Three More Top Prospects Added as Part of Taillon Trade With Yankees
Since Ben Cherington took the GM job back in 2019, his message to Pittsburgh fans has been the same. He wants to stockpile talent in order to bring competitive baseball back to Pittsburgh. Since day one, he has stuck to those guns adding 11 of the current Top 30 prospects in the Pirates organization. He continued that plan on Sunday when he traded Jameson Taillon to the Yankees for a package of four prospects, including three of the Yankee's top 30 prospects. Unlike the haul for Joe Musgrove, the package the Pirates got for Taillon is going to help both the current Pirates and the future Pirates.
Coming to Pittsburgh are RHP Miguel Yajure, RHP Roansy Contreras, OF Canaan Smith, and IF Maikol Escotto. Two of those four players were added to the Pirates 40-man roster following the trade meaning that the Pirates potentially see them as helping the team this season. The trade also adds three more top prospects to the Pirates system for a guy who is coming back from a second Tommy John surgery. There was no guarantee how healthy Taillon would have been throughout the season, so the Pirates went the safe route to add talent for him now. Overall, I feel that this trade was another good move by Cherington while also being one that adds to both the current roster, and the Pirates roster of the future.
RHP Miguel Yajure
The highest-rated prospect in the trade and the one who could make the quickest impact is Yankees #11 prospect Miguel Yajure. Yajure made his MLB debut for the Yankees last season and appeared in three games out of the bullpen posting a 1.29 ERA in 7.0 innings of work. However, he has been a starting pitcher throughout his pro career and looks to continue that in the Pirates organization. In his Minor League career, he has appeared in 61 games and made 54 starts, and has gone 14-13 with a 2.47 ERA. Yajure pitched between Advanced-A and Double-A in 2019 and has a chance to crack the Pirate's starting rotation out of Spring Training in 2021.
Yajure's biggest upside is his five-pitch arsenal, with all five pitches having some upside. His fastball averages 92 miles per hour and is his most used pitch at 33.1%. He uses it early in counts and did not allow a single hit on the fastball in his seven innings last season. However, his most effective pitch seems to be his change-up, which he had a 37% whiff rate on his short time last season. He led all Yankees Minor Leaguers with a 2.14 ERA in 2019 and like Taillon had already had Tommy John Surgery. Yajure is on the 40-man roster and will likely compete for one of the three open spots in the Pirates rotation. At 22-years-old he still has some development to do, the question is whether or not the Pirates think he is ready to be in the Big League rotation.
RHP Roansy Contreras
The other player to make the Pirates 40-man roster in this deal was right-hander Roansy Contreras. Contreras is now the Pirate's #19 ranked prospect and has a little less experience than Yajure. Contreras spent 2019 in Low-A ball and had the biggest workload he has had yet. He took it in stride going 12-5 with a 3.33 ERA over 132.1 innings while walking 36 and striking out 113. He is a flamethrower, with a fastball that can touch as high as 97 mph, and he uses that to his advantage as he misses a lot of bats. While he has the speed, he has to work on the movement of his pitches as he faces more advanced hitters in the upper levels of the Minor Leagues.
His fastball has been clocked as high as 97 miles per hour but has had a problem with being too straight. His change-up is his next best pitch, coming in ten miles per hour slowing and having a future grade of 55 on a 20-80 scale. He showed a lot of promise in his first two seasons and knows how to change speeds and pitch types to fool opposing hitters. He will more than likely make the move to Double-A in 2021, and it will be a big year for Contreras. They say Double-A is the biggest jump a player has to make in their pro career, and it will likely determine what his ceiling is at the Major League level for the Pirates.
OF Canaan Smith
The biggest offensive player the Pirates got in the deal for Taillon is outfielder Canaan Smith. In his young Major League career, Smith has shown all the tools to be a solid Major League hitter, but his biggest plus is his plate discipline and knowledge of the strike zone. He played for Class Low-A Charleston in 2019 and ended up leading the South Atlantic League with 74 walks during the season. Because of his patience, he gets more good pitches to hit and uses his other skills to drive those balls. He finished that season third in batting hitting .307 with 11 home runs and 74 RBI. He has picked up more power as he has gotten older and grades out at 50 for future power.
At 21-years old, he will also more than likely move to Double-A Altoona where he will get a shot as an everyday corner outfielder. At 6'0, 215 pounds, he has a solid frame and could continue to add to his power. The more patient he is at the upper levels of the Minor Leagues, the more pitches he will be able to drive out of the ballpark. He has decent speed, stealing 16 bases in 20 attempts in 2019, and will use that speed as a corner outfielder. He projects as a solid hitter with the potential to bring the power bat with him as he develops. Power-hitting left-handers have thrived in PNC Park in the past, and Smith looks to develop into the next power-hitting lefty in the Pirates lineup.
IF Maikol Escotto
The final piece the Pirates are receiving for Taillon from the Yankees is 18-year-old infielder Maikol Escotto. Escotto was signed during the international free agent signing period in 2018 and made his professional debut during the 2019 season. He ended up performing well for the DSL Yankees, hitting .315 with eight home runs and 26 RBI over 45 games played. He did strike out a lot during his pro debut, going down 26% of the time, but balanced that out with a high 16.7% walk rate. He has shown nice speed, stealing 13 bases in 16 attempts and his .429 on-base percentage gives him many opportunities t show off the jets.
With any middle infielder, the key to their game is solid defense, and this is an area that Escotto has to work on. He spent most of the 2019 season at second base and posted an average .956 fielding percentage in just over 200 innings played. He committed five errors and helped start 13 double plays as a middle infielder. His speed is going to help his range as he develops, and could even subject him to a move to the outfield. Escotto will begin the year with Low-A Bradenton in 2021, after showing that he can hit in Rookie Ball. So far his patience seems to outweigh his strikeout ability, as he looks to handle the better pitches that he is seeing and become a solid hitter.
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