Ben Cherington warned that there is “no single piece of perfect feedback,” but the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager welcomed word of the club’s prospects earning top-100 national rankings this week.
When Baseball America ranked six Pirates among its Top 100 prospects on Wednesday, Cherington viewed it as a “signal of progress.” On Thursday, Baseball Prospectus included five Pirates prospects in its Top 101, including four in the top 40.
Shortstop Oneil Cruz is ranked No. 12 by Baseball Prospectus, with catcher Henry Davis at No. 18, second baseman Nick Gonzales No. 29, shortstop Liover Peguero No. 38 and right-handed pitcher Roansy Contreras No. 89.
2022 Prospects: The Top 101
— Baseball Prospectus (@baseballpro) January 20, 2022
by Jeffrey Paternostro, Jarrett Seidler, and BP Prospect Staff
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A day earlier, Baseball America ranked Cruz No. 14, Davis No. 41, Gonzales No. 49, Peguero No. 78 and Contreras No. 80. Missing from the Baseball Prospectus Top 101 was right-hander Quinn Priester, who was ranked the No. 88 prospect by Baseball America.
Cruz and Contreras spent the majority of last season at Double-A Altoona before a mid-September promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis and making their major league debuts with the Pirates in the final week of the season. Davis, a Louisville product, was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft and played six games for High-A Greensboro before being sidelined with an oblique injury. Gonzales and Peguero formed the double-play combination for Greensboro last season, where Priester earned High-A East League pitcher of the year honors.
“We do pay attention to it,” Cherington said, “because it’s an opinion outside the Pirates, and it’s important that we get feedback outside the Pirates.”
