North Shore Nine

Pirates’ fans have come to expect the unexpected when it comes to signings and or trades. Martin Perez, Aroldis Chapman and Yasmani Grandal come to mind recently. So, while Pirates fan clamor for the likes of Jazz Chisholm Jr., Vladimir Guerrero and Luis Robert Jr. it would come to surprise of very few for the Pirates to add someone most have never heard of. Enter Pedro Leon.

Pedro Leon has had a very interesting career to date. He was signed in 2020 by the Houston Astros for 4 million as an international amateur, the highest bonus of the class. In 2021 he was ranked as the 2nd best prospect in the Astro’s system just behind Forrest Whitley. At that time he had the following scouting score.

Very high ratings for a amateur including the HOF rated arm and the plus-plus speed all with above average power. In 2021 he played 3 games in rookie ball before going to AA and eventually AAA. He has spent the last three full seasons in AAA. He has yet to be called up to the majors but has made steady improvement over the last three years. This year has been his best to date, hitting .303/.379/.534 with a .912 OPS and a 123 wRC+. He is on pace to also set personal bests in doubles, tiples, home runs, runs and has already set a personal best in RBI. He has managed to decrease his K% as well, while it is still high at 25.9% it has come down from the 30’s. His BB% has also decreased from 14.1% to 8.4% this year.
As noted at the top the Astros have no room or intention to promote him at this juncture, he is also rule 5 eligible this winter. Add to that the fact he is not rated nearly as highly by scouts this year it could mean his acquisition cost could be very low.

As seen the hit, power and field score all took a 5-point drop and the arm took a 10-point drop. Though it needs to be noted that this typically happens with prospects as they age, as is clear by his drop for 2nd Astro prospect in 2021 to 25th in 2024. However, if scouts were to rescore him after the season he is currently having chances are the hit and power and maybe the field would get their 5 point bumps back. Regardless, with the way his production is and how he has shown some consistent improvement over the last few seasons he would be worth a look. Now, there is an argument that can be made that Leon is a power hitting version of Ji-Hwan Bae. Bae is hitting better this year in AAA then Leon, just without the power numbers and stolen bases. The power is what he Pirates would be after, even if Leon ended up looking like a speedier version of Jack Suwinski.
The cost can be assumed as low for a guy like Leon. Maybe the Pirate will even manage to make a baseball trade out of it. Martin Perez for Leon for example, Spencer Arrighetti isn’t getting it done as the 5 man, Perez as a wily veteran could be an improvement there for Houston. It could also be a change of scenery deal, maybe they would be interested in a Bae for Leon swap, getting a three-year younger player to hope for. Maybe they want to have a even better bullpen and would send a good prospect (maybe Zach Cole or Luis Baez or Jake Bloss) and Leon as the second piece for a guy like Chapman. The point is there are a number of different ways to get a potential deal done. While this wouldn’t be the big deal fans want, it could be a deal that pays good dividends like the Joey Bart trade. Or, in the case of the Bae or Perez examples above, a way to get a potential helpful piece, whilst making the fans happy as well.