The Arizona Fall League will give a handful of Pirates prospects one more stage to make a case for themselves, and Pittsburgh has a few names worth tracking closely once play begins Oct. 3.
The Pirates will send eight players to the Glendale Desert Dogs, where they’ll spend the next month getting extra reps against talent from five MLB organizations. Pittsburgh doesn’t have its very top prospects in the mix - right-hander Seth Hernandez and outfielder Edward Florentino are not among this group - but there is still plenty of intrigue.
At the top of the list is shortstop Wyatt Sanford, who turned in a big season for High-A Greensboro and now enters the AFL as Pittsburgh’s best prospect in the assignment. Sanford hit .292/.423/.551 with an OPS of .974 in 72 games, piling up 80 hits, 16 doubles, five triples, 17 home runs, 42 RBI and 33 stolen bases in 34 attempts.
He brings a lot of the same ingredients that make Konnor Griffin so exciting: speed, athleticism and defensive ability, plus a solid arm. The bat is still catching up. Sanford, the Pirates’ second-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, is only 20 and still developing as a hitter.
Even with Greensboro’s reputation as a friendly place for offense, Sanford’s numbers held up everywhere. At First National Bank Field, he hit .289/.410/.577 for an OPS of .987, and on the road he was nearly as dangerous, batting .275/.422/.517 with an OPS of .939.
Baseball America and MLB Pipeline both rank Sanford fifth overall in the system, and Arizona gives him a chance to sharpen the contact and power that could put him in line for Double-A Altoona in 2027.
Catcher Easton Carmichael is another Pirate to watch, especially with the organization always looking for depth behind the plate. Carmichael put together a strong year at Greensboro, hitting .305/.350/.518 with an .868 OPS in 74 games, collecting 95 hits, 14 doubles, 16 home runs and 63 RBI before moving up to Altoona on July 24.
The numbers dipped a bit after the promotion. In 37 Double-A games, he hit .244/.313/.412 for an OPS of .725. Still, it was a meaningful season for the 2025 MLB Draft third-round pick out of Oklahoma.
Carmichael doesn’t have one carrying tool, but he brings a steady all-around game and very few glaring holes. That matters for a Pirates catching group that currently includes Henry Davis, who struggles at the plate, Rafael Flores Jr., who struggles from behind the plate, and Endy Rodríguez, who is out until March-May following his left hip labrum surgery. Carmichael will need to keep moving forward at Double-A and Triple-A Indianapolis if he wants to become a real option next season.
Right-hander Zander Mueth is in a different spot. Once one of the more notable pitching prospects in the system, he has been slowed badly by injuries over the past two seasons, appearing in just 22 starts and 26 games while logging 55.1 innings combined.
The results haven’t helped. Mueth went 0-4 with a 7.36 ERA in 10 starts for Bradenton in 2024, then followed that with an 0-3 mark and a 9.18 ERA in nine starts and 13 games.
Pittsburgh selected him 67th overall in the 2023 MLB Draft Competitive Balance Round B out of Belleville East High School in Belleville, Il., a suburb outside St. Louis, Mo., and Arizona could be the reset he needs.
He’ll turn 22 next June and will get a chance to work through his pitch mix - four-seam fastball, cutter, sinker, slider and changeup - with the hope of climbing back toward Greensboro in 2027.
Then there’s infielder/outfielder Jhonny Severino, who emerged as one of the more unexpected bright spots in the system this year. Severino posted his best professional season at Greensboro, hitting .256/.308/.524 with an .832 OPS in 113 games, while totaling 111 hits, 23 doubles, 31 home runs, 95 RBI and 16 stolen bases.
Among South Atlantic League hitters, he finished with the most home runs, the second-most RBI, tied for fourth-most hits, fifth-best slugging percentage and tied for eighth-most doubles. He also showed he could produce in different settings, hitting 18 of his 31 homers at home while batting .257/.312/.565 with an .877 OPS there, and .256/.305/.484 with an .789 OPS on the road with 13 home runs.
The Pirates acquired Severino at the 2023 trade deadline in the deal that sent first baseman Carlos Santana to the Milwaukee Brewers. He turns 22 on Nov. 8, and a strong showing in Arizona could help him push toward Altoona.
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