 29 batters in his 37 innings of work. Contreras badly needed a turnaround, and July and August would provide that for him.
The month of August saw him get back to the dominant nature that he showed at the beginning of the season. Over his final six starts of the year, he allowed just four earned runs and went six innings or more each time out. He struck out 37 batters in 31 innings of work as he became more and more confident on the mound. As a result of his hard work, he was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the week for the final week of the 2019 season when he allowed one earned run over 12 innings of work while striking out 14 and walking three. It showed just how dominant Contreras can be, and he looks to continue that as he moves up the Pirates Minor League system.
2021: A Year of Growth
As far as 2021 goes for Roansy Contreras, it will be another year of growth for the 21-year-old right-hander. With no 2020 Minor League season, it is likely that Contreras will skip Advanced-A Ball and join the rotation at Double-A Altoona. That rotation is shaping up to be one of the best in the Pirates system, with top prospects Quinn Priester (#4), Brennan Malone (#9), and Omar Cruz (#20) already possibly slated to start there. Contreras will be able to start getting comfortable with some of the same pitchers he will get to the Big Leagues with. His 97 mile per hour fastball could help him stand out from the group if he learns how to command it better.
One of the biggest criticisms Contreras has faced throughout his pro career Is that his fastball has a tendency to be too straight. Being that he is a fly ball pitcher, this could get him into trouble because batters are going to start squaring up that pitch when they see it. Luckily for Contreras, he also has a change-up that changes speeds drastically, coming in 10 mph slower than his fastball. It has a lot of downward movement and has a future grade of 55, higher than any of his other pitches. If he can learn to sequence these two pitches in tandem consistently, he could become a nightmare for opposing batters trying to figure out what comes next.
As far as Conteras's projection for the 2021 season, I expect him to spend the entire season down in Double-A Altoona working on his pitches. At 21-years-old, there is no reason to try and rush him to Triple-A and hurt his development in the long run. There is a small chance he starts with Advanced-A Greensboro, but given the fact that he was at the Yankees alternate training site last year, all signs point to him advancing. He has an ETA of 2023 to the Big Leagues and that gives him two years to grow in the Pirates system. In order for all these trades to be worth it, they have to pan out at the Big League level and Contreras is looking to be a part of that rotation of the future.
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