One trade deadline deal that got overlooked brought Baltimore Orioles prospect Billy Cook to the Pittsburgh Pirates. To get Cook, the Pirates gave up pitcher Patrick Reilly. The trade was made before Tuesday’s 6:00 PM Eastern deadline but announced much later. Perhaps the timing of the announcement and its insignificance to the 2024 pennant races caused the media (including me) to give it little or no attention. However, a deeper dive indicates it may possibly be the Pirates’ best deadline deal in the long run.
Under-Radar Minor League Deal For Cook May Be Best Of All For Pirates
Reilly, 22, was the Pirates’ fifth-round pick in the 2023 June Amateur Draft out of Vanderbilt. The right-handed starter was the Pirates’ No. 9 prospect before the trade, according to MLB Pipeline. In High-A Greensboro this season, he was 5-4 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.159 WHIP. He’s struck out 108 batters against 41 walks in 88 innings.
Opinions differed widely on the right-handed-batting Cook. MLB Pipeline ranked the 25-year-old as the Orioles’ No. 28 prospect. Others were less generous, not ranking him at all. He’s been described by some as a utility man in the majors, while MLB Pipeline says “he has the skillset [sic] to turn in 20-20 seasons.” They rank him as the Pirates’ No. 18 prospect. The Orioles drafted him in the 10th round in the 2021 draft out of Pepperdine. Cook has played all over the outfield and infield in the minors. Since his April 25 promotion to Triple-A Norfolk, he’s hit .279/.372/.485, 11 HR, and 43 RBI to go with 12 SB in 70 games.
The Pirates feel that Cook merits the more generous prospect ranking. It was a swap of convenience for both teams. The Pirates system needed more hitters, while the O’s system was lighter on pitching. It was a good deal for the Orioles, too. The Pirates gave up the higher prospect for the one who was closer to the major leagues. Cook may be closer than one thinks. Joshua Palacios is currently on the injured list, and Ji Hwan Bae may be next to follow. Help in the outfield might be needed, and the Bucs might prefer to keep Jack Suwinski in Triple-A for a while.
David Bowie sang of being a hero “just for one day.” It seems Cook is a hero almost every day.
Daily Heroics
It took him more than a minute to launch his first Triple-A home run. He finally got it on May 2 in Nashville, a first-inning solo shot that padded Norfolk’s lead to 3-0. Norfolk eventually won, 10-6.
Norfolk got some revenge two days after a 20-4 loss at Worcester on May 21. With the score tied 3-3 to begin the Tide’s ninth, Heston Kjerstad hit a one-out double. Up next, Cook, protecting the plate with the count 2-2, somehow hit a low, inside sweeper at his ankles for a double to left field to drive in the winning run in a 6-3 victory.
By June, Cook had become a hitting machine. He accomplished a rare feat on the 14th with two run-scoring hits in one inning in a 9-2 triumph over Memphis. Cook started the fourth inning with a 417-foot homer to left field, exiting the bat at 109.6 mph. Later in the inning, he drove in two more runs with a sharp ground-ball single to left field. He began July with a grand slam in a losing effort against Durham. Bulls left fielder Tristan Peters barely moved for it.
🚨GRAND SLAM ALERT🚨
Billy Cook blasts the Tides’ sixth grand slam of the season to take the lead!#DefendTheHarbor pic.twitter.com/3zSVI1hsnL
— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) June 23, 2024
On July 21, Cook paced the Tides to a 9-1 win over Nashville in the second game of a doubleheader when he hit two homers and knocked in five runs. When the Tide spent the final week of July spitting six games with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (who should be deducted one run a game for that name), Cook went 9-for-17 with five RBI. For July, Cook hit an astonishing .389/.436/.778.
The Turnaround
Although he hit just .222/.360/.458 (but with 4 HR) in 20 Arizona Fall League games in 2023, Cook credited his time there with a change to his approach. “The biggest thing for me is finding an approach that works for me where I don’t just put the ball in play, I still do damage,” Cook told Jonathan Mayo of mlb.com in October. “So being a little more selective with the pitches and knowing when I swing in the zone, I will put it in play, but not sacrificing the hard-hit balls just to put it in play and not strike out.”
In 2024, Cook found that happy place and that’s surely what the Pirates noticed. At Norfolk, his strikeout and walk percentages were 22.7 and 11.2, respectively. Those are big improvements over what he’s registered throughout his minor league career. Previously, his strikeout rates hovered around 31-32 percent. His walk rates have ranged from seven to 8.7 percent. Not that he was a terrible hitter before. In 2023, he hit .251/.320/.456, 24 HR, and 81 RBI at Double-A Bowie. Now, he’s made himself a more complete hitter.
Finally, it would be remiss not to discuss his speed. With Bowie in 2023, he stole 30 bases and was caught just three times. In 2024, combining his stats with Bowie and Norfolk, he swiped 16 bases in 21 tries.
The Last Word
Whether Cook makes it to the big time with the Pirates in 2024 is more a long shot than a possibility. But when a guy hits .389 in one month in Triple-A, one wonders what more he has to prove there. Trades can only be evaluated with the benefit of hindsight. At present, the Pirates’ trade for Bryan De La Cruz is the one that will have the biggest impact on the major league club. However, a few years might reveal that the deal for Cook wasn’t too shabby either.
Main Photo Credits: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
