With Griffin holding No. 1, Bucs land 5 prospects on Top 100 list

Part of the fun of prospect lists is mentally penciling in which players could be contributors for a club years down the road. For the Pirates, some of their prospects are teenagers years away from the Majors but others should be making an impact very soon.

The Pirates have five players on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list, headlined by the game’s top prospect, Konnor Griffin. Griffin made the leap to the No. 1 spot midseason last year and is hanging onto it, maintaining his title as the only Pirates prospect to be ranked first overall by MLB Pipeline.

The four other players on the list are right-handed pitchers Bubba Chandler (No. 11) and Seth Hernandez (No. 29), outfielder Edward Florentino (No. 50) and left-handed pitcher Hunter Barco (No. 96).

While hardly anything in baseball is a guarantee, there’s a good chance three of those players could be contributors to the 2026 Pirates.

Griffin hit .333 in the Minors last year with 21 home runs, 94 RBIs, 65 stolen bases and a .942 OPS. The 19-year-old also firmly established he could play shortstop, being named the organization’s Bill Mazeroski Minor League Defender of the Year, as well as its Honus Wagner Minor League Player of the Year.

Chandler, 23, made his MLB debut last season and made seven appearances, four of them starts. He went 4-1 with a 4.02 ERA, one save and 31 strikeouts in his 31 1/3 innings after his Aug. 22 promotion, giving Pittsburgh a taste of his pitch arsenal, which consists of a triple-digit fastball, wipeout slider, curveball and a changeup that has rapidly developed into one of his best offerings.

Chandler was named the organization’s Bob Friend Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He still has his rookie status.

Barco, 25, also reached the Majors late last season, pitching three innings for the Pirates. His 2025 season started with six scoreless outings with Double-A Altoona, earning him a promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis. He went on to pitch 99 1/3 innings in the Minors, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA with 116 strikeouts.

Barco averaged 94 mph in his MLB outings last year, but he has been clocked higher. He also has a splitter and a slider, but will pitch primarily off of his fastball.

The Pirates’ Opening Day rotation looks far from set, so Chandler and Barco should be some of the young arms competing for spots in the Majors.

Florentino and Hernandez are further away from the Majors, but both have the upside to continue rising up these prospect charts.

Hernandez, 19, was the Pirates’ first-round pick in the MLB Draft last year, selected sixth overall. While he did not appear in a professional game last season, that did not dim the excitement around the young righty, who entered the Draft considered to be one of the best high school pitching prospects ever. Armed with a high-90s fastball and a changeup that could prove to be one of the best pitches in the system, Hernandez is the projected favorite to take over as the Pirates’ top pitching prospect once Chandler sheds his rookie status and graduates from the list.

Earlier this month, MLB Pipeline released its list of the top right-handed pitching prospects. Chandler finished second and Hernandez fifth.

Florentino, 19, was one of the breakout prospects in the Pirates’ system last year, making the jump to the club’s Rookie-level Florida Complex League team and eventually Single-A Bradenton. That promotion didn’t seem to faze him, as he was named the Florida State League’s Player of the Month in July, his first full month with the team.

Defensively versatile, Florentino started playing center field in addition to the corner outfield spots and first base.