North Shore Nine

Welcome to the weekly Scouting Prospects; The New Additions series. Each week we will take a look at a different one of the newly added Pirates Top 30 prospects. These prospects will all be newly added as they were just drafted in the recent MLB Amateur draft. The format of these articles will highlight and discuss the following.

• Scouting Score
• Performance
• Expectations
• Projected Debut
  
  When it comes to scouting grades, the scale used is 20-80. So, a 20-30 grade would be considered well below average. A 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average (Also called Plus) and 70-80 is well above average (or Plus Plus). For prospects the overall grade is where scouts expect the player to perform once in the majors. For example, a 65 grade would be an All-Star caliber standout player, whereas a 50 would be an everyday player and a 40 would be a bench player.

Levi Sterling:

Sterling was taken by the Pirates in the competitive balance A round in the 2024 draft, 37th overall. He currently stands at 6’5″ weighing roughly 200 pounds. He is currently 17, turning 18 in early September, he attended Notre Dame High School program in California, the same one that produced Hunter Greene and Giancarlo Stanton. He was a two-way player in high school, however the Pirates drafted him solely as a pitcher. He was given the slot bonus allotted to the 37th pick to join the Pirates organization. He joins the organization as the 11th best prospect on MLB Pipeline.

Sterling rates with a near plus fastball and slider, he has an average changeup and a plus curveball. His control is rated as average, and he ranks as a potential everyday player. He throws from a 3/4 arm slot and with his long and lean size has a lot of projection. Already he throws a fastball that sits in the low 90’s and tops out in the mid 90’s. He couples that will the low 80’s curve and a mid 80’s slider that has a good sweeping action. His newest pitch that he has been developing is his changeup, he has shown to throw all of them for strikes. Scouts all agree as he ages and grows, he should be able to add even more power to his pitching, meaning he could develop into a high-end flamethrower.

With the way the Pirates have been able to develop pitchers over the last few years, there is a lot to get excited about with Sterling. He has a lot of the characteristics of pitchers that typically do well on their way to a Major League Debut. He is a number of years away from making the show, however it will be fun to see how he can do next season in the FCL. With his size and ability as scouts have assessed them there is a good chance he can rise through the ranks at a good clip. If he can maintain his control and add velocity he could be the next big Pirate pitching prospect.