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.

Peyton Stumbo:
In 2023 Stumbo was selected in the 20th round of the amateur draft, at 587th overall. He currently stands at 6’1″ and weights 200 pounds, having pitched for the University of Nevada before being drafted. Much like our last player Carson Reed, he was used as a Luis Ortiz player in his four years in Nevada. For the Pirates in the minors so far, he has been used only as a reliever.

In his debut year Stumbo pitched only 6.11 innings over five games, pitching very well in the limited amount of work. To start 2024 Stumbo began the year at Bradenton, at 22 years old, still being used in the relief role. Through end of June he has appeared in 20 games, he has gone 1-2 with a 3.89 ERA striking out 46 while walking 13. These are all encouraging numbers, especially considering he was drafted in the last round of the draft one year prior. There are a few concerns however with him, his average against being .250 and his BABIP being .341. Though even with those numbers his WHIP is only a 1.36, this points to things possibly being a bit unlucky for Stumbo. With the limitation or walks and high rate of strikeouts, 11.94/9, there is a lot more good than bad. His FIP is 4.13 which is solid as well, even if not great. He has also given up 5 homeruns over his relief appearances, limiting the long ball will go a long way to fixing some of the other concerns.

Sadly, as is with most 4-year college players a lot needs to go right for them to reach the majors. However, with the increase in need for relief pitchers across the league. Also, sadly the number of injuries for pitchers there is still a chance to make it. Stumbo has done well to start to make a name for himself early on in his professional career. If he is able to pitch this well if not better, he could be in Greensboro at years end, or at worse to start the year next year. If that is the case, he could be knocking on the door by maybe 2027 or 2028. There will need to be a number of things that go right for that to occur, but things look good so far. It is very hard to find treasure when almost 600 players have been taken in any draft. However, the Pirates have done well with finding and developing pitchers recently. So, after this rock comes out of the tumbler, he might just be a shiny gem for the Pirates treasure chest.