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.

Josh Hartle:

Hartle was selected by the Pirates in the 3rd round of the 2024 Amateur draft. Hartle was first eligable to be drafted in 2021, ranked the best high school left hander in that class. However, he was committed to go to college and therefore went undrafted. Though if the Josh Bell rule had not been put into place to punish teams like the Pirates he might have been selected. It also caused him going from what would have been a 1st round pick in ’21 to the 3rd round pick he became in ’24. He immediately went into the Pirates Top 20 on Pipeline after being drafted, coming in at 17th overall.

Hartle saw regression in his last collegiate year, with scouts stating his pitches and command have regressed from where they had previously been. Nevertheless, he has well rated pitches with a near plus slider and average cutter and changeup with a just below average fastball. Even after the alleged regression his control is still rated as nearly a plus metric, though his overall now rates just below average for pitchers. His development will be interesting as he has a lower velocity fastball that sits just out of the 80’s and only tops out at 94 MPH or so. His slider remains his best offering being thrown in the low 80’s. His cutter comes in upper 80’s and the changeup in the mid 80’s, which can make it hard at time for opposing hitters to distinguish between them immediately. In 2021 scouts thought Hardle would easily be a back end of the rotation starter with the upside of a #2 on a staff. Now, they are unsure due to the regression he showed in his Junior year at Wake Forest.

Hartle pitched very much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in his collegiate career.

There is a very noticeable difference between the seasons, the biggest standout being the strikeout totals. In his sophomore year, he was able to limit his walks, increase his strikeouts as well as limit his hits allowed. This put his WHIP nearly a half point better in 2023 compared to the other two years he pitched. Considering the Pirates ability to, apparently, develop pitching this should be something they have already targeted and plan to work on. Though, in his one game pitched in Bradenton it is clear it will be a focus next season. As in that 1.2 innings he pitched he gave up 5 hits and walked one compared to the two strikeouts he threw. Leaving his WHIP at 3.60, which clearly means nothing in only one appearance to start his Pro career.

The Pirates ability to develop pitching and identify talent on that end in the draft is something that has led to recent excitement in the fan base. Guys like Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, Hunter Barco and Thomas Harrington to name a few have been brights spots in the minors and majors. If the Pirates are able to duplicate those guys developments with Hartle or fellow draftees Levi Sterling and Matt Ager. Then the reputation being floated across baseball can be cemented, and fans can breathe easier.