Around the Curve | 2024 Curve Opening Day Roster Features Top Talents In Pirates Minor League System
The Opening Day Roster for the Altoona Curve features six players that are ranked in the Pirates Top-30 prospects by MLB.com, including four in the Top-10 and two players ranked among the top-100 prospects in all of Minor League Baseball. MLB Pipeline ranked Pittsburgh’s minor league system as the ninth
The Opening Day Roster for the Altoona Curve features six players that are ranked in the Pirates Top-30 prospects by MLB.com, including four in the Top-10 and two players ranked among the top-100 prospects in all of Minor League Baseball.
MLB Pipeline ranked Pittsburgh’s minor league system as the ninth best among all organizations entering 2024, marking the sixth straight year that Pittsburgh’s minor league system is ranked in the top 10 by MLB Pipeline. The Pirates have the only minor league system with four pitchers ranked in the Top 100 Prospects by MLB Pipeline, with all four having worn an Altoona Curve uniform (Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler).
Headlining the returning group of position players for the Curve are No. 8 Pirates prospect INF Tsung-Che Cheng and No. 21 Pirates prospect OF Jase Bowen. On the pitching side, three are ranked in the Pirates Top-10 by MLB.com include No. 4 LHP Anthony Solometo, No. 5 RHP Bubba Chandler, and No. 7 RHP Braxton Ashcraft.
On the mound, 11 pitchers who have spent time with the Curve are slated to open the season in Altoona including Ashcraft, RHP Brad Case, Chandler, LHP Nick Dombkowski, RHP Grant Ford, RHP Cameron Junker, RHP Valentin Linarez, RHP Justin Meis, LHP Tyler Samaniego, Solometo, and RHP Sean Sullivan.
Additional returners among the position player group include C Abrahan Gutierrez, C Dylan Shockley, Cheng, INF Jackson Glenn, INF Mike Jarvis, INF Aaron Shackelford, OF Matt Fraizer, Bowen,** and OF **Connor Scott. Shackelford last played for Altoona in 2022, where he hit 26 home runs in 110 games with the Curve, good for the second-most in a single season in Curve history.
Rounding out the pitching staff are RHP Po-Yu Chen, RHP Chris Gau, RHP Isaac Mattson, and RHP Eddy Yean. Yean, who was acquired by the Pirates from the Nationals in the Josh Bell trade in 2020, and Chen will make their Double-A debuts with Altoona. Gau and Mattson each have over 140+ games of experience in their minor league careers.
The position player group is also highlighted by C Wyatt Hendrie, INF Francisco Acuna, INF Seth Beer, INF Kervin Pichardo, OF Brenden Dixon, and OF Tres Gonzalez. Beer was a first-round pick with the Astros (28th overall in 2018) and earned major league experience with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021 and 2022, while Gonzalez is the Pirates No. 28 prospect and will make his Double-A debut after being drafted by the Pirates in the fifth round in 2022.
Pichardo joined the Pirates organization just ahead of Opening Day when the Padres and Pirates agreed upon another deal. The Pirates acquired LHP Jackson Wolf as part of their trade of Rich Hill and Ji-Man Choi last August, but when Wolf was designated for assignment this spring, the Padres wanted the lanky lefty back and the teams came together on another deal. Since General Manager Ben Cherington took over for the Pirates in 2020, the teams have made several deals that have sent RHP Joe Musgrove, INF Adam Frazier, Hill and Choi as well as Wolf to the Padres for a hefty group of players.
**This story was printed in Volume 25 Issue 1 of the Curve Chronicle for the April 9-14 homestand.**