The Pittsburgh Pirates’ roster for Thursday’s Spring Breakout game is an intriguing one. The game pits their prospects against the Baltimore Orioles’ prospects. The Spring Breakout games, which involve all 30 MLB teams, are a brilliant promotional idea by Major League Baseball. At no time in baseball history has there been as much interest and scrutiny of prospects. Perhaps taking a cue from the NBA’s inaugural preseason tournament, the Breakout games are a good way to put MLB in the headlines before its season starts.
Pirates Spring Breakout Roster
Top Two Prospects on Display
By now, every self-respecting baseball fan knows about right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes. He was the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s June Amateur Draft, signing for a record $9.2 million bonus. In his senior year at Louisiana State University, he led the Tigers to the 2023 College World Series championship. That year, he was 13-2 with a 1.69 ERA, .750 WHIP, 209 strikeouts, and 20 walks in 122-2/3 innings. He’s 21 years old, stands at an intimidating six-foot-six, 235 pounds, and has thrown his fastball as hard as 102 mph. He’s been touted as the greatest pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg. The Pirates are proceeding with caution and informed him he’ll start the season in the minors. Don’t be surprised if he’s in the majors by June.
Skenes and the Pirates’ No. 2 prospect, second baseman Termarr Johnson, will be leading the Spring Breakout team. Johnson, 19, was the Pirates’ No. 1 draft pick in 2022. He’s the youngest player in the Pirates’ spring training camp. At five-foot-eight, he might be the smallest, too. He’s visibly upset when he makes an out or fails to make a play in the field. That kind of drive for perfection will take him far in the majors. All indications are that he’ll be an above-average major-league hitter and may advance more rapidly than one might expect. In the exhibition games, he’s looked like a major-league hitter already. He’s 7-for-18 in the spring with two no-doubt homers as of this writing. It’s his defense that needs the most work.
Classic Confrontation, Part 2, Forthcoming
On the Orioles’ side, 2022 No. 1 overall pick Jackson Holliday will get another crack at Skenes. Previously, the two faced each other in a recent spring game, with the left-handed swinging Holliday connecting with the second pitch and grounding out to second base. However, their second confrontation will take place in front of a television audience. This will surely be the most highly anticipated matchup of the evening. Besides being a rare battle between the two most recent No. 1 overall choices, it will be interesting to Pittsburgh audiences for another reason.
Holliday is the son of former major-leaguer Matt Holliday and grandson of Tom Holliday, the latter of whom was born and raised in Uniontown, a former mining and steel town 46 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Tom, a member of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame, was drafted by the Pirates in 1975. He left professional baseball after one year in the minors and became a successful college coach. The Holliday family still has plenty of fans in the Pittsburgh area. Matt always had a cheering section in the stands whenever he came to PNC Park as a visiting player. Jackson will, too, when the Bucs open their regular season home schedule against the Orioles in April.
Rounding Out the Pirates’ Spring Breakout Roster
Nine of the Pirates’ top 10 prospects will be on hand for the Spring Breakout game. Conspicuous by his absence will be No. 3 prospect Jared Jones, who is under consideration for a starting berth with the big club. Besides Skenes and Johnson, others in the top 10 who are on the roster are pitchers Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler, Tom Harrington, and Braxton Ashcraft, shortstops Mitch Jebb and Tsung-Che Cheng, and third baseman Jack Brannigan.
Rounding out the roster are pitchers Hunter Barco, Patrick Reilly, J.C. Flowers, David Matoma, and Tyler Samaniego, catchers Omar Alfonzo, Abrahan Gutierrez, and Axiel Plaz, infielders Yordany De Los Santos, Garret Forrester, Jesus Castillo, Jhonny Severino, and Tony Blanco, and outfielders Lonnie White, Shalin Polanco, Jase Bowen, Estuar Suero, and Tres Gonzalez.
On TV
In the Pittsburgh area, the Pirates’ Spring Breakout game can be seen on SportsNet Pittsburgh Plus at 7:00 PM. Pittsburgh will have a lot of competition for sports viewers on Thursday evening. The Pittsburgh Penguins will be on the sister channel, SportsNet Pittsburgh. The Pens seem to be doing their best to stay out of the playoffs, which is hard to do in the NHL, but they do have a strong following in Pittsburgh. If the basketball Dukes of Duquesne University win Wednesday’s Atlantic 10 Tournament game as expected, they’ll tip off against the Flyers of the University of Dayton on Thursday on the USA Network. It will be interesting to see which of these games will be discussed around office water coolers on Friday.
The Last Word
The Pirates and Orioles both boast highly ranked farm systems. Many hot prospects will be on display besides Skenes and Jackson Holliday. The two teams clashed in the World Series in 1971 and 1979, with the Pirates winning each time. Who knows, maybe these teams are building towards a situation where they’ll face off in a couple more World Series. Maybe Skenes and Holliday will become rivals on the level of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Of course, this depends on the teams retaining their players, which might depend on MLB changing its stupid economic system. For now, it’s nice to dream about. Baseball has always been the great game of hope.
Main Photo: © Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports
