North Shore Nine

Welcome to the weekly Scouting Prospects; Undiscovered Treasure series. Each week we will take a look at a different one of the Pirates prospects who fall outside of the Top 30. The format of these articles will highlight and discuss how the player came to the Pirates, how he has been playing and what to expect from them moving forward.

Carlson Reed:
Carlson Reed was drafted out of West Virginia University in the 2023 draft in the 4th round. He currently stands at 6’4″ and weight approximately 200 pounds. While at WVU he was utilized much like Luis Oritz has been this season for the Pirates. Though by the end he was being used just as a reliever. His fastball can top out at 98 mph and sits comfortably in the mid 90’s. He also throws a changeup and a slider, with the slider being the better of the two offerings.

Reed was 21 at the start of the 2024 campaign and is pitching for single A Bradenton. He has been used as a starter for the Marauders this year, so far starting 13 games for them. He holds a 4-3 record with a 2.21 ERA in 61 innings he has struck out 76 and walked 33. His FIP is a 3.26 and his xFIP is a 3.43 to go with a 11.21 K/9 and a BABIP of .281 and a 1.21 WHIP. Fantastic numbers for a young player a year out of college ball. These are phenomenal numbers for a pitcher in A. Considering he is at the average age for the league as well it shows that he isn’t over matching hitters due to superior experience. This all bodes well for a prospect recently drafted.

With how the Pirates have been pushing some of their pitching prospects it is possible Reed goes to Greensboro this year. Chances are Hunter Barco moves up to AA soon, if that is the case Reed might just take a trip north to replace him. That would be the aggressive approach, if they take the approach, they did with Barco then Reed will go to Greensboro to start the 2025 season. Which could mean the earliest you could see Reed would be in 2027 or 2028. But a lot of that will depend on Reed, if he continues to pitch as he currently is then he might start getting promoted faster and faster. Regardless of when promotions come or don’t it appear that Reed will be on the Pirates top prospects list sooner rather than later. It also appears they may have found yet another piece of treasure Pirated away from a bevy of draftees.